Better governance by monitoring intra-urban inequalities with GIS and indicators Javier Alberto Martínez, MSc. Email: martinez@itc.nl Extended Abstract Better governance implies that policy makers and the public sector are aware of the needs and differences within the civil society, being equity one of governance elements. Concerns over (in)equality raises a moral and normative issue that implies compensatory policies. In other words, one of the reasons for local governments to introduce descriptive and monitoring studies of inequality is to subsequently target the disadvantaged areas and implement compensatory/remedy policies. Hence, there is a concern with what the city should be, and some form of redistribution/compensatory action. In this case the concern on inequality issues is very much related to a social justice perspective (equality as social justice). This perspective involves: treating people fairly; that people in the same circumstances should be treated in the same way; and whatever is being distributed should go to people in the right quantities (Smith, 1994). This is very much related to social exclusion where those who are denied the equal access to rights and resources are excluded. From a policy related perspective, this research focuses more on lessening inequalities rather than poverty, “minding gaps” then is the issue Transparency, information and equity can be encouraged and guaranteed by introducing monitoring systems and indicators to reduce intra-urban inequalities. New technologies and analytical methods from Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used for that purpose. The spatial dimension of inequalities makes it suitable for analysis and monitoring with the use of GIS. Two domains of spatial inequality are suggested: conditions of quality of life (social – physical environment) and distributions of opportunities (access to social and physical infrastructure). The resulting patterns or degrees of inequality express the extent to which people’s needs are satisfied. Spatial polarisation and geographic inequity occur in urban areas around the world. However, it is especially in cities in developing countries where inequalities are particularly evident. The city of Rosario (Argentina) has been selected as a case study to describe and explain inequalities combining the use of geoinformation obtained from indicators and GIS analysis. The degree of inequality is very much related to the scale and the unit of analysis considered. Smith (1994 p.47) referring to social justice with a territorial dimension explains that the scale adopted, will to a large extent, define the problem itself, for the degree of inequality observed will be very much a function of scale. For this reason in this research it was decided to analyse intra-urban inequalities and use the smallest areal unit available (census block group level). One of the problems of collecting indicators at intra-urban level is the lack of data other than census data. This poses a conflict to solve, which is to find alternative sources. One of the advantages of GIS is of having the possibility to combine different data sources. Administrative databases available at the municipalities (e.g. public housing office demand list) are very useful then to describe inequalities at a low level of detail complementing data coming from censuses. Geocoding and address matching are the GIS processes to generate map points from this data sources. The address provides the locational key of the point. The resulting point maps can depict the location of the expression of demand from those affected by a specific need (e.g. housing). This approach complements the analysis of inequalities that can be derived from indicators obtained from census data. The combined use of derived demand with expressed demand proved to be efficient in detecting cases of housing needs where derived demand via indicators was showing lower levels of demand or no demand at all (Martinez, 2000). Policy makers are currently encouraged to introduce area-based policy indicators and then reorient resources to those targeted areas. Inequality is specifically addressed in the last UNDP reports and studies are presented with a smaller scale perspective. The Human Development Report 2000 (UNDP, 2000) describes the importance of using disaggregated indicators by district, gender, ethnicity and income group as follows: ...“many countries continue to focus the resources and opportunities on those already privileged. Across a range of countries, public health and education spending is routinely concentrated on providing services for the better off, reinforcing the divide. By the principles of rights, it is an imperative to reorient resources towards the marginalized so that long-standing and systematic discrimination is overcome”(UNDP, 2000 p. 96) Martinez, J., 2000. Evaluating housing needs with the use of GIS. Habitat International, 24: 501-515. Smith, D.M., 1994. Geography and social justice. Blackwell, Oxford, 325 pp. UNDP, 2000. Chapter 5: Using indicators for human rights accountability. In: UNDP (Editor), Human Development Report 2000. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 89-111.