Demographic aging and social exclusion in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria degraded worker-class districts

Abstract

The aim of this article is the characterization of the urban vulnerability of two workerclass districts in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: San Nicolás y La Isleta. The lifecycle of these districts and of their neighbors parallel run, so the aging of their population and of housing fabric is shown as an obvious sign of obsolescence and urban and demographic atony in the main city of Gran Canaria (Spain). To determine the current level of their vulnerability quantitative and qualitative methods are used in this research. The frst of them allow the sociodemographic study (Census of Population and Continuous Census) and of the housing and urban fabric (Census of Housing and Cadaster); the second (interviews and discussion groups) offer the statements of their neighbors with regard to their feelings of belonging to those districts. The results of the research developed exhibit the interest of environmental gerontology at a microscale level, to diagnose situations that require differentiated treatment in urban areas, contributing to palliate the vulnerability and to construct fairer cities from a social and spatial point of view.