Socio-economic residential segregation in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica. Levels and patterns between 1984 and 2000

Abstract

The paper examines the socio-economic residential segregation indices in three scales, and analyzed the levels and patterns of segregation and its trend over time by comparing the indices1984 and 2000. Among the most notable findings, is the correspondence with the trends in residential segregation in other Latin American cities: greater segregation on a smaller scale and a decrease in the time of the levels of segregation. Furthermore, the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) has lower overall rates of segregation that several Latin American cities, particularly Santiago de Chile, a difference that is explained by the origin and historical structure of the city, because GAM is characterized as an urban space less polarized, more heterogeneous, with a concentration of elites in small areas scattered throughout the city and a more dispersed distribution of a large middle class.