atlas of urban vulnerability in spain: methodology and contents

1. INTRODUCTION.
The Atlas of Urban Vulnerability in Spain is a part of the Observatory of Urban
Vulnerability in Spain, a long-term project by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works,
including different studies related to Urban Vulnerability in Spain, following the
statements of Article 108 about Information serving for public policies for a sustainable
urban development, in the Law 2/2011 of Sustainable Economy.
The Atlas of Urban Vulnerability in Spain allows the analysis of urban vulnerability at
Census Section level in every Spanish municipality. The Census section is the
smallest population unit in the Spanish Censuses. The Atlas has been developed
based on the data available from the 2001 Population and Housing Census. It is
foreseen to update the Atlas with the results of the new 2011 Census.
For each one of the 34.251 Census Sections in the 8.108 Spanish municipalities, the
Atlas of Urban Vulnerability in Spain offers a total of 96 vulnerability indicators and
indexes, organised in 4 domains:
Urban Vulnerability Indicators. This domain contains 21 thematic maps,
corresponding to 21 Urban Vulnerability Indicators, grouped in four chapters:
Sociodemographic Vulnerability (5 indicators), Socioeconomic Vulnerability (6
indicators), Housing Vulnerability (5 indicators) and Subjective perception Vulnerability
(5 indicators). Out of these 21 indicators, 3 are considered to be Basic Indicators of
Urban Vulnerability (BIUV): Percentage of unemployed population, Percentage of
illiterate (or without basic education) population, and Percentage of population in
dwellings without toilet or WC.
Contextual Analysis of Urban Vulnerability Indicators. This domain allows making
maps comparing the Urban Vulnerability Indicators of each Census Section (or
minimum population unit) with the municipal, regional (Autonomous Communities) or
national context. It is possible to represent the number of times that the value of each
indicator in the Census Section Unit is above or below the value of the same indicator
in the municipality, the region (Autonomous Community) or the national value.
Urban Inequity Indexes. Two synthetic Inequity Indexes are provided, calculated
combining the 3 Basic Indicators of Urban Vulnerability (BIUV): IDS (Index of
Socioeconomic Inequity) and IDU (Index of Urban Inequity). Each of them can be
referred to the municipality, the region (Autonomous Community) or to Spain.
Urban Vulnerability Synthetic Indexes (Multiple Criteria Classification). It is
possible to represent urban vulnerability Multiple Criteria Classification, classifying
each census section at national or at regional (Autonomous Community) level. For
each one of these two levels, 5 synthetic Indexes are provided: Global criteria
Classification, Sociodemographic criteria Classification, Socioeconomic criteria
Classification, Housing criteria Classification and Subjective perception criteria
Classification.
ATLAS OF URBAN VULNERABILITY IN SPAIN.
METHODOLOGY AND CONTENTS. PAG. 3