Assessment of Urban Neighbourhoods’ Vulnerability through an Integrated Vulnerability Index (IVI): Evidence from Barcelona, Spain

Urban inequality, specifically in vulnerable areas, has been a study topic from the earliest days of sociology to the present. This study’s objective is to discuss the scope and limitation of the concept of urban vulnerability, whilst generating an index that detects urban vulnerability in all its dimensions. A factor analysis of the main components was conducted resulting in the formation of four partial indices related to the social class, gentrification, social and employment, and physical & architectural dimensions of urban vulnerability, whilst their sums conform an integrated vulnerability index. This index is applied to the city of Barcelona, allowing its neighbourhoods to be positioned on a vulnerability continuum. Despite being applied in this city, the integrated vulnerability index emerges with the purpose of being replicated to other urban spaces. The mapping of these results using geographic information systems suggests a robust index that allows early identification of problematics, while also providing clues for policy intervention.This research is part of the doctoral thesis of the first author, G.P., with the support from the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia and the European Social Fund. Part of the development of this research was supported by an R&D project: ‘Socio-spatial indicators for the improvement of the housing stock in vulnerable areas. Criteria for action in the cases of the metropolitan areas of Barcelona and Bilbao (Re-Inhabit); RTI 2018-101342-BI00’, supported and funded by the Spanish State Research Agency