Indicateurs de durabilité urbaine selon une approche épidémiologique : la ville de Maringá, au Brésil
The aim of this research is to contrast the effects of urban development with environmental conservation practices. The investigation focuses on socio-economic segregation and its impact on sustainability, as measured by specific sustainability indicators. The city of Maringa in Central Brazil was selected as a case study, applying a targeted analysis to certain neighbourhoods. The study set out to determine which urban sustainability indicators are most appropriate to identify those neighbourhoods with the most sustainable practices and life-styles, assuming a fundamental link between sustainability practices and awareness of social and environmental responsibility.  Using a epidemiological, but not anthopocentric, approach, this research contributes to and enriches the urban sustainability discourse by proposing a theoretical framework and model for the systemic construction of viable urban sustainability indicators. Applying these indicators to demographic and socio-economic data analysis results in a way of assessing urban sustainability that diverges from the socio-economic stratification approach of the HDI. This approach to sustainability assessment is validated through being applied to two sample areas of Maringa: the neighbourhoods of Conjunto Residencial Inocente Villanova Júnior and of Zona 05, using corrélations between ecological footprint, satisfaction index, social integration index, residents' health habits and body weight. Results suggest that income has a strong influence on household ecological footprint. However, in 10 % of cases a sustainable footprint is possible even in households with high incomes. Additional studies are recommended to refine the proposed model.
socio-economic analysis urban sustainability indicators epidemiological method healthy communities tropical sustainable cities Brazil