Contributions of Public Green Spaces to Demographic Ageing: The Cases of Santa Fe and Rafaela (Argentina)

Abstract

This article proposes an analysis of the nearness of the elderly population to the public green spaces (PGS) of the municipalities of Santa Fe and Rafaela (Argentina), with the aim of recognizing the proximity of elderly population to the PGS and identifying in which urban areas can be found the deficits, according international parameters. The purpose of this paper is to generate a reflection which could be useful to increase the level of details about urban strategies in this matter, in both intermediate cities. The methodology is based on the Censo Nacional de Población, Hogares y Viviendas (INDEC, 2010) and different surveys carried out by own resources from municipal cartographies. The study integrates the identified PGS into a spatial data matrix that makes it possible to quantify the available green area, and to map and identify urban areas which lack for these spaces, from the delineation of an «optimal proximity area» suggested by the WHO. The main results indicate, with respect to the amount of green area per inhabitant, that both urban centres accomplish the recommended standards of the WHO,
although the participation of the different PGS according to «size ranges» indicates a general
predominance of small spaces, with little contribution in the total green area. On the other
hand, the analysed municipalities present an unequal proportion of elderly population residing
inside the «optimal proximity area» to the PGS.