Residential Segregation of Afro-Descendants in Cartagena, Colombia

Abstract

This study analyzes the quantitative dimension of residential segregation in Cartagena, Colombia, the country´s fifth largest city, the second with the most social exclusion and that which concentrates the highest percentage Afro-descendant population. Using information from the 2005 Census, the spatial analysis of the data and geographic information systems, we examine the effects of space and a group of variables related to welfare. We also compare the process of segregation in Cartagena with those of Barranquilla and Montería, two of the largest capitals in the Colombian Caribbean, and examines them using the components of equality and concentration. We then propose a link from the analysis of segregation as a spatial phenomenon to its usefulness for examining access to public goods and services essential to human development. Our results show that, although in Cartagena race is a significant determinant of the spatial location of Afrocolombians, it is less so in Barranquilla and Montería. Similarly, we found significant concentrations of Afro-descendants with poor access to sewage systems, high illiteracy rates, malnutrition and low intra-urban mobility which show the scarce opportunities for advancement of this population group.