Greater Córdoba Area

The city of Córdoba is located 695 km from the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. In 2010, It had a population of 1,329,604 (2010 National Census of Population and Housing), about 40% of the population of the province, which was 3,304,825. Economically, the province of Córdoba specializes in transportation equipment, automobiles, machinery, electricity, vehicle sales and repair, food, agriculture and livestock. The growth of Córdoba has gone hand in hand with real estate speculation and the preponderance of the market in the production of urban space. Thus, the city’s traditional neighborhoods have been affected by the real estate market and by intensification of land commoditization. On one hand, this process has driven a consumer boom in terms of land use, which includes gated communities, semiprivate neighborhoods, country clubs, shopping malls and other commercial areas. In contrast, other areas of the city of Córdoba are in poor conditions in terms of infrastructure, services and facilities, and are exposed to environmental contamination. On the other hand, some studies have found that over the last few decades, transformations have reflected intensifying income inequality in the city of Córdoba. The aim of this paper is to apply a quality of life index (QLI) at census blocks level. Each block code was linked to a data matrix of absolute, indexed, and standardized values for each variable used to measure quality of life in Argentina. The indicators are grouped in socioeconomic dimensions (education, health, and housing) and environmental dimensions. The results are summarized into quartiles and it can be seen that, among the 1485 census blocks, there are patterns that show QLI values in all the defined quartiles. A little more than 20 census blocks are in the quartile with a low quality of life. These blocks are mostly located in the eastern, western, and northern areas. A greater number of blocks with medium-low QLI values are located around the blocks with low QFI values, in addition to a significant number in the south. On the other hand, medium-high QLI values and primarily high QLI values cover most of the urban center, especially the city center and adjacent areas, as well as many blocks northwest of the city.