Global population continues to increase particularly in developing countries in urban areas. Middle-size cities are impacted the most. Cities have been unable to respond adequately with the provision of urban environmental essentials. In some Latin America cities, the lack of essential services is not the result of the lack of resources but inadequate distribution.
This research is directed to address whether fourteen out of thirty-three mass low-income housing settlements built since 2002 in the City of Cordoba, a middle-size city in Argentina, provide access to the urban environment essentials. The settlements are analyzed through a comparative qualitative method based on its physical character and spatial relationship to the city and focuses on six urban environment essentials elements: housing, land, public infrastructure, transportation, employment, and community facilities.
Findings show that the program has provided land ownership and a home but their adequacy is limited due to physical design, methods of construction, and land location strategies affecting specially the ones located further from the urban core. Also, inefficiencies in public infrastructure and transportation are presented in the particular settlements as well as the whole city. Therefore a comprehensive analysis of the city’s resources and changes in mass low-income housing location and handling policies are needed to provide adequate solutions that respond to the individuals needs, enhance the city, and procure a good use of the investment