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Mapping Social Exclusion/ Inclusion in Developing Countries: Social Dynamics of Sao Paulo in the 1990s

Author: G Camara and A Miguel Monteiro
Date: 2001
Size: 18 pages (281 KB)

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Summary

How can spatial analysis of socio-economic indicators mapped over geographical areas enhance understanding of social exclusion patterns in developing world cities? This draft paper from the National Institute for Space Research, Brazil reviews previous social indicator mapping projects in Sao Paolo and presents methodologies for mapping social exclusion in urban areas. It argues that social scientists and policymakers could benefit from socio-economic mapping techniques, for instance in redrawing Sao Paulo’s administrative zones according to social exclusion indicators.

Social exclusion refers to the marginalisation of particular groups from social and economic life, and the problems associated with that status. Although socio-economic maps have promoted awareness about living conditions, they have been comparatively neglected in recording social exclusion. By selecting four indicators – autonomy, life quality, human development and equality – and scoring their levels relative to basic living standards, social exclusion can be mapped over urban areas.

Two maps of Sao Paulo were produced in 1995 and 2000 according to that methodology and using national and local government figures. They were aimed at informing policy in a city containing both wealth and large numbers of socially excluded citizens. The projects promoted media and public awareness of social exclusion, showing large social inclusion disparities across the city, population increases in poor regions and among the young, and links between education and unemployment trends.

By applying spatial analytic techniques to the two Sao Paulo maps, various patterns on the clustering of social exclusion were identified:

• Two areas with high exclusion levels were identified. One was in the South, which has seen a high migrant worker influx and low public investment; the other was in the East, where many inhabitants of central slums were transferred in the 70s and 80s. One area of low exclusion levels, in the centre, was identified.
• There is a lack of homogeneity among Sao Paulo’s administrative divisions, which reflect historical and political forces, rather than a logical approach to tackling inequality.
• There were fewer areas with the lowest homicide rate in 1999 than 1996. There is a greater spatial spread of crime and rich areas are increasingly witnessing higher crime levels.
• Various techniques for analysing the distribution of socio-economic indicators over an observation area were compared. It was found that the spatial regimes regression model, which divides the area into subsets with a different spatial pattern and performs separate regressions on each subset, produced the best fit with the observed data.
• There are problems in applying certain geostatistical techniques to socio-economic data since these methods assume an equal distribution of data across the areas surveyed, which may distort results.

Researchers and policymakers should make increased use of spatial analysis results:

• Sao Paolo’s districts should be reorganised according to the results provided by spatial analysis to support more socially oriented administrative divisions.
• To account for local variation in socio-economic data, “model-based geostatistics” and techniques which divide up observation areas into subsets may more accurately map local correlation structures.

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Source: Camara, G. et al, 2001, ‘Mapping Social Exclusion/ Inclusion in Developing Countries: Social Dynamics of Sao Paulo in the 1990s’, National Institute for Space Research, Sao Paulo