Efectos sociales y urbanísticos generados por la implantación del sistema de transporte masivo “Transbarca” en la ciudad de Barquisimeto, Estado Lara, Venezuela

El propósito principal de éste trabajo tiene que ver con los procesos de modelado del espacio social, utilizando como campo de estudio los efectos sobre la morfología urbana generados por la implantación del sistema de transporte Masivo Transbarca en la ciudad venezolana de Barquisimeto. La investigación se apoya en buena medida en las teorías de la morfología social elaboradas por el sociólogo E. Durkheim y desarrolladas sobre todo en el campo del urbanismo por M. Halbwachs. En ellas se vincula la morfología social con su sustrato material, la forma urbana, desde una perspectiva sociológica. De igual manera se consideran categorías conceptuales como fragmentación y segregación, según otros enfoques (M. Castells y Reales). El trabajo se desarrolla según una metodología empírica, realizando análisis cuantitativos de los fenómenos que se consideran indicativos (el mercado de vivienda, por ejemplo) y comprobando su relación con la cualificación del espacio urbano donde destacan los procesos de remodelación de la centralidad que resultan de la implantación del Transporte Masivo. Desde esta perspectiva, la solución al transporte colectivo adquiere una dimensión que trasciende su papel como pieza fundamental para el buen funcionamiento de la ciudad moderna en crecimiento, con independencia de que sea capaz de ofrecer una solución a ese desafío, para convertirse en un instrumento de ordenación de la ciudad que afecta a la morfología social y urbana, que supone profundas alteraciones del centro urbano propiamente dicho, que implica una redistribución de los grupos sociales en el espacio reformado de la ciudad: un proceso de remodelación y transformación del espacio funcional y social, presentado como una solución a los problemas de movilidad. También en Venezuela, como en otras partes, la evolución de la morfología social está relacionada con profundos cambios ocurridos en los sustratos físico-estructurales de las ciudades, que a su vez se vinculan con la dinámica de los procesos de globalización que nutren la dinámica interna de construcción y reconstrucción de esos espacios. SUMMARY The main purpose of this work deals with modeling processes of social space, using as a field of study the effects on urban morphology generated by the implementation of the transport system Transbarca Mass in the Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto. The research was based largely on theories of social morphology developed by sociologist E. Durkheim and developed primarily in the field of urban M. Halbwachs. They linked the social morphology with its substrate material, urban form, from a sociological perspective. Similarly conceptual categories are considered as fragmentation and segregation, as other approaches (M. Castells and Royals). The work is developed as an empirical methodology, performing quantitative analysis of the phenomena that are considered indicative (the housing market, for example) and checking its relation to the qualification of urban space which include remodeling processes resulting from the centrality the implementation of mass transportation. From this perspective, collective transport solution acquires a dimension that transcends its role as a cornerstone for the functioning of the modern city growing, regardless of who is able to offer a solution to this challenge, to become an instrument of City management affecting the social and urban morphology, reflecting profound alterations in the city center itself, which implies a redistribution of social groups in the city renovated space: a process of renovation and transformation of social and functional space presented as a solution to mobility problems. Also in Venezuela, as elsewhere, the development of social morphology is associated with profound changes in the physical and structural substrates of cities, which in turn are linked to the dynamics of globalization processes that nourish the internal dynamics construction and reconstruction of these areas.

User benefit assessment by a dynamic LUTI model for Madrid

Assessing users’ benefit in a transport policy implementation has been studied by many researchers using theoretical or empirical measures. However, few of them measure users’ benefit in a different way from the consumer surplus. Therefore, this paper aims to assess a new measure of user benefits by weighting consumer surplus in order to include equity assessment for different transport policies simulated in a dynamic middle-term LUTI model adapted to the case study of Madrid. Three different transport policies, including road pricing, parking charge and public transport improvement have been simulated through the Metropolitan Activity Relocation Simulator, MARS, the LUTI calibrated model for Madrid). A social welfare function (WF) is defined using a cost benefit analysis function that includes mainly costs and benefits of users and operators of the transport system. Particularly, the part of welfare function concerning the users, (i.e. consumer surplus), is modified by a compensating weight (CW) which represents the inverse of household income level. Based on the modified social welfare function, the effects on the measure of users benefits are estimated and compared with the old WF ́s results as well. The result of the analysis shows that road pricing leads a negative effect on the users benefits specially on the low income users. Actually, the road pricing and parking charge implementation results like a regressive policy especially at long term. Public transport improvement scenario brings more positive effects on low income user benefits. The integrated (road pricing and increasing public services) policy scenario is the one which receive the most user benefits. The results of this research could be a key issue to understanding the relationship between transport systems policies and user benefits distribution in a metropolitan context.