Place of residence, economic power and means of transport are factors capable of directly influencing an individual's access to opportunities. But how can individuals' access to health, education and employment opportunities be related to these factors?
This is what Pedro Nery discusses with Rafael Pereira, researcher at Ipea and creator of the Access to Opportunities project, in episode #37 of the Economisto podcast.
Urban mobility x Urban accessibility
In Brazil, there is a lot of talk about urban mobility, that is, the travel pattern that people make in their daily lives (what time they leave home, what means of transport they use, how much time they spend in traffic, etc.). However, when it comes to urban accessibility, the objective is not to analyze what people do on a daily basis, but how easily they can move around the space and access an opportunity.
In this sense, Rafael explains that the concept of access to opportunities is related to the potential for ease of movement, urban planning, connectivity and efficiency of means of transport, as well as the planning and spatial distribution of these opportunities in the territory. “Accessibility is essential for people to satisfy their basic needs, obtain employment opportunities and guarantee an income”, comments the interviewee.
According to Rafael, the definition of accessibility also brings within it a notion of freedom, as the more accessibility a person has, the greater their freedom of choice . And it is this power of choice that gives individuals the possibility of developing their capabilities and opting for the options that make the most sense for them.
"Access to Opportunities Project"
This is the name of the project that Rafael has been leading for just over a year at Ipea . The initiative carries out annual estimates that analyze the ease with which the population has access to employment, health and education opportunities, taking into account their neighborhoods and means of transport in 20 Brazilian municipalities, with the prospect of reaching other cities.
All data, results and methodologies are publicly available and according to the researcher, the objective is to create the necessary information to influence and improve the evaluation of urban development policies, educational planning, health, housing and urban transport policies in Brazil .
Rafael says that the idea came to him when he was finishing his doctorate at the University of Oxford, where he dedicated himself to studying political philosophy and inequality applied to urban development and transport policy in cities.
The project was initially created to evaluate the impact of mega events in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Growth after world events in the capital of Rio ended up being uneven, according to the study, which found that middle- and upper-middle-class neighborhoods were those that had the most gains in opportunities for access to employment, health and education.
Results observed by the study
Rafael says that, unfortunately, it is common to notice in most capitals a great inequality of opportunities between richer and poorer neighborhoods. He mentions that in São Paulo the study identified that the rich population can access nine times more job opportunities compared to the poorest population.
Interestingly, a city that goes opposite to this trend is Brasília. In the federal capital, the study found that in some rich neighborhoods, such as Park Way, Lago Sul and Lago Norte, access to some services is more limited than in poorer neighborhoods. "As they have recent planning, the government did not foresee the creation of large public service offerings, such as public schools and health centers", argues the guest.
Speed x proximity
Historically, one of the main measures taken in relation to transport policy to solve problems of segregation and inequality was to try to increase vehicle speeds.
However, Rafael explains that the solution is not speed, but proximity. In other words, more important than making people move faster is making them move shorter distances, bringing services and opportunities closer to them. This way, people can make their daily commute using cheaper and more environmentally friendly forms of transportation, such as bicycles or even walking.
Inequalities in times of pandemic
Recently, Rafael carried out work in collaboration with twenty other researchers, and addresses the different impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in São Paulo .
The research aimed to analyze how hospitalizations and deaths from the disease are related to social and racial inequalities. To do this, between March and October 2020, researchers combined the addresses of hospitalized people with health data and obtained data considered alarming by the researchers.
It was found that poor people have an 8% higher risk of contracting the Covid-19 virus and that when they develop more serious conditions, the risk of death is 60% higher.
When evaluating racial issues, the study identified that black and brown people have between 20 and 40% more risk of being hospitalized due to the disease and a 14 to 20% higher risk of death, when compared to white people.
Rafael highlights that a major starting point for this inequality is the fact that more vulnerable people have a lower level of education and, consequently, a lower level of social protection, becoming much more dependent on daily income and informal work, activities that do not allow them to work from home.
"When we look at cell phone data from the metropolitan region of São Paulo, it is very evident that the richest neighborhoods and the whitest neighborhoods are where people isolated themselves first, they went into isolation much faster, they have a higher level of isolation. high and maintain this isolation for longer", says the researcher.
Furthermore, data was analyzed that identified that these more vulnerable populations accumulate a greater number of comorbidities and have less access to healthcare, often having to resort to the SUS, where the study identified that 40% of people hospitalized with Covid-19 have more likely to die compared to people hospitalized in the private sector.
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