Informal Urban Development in the Greater Buenos Aires Area: A Quantitative-Spatial Assessment Based On Households’ Physical Features Using GIS and Principal Component Analysis

Abstract

Informal urban development (IUD) is a key driver of urbanization in Latin America, which is challenging urban planning and governance. According to the last national census of 2010, in Argentina more than a fifth of households of the Greater Buenos Aires Area (GBA) live in inadequate housing conditions, in the most densely populated urban agglomeration in the country. The situation has worsened compared to the years 1991 and 2001. This IUD lacks recommended minimum housing standards and is thus outside urban planning regulations. An updated assessment that quantifies and characterizes existing levels of IUD is needed to support policy measures to improve households living conditions. This paper analyses the spatial distribution of IUD in the GBA on the basis of the census data 2010. To quantify levels of IUD, households’ housing physical features (material and infrastructural) were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA).