Delimitación de áreas de influencia de movilidad peatonal a partir de rutas de acceso en el entorno urbano hospitalario del Área Metropolitana de Bucaramanga

Abstract

The impact of public space on urban quality of life, especially for those in vulnerable situations such as individuals with mobility limitations, is undeniable. Over time, there is a trend towards reduced accessibility of public spaces in cities, contributing to increasing inequality in urban pedestrian mobility. People with mobility limitations face daily challenges in navigating urban environments, which can hinder their access to services across all areas of society. Despite expectations that medical services would be well-equipped in terms of pedestrian infrastructure, the reality reveals significant accessibility issues near hospital facilities, further exacerbating the difficulty of access and mobility for this demographic group. The purpose of this project is to delineate pedestrian mobility areas in the urban environment surrounding high-complexity clinics and hospitals in the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga. Within these areas, pedestrian routes with higher frequency of use have been established, determined by the presence of services such as bus stops and parking areas that allow connectivity of transportation systems with medical centers. The identification of the most frequented pedestrian routes connecting to healthcare services in the AMB was carried out to lay the groundwork for a future accessibility assessment, through the adaptation of pedestrian accessibility technical sheets to a Geographic Information System that allowed managing data collection for these sheets as a survey, on the ArcGIS platform. Additionally, to test this data collection tool, a pilot test was conducted in zone 6, which is framed by the hospital centers Unidad Materno Infantil San Juan de Dios, ESE Hospital San Juan de Dios, and Clínica Guane.This involved a research process, methodologically consisting of five phases. First, the geolocation of high-complexity hospitals and clinics in the AMB was carried out. Second, a geopositioning of assistance services, such as stops of the mass public transportation system, parking areas, health diagnosis centers, and pharmaceutical establishments in the relevant areas was conducted. Subsequently, the third phase involved generating representative maps of these complementary services and the distribution of hospitals and clinics. Then, pedestrian connectivity routes were plotted in the influence area of these medical establishments. Finally, after completing the methodological process and implementing the pilot test, it can be concluded that the data collection tool implemented in Survey123 works and enables data management, facilitating accessibility diagnosis processes in relatively large areas, allowing the organization, visualization, and consultation of data regarding urban equipment; this was validated in one of the established zones in this work.