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Percentage


Chapter 1: Regional Priorities and Drivers of Change


population living in slums in the early 1990s was 30 per cent (Figure 1.3.4). The figure has gone down to 29 per cent in 2000 and is currently close to 20 per cent (UN-Habitat 2013a).


Green areas play an important role for recreation, health, urban biodiversity and as regulators of urban water flows. Nine square meters of green area per capita is a useful indicator, but it provides incomplete information to assess their social and ecological value. At the same time, the distribution and size of these areas is important to assess their relevance for biodiversity conservation and water flow regulation. The actual use of green spaces by urban citizens depends on several other factors associated to location, accessibility, transportation, etc. For example, Parra et al. (2010) found that in Bogotá the use of parks by older adults was positively associated with areas with multiple uses. Martinez et al. (2016) point out that in the case of Curitiba almost 50 per cent of residents do not make use of these spaces due to lack of proximity. Moreover, they point out the unequal distribution of green spaces and their concentration close to high-income neighbourhoods.


Trends in Human Development


LAC is highly heterogeneous in terms of development, both between and within countries. According to the Human Development Report (UNDP 2014), countries in the region ranged from very high human development (e.g. Chile, ranked 42 in the Human Development Index 2013) to low human development (e.g. Haiti, ranked 168 out of a total of 187 countries included in the Human Development Index 2013). There are also sub-regional differences with 85 per cent of Caribbean countries and 64 per cent of South American countries categorized as high, and 50 per cent of Mesoamerican countries as medium. South American countries’ average Human Development Index (HDI) rank is the highest at 81, followed closely by the Caribbean at 83. The lower performance of the Caribbean sub-region may be attributable to the global financial crisis inflicting a greater blow to these mostly small open economies, or as a result of disasters due to natural events as in the case of Haiti. Mesoamerica demonstrates the lowest average HDI rank at 99, above the median value of 94.


Figure 1.3.4: Proportion of urban population living in slums at midyear by country (1990-2009). 100


60 70 80 90


10 20 30 40 50


0


1990 Source: UN-Habitat 2013a 23


1995


2000


2005


2007


2009


Argentina Bolivia Brazil Colombia Dominican Republic Guatemala Haiti Mexico Nicaragua Peru


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