Residential Location, Urban Form, and Household Transportation Spending in Greater Buenos Aires

Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning Erick Guerra recently produced a report that analyzes, maps, and develops a series of indicators to identify which parts of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area are affordable to lower-income residents, when accounting for the costs of housing and transportation. Conducted in consultation with World Bank staff, housing researchers and local government staff, the report includes a set of policy recommendations related to housing and transportation affordability.

Housing and transportation are frequently the two largest sources of household expenditures in cities. In the United States, Latin America, and Europe, urban residents dedicate nearly half of their spending to housing and transportation. Despite relying on transit, poor households often spend a substantially larger proportion of income on these two primary urban consumption goods. Buenos Aires is no exception. Many poor residents, in particular, face long and expensive commutes. Guerra’s work in Buenos Aires analyzes the relationship between geography, transportation, and housing expenditures in Greater Buenos Aires, identifying areas where improved coordination between land use and transportation planning could play a role in improving regional housing and transportation affordability.

Read the report in the Journal of Transport Geography.
 

Partners

Camilo Caudillo, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de Información Geoespacia
Cynthia Goytiaa, Graduate Program on Urban Economics, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
Tatiana Peralta Quiros, World Bank
Camila Rodriguez, World Bank
Spanish Fund for Latin American Counties (SFLAC)