Urban centrality, characterization of land uses, the case of La Alborada, Guayaquil

Abstract

In Guayaquil, like many Latin American cities, very dynamic areas coexist with others that are strongly lagging because of their unbalanced territorial growth. Since 2021, the Municipality of Guayaquil has incorporated centralities or multifunctional centers into its planning to optimize its operation and decentralize the traditional center. The centralities can be urban, zonal, neighborhood, or sectoral. This study addresses the zonal centrality of La Alborada, with nuclei of interest and the diversity of local commerce coexisting with a residential environment, making it necessary to characterize the uses of the land on a medium and small scale in its commercial and residential context. The adopted methodology collects cadastral information from the municipal geoportal to map, update, and classify commercial activities, including the height of buildings, types of roads, and, in general, through observation tours, people's perception of public spaces for pedestrian use. The results show diverse activities and services and commercial use consolidation on the fourteen stages' periphery. They also show non-compliant buildings and the trend towards specialties in commercial uses, with over ten nearby businesses in some stages of a specific activity, such as restaurants and aesthetic treatments. Concluding that the public spaces adjoining the commercial premises are forcibly used as open-air lobbies, forcing the user to occupy spaces provided for pedestrian circulation, affecting the safe, comfortable, and efficient mobility of residents and users.