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MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE URBAN ZONE

 

• The URBAN zone means the 12.96% of the total population of the Municipality of Palencia.
• In this zone there is an important demographic imbalance.
• The percentage of child population in the URBAN zone is substantially superior to the average of the town.
• The index of ageing in the zone is inferior to the average of the town.
• The reproductive capacity of the URBAN zone is superior to the average of the town.
• It is thought to be a migratory tendency to the URBAN zone between the young cohorts, while the migratory tendency is to the rest of the town between individuals of ages over 55. 

 

The action zone, denominated as “URBAN zone”, has a resident population of 10,728 inhabitants, what means the 12.96% of the total population of the town of Palencia. From this population resident in the URBAN zone, 5,274 are men and 5,454 are women what mean a masculinity ratio (ratio men/women) of 0.97. This ratio is higher watching it in the rest of the city (0.90) where the predominance of the female sex is more.

 

As it is shown in the TABLES 1 and 2, in the URBAN zone the distribution of the population by major age groups is characterized by a more concentration of children (15.4% to 12.96 of the total of the city) and adults (26.5% to 22.6% of the whole municipality), a minor volume of mature people (22.7% to 27.1% of the total city) and elderly (14.6% opposite 18.6% of the whole municipality), and a similar importance of the group of youth (20.8% opposite 19.1% respectively

 

 

Tabla 1. Distribution of the population of Palencia in major age groups and according to sex. Source: Town Council of Palencia. Municipality Register of (inhabitants) (March, 2007) 

 

 

 

Tabla 2. Distribution of the population of Palencia in major age groups and according to sex. Source: Town Council of Palencia. Municipality Register (inhabitants) (March, 2007) .

 

 

As a result of the distribution mentioned in the previous paragraph, the URBAN zone presents a rate of dependence, defined as (childhood + youth + elderly) / (adults + matures), similar to the total of the municipality (1.03 to 1.01), but a inferior rate of aging (ratio elderly/total of the population expressed in percentages) (14.63 to 18.56), difference which is more in the women (17.11 to 21.22 of the total) (TABLA 3).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3. Rate of dependence and rate of aging in the whole municipality of Palencia and in the Urban zone. Source: Own elaboration from the data of Palencia town hall. Municipality Register (inhabitants) (March, 2007).

 

These results anticipate too that in the URBAN zone, the reproductive capacity, defined as the ratio between women in age of conceiving (15-44) and the total, is superior in 6% to the one observed in the rest of the city (46.20 to 40.15 of the total), which will mean a bigger birthrate and consequently, in a bigger importance relative to the child population in this zone of the town (TABLE 4)  

 

Tabla 4. Reproductive Capacity in the whole municipality of Palencia and the Urban zone. Source: Own elaboration from the data of Palencia town council. Municipal Register (inhabitants) (March, 2007). 

 

 

Doing a superficial analysis of the population pyramid of the total of the municipality and the URBAN zone (PICTURES 1 and 2 represented in the APPENDIX 1), we find some similarities that are worth mentioning: the general narrowing in the part of the base, the result of percentages of infantile population respect to the rest of cohorts; the inferior weigh of the cohorts of individuals with ages over 55 years old and the favorable asymmetry to the right side of the pyramid, accentuated by the cohort of more elderly, which shows a more life expectancy in women.

 

However, a more detailed analysis shows notable differences between the population pyramids of the URBAN zone and the rest of the town, discrepancies that are kept whatever the sex we analyze. In this sense, we will stand out, firstly the great difference existing in the population of minors from the cohort of the childhood, what indicates a bigger birthrate in the URBAN zone regards to the total population.

 

It is observed a widening in the base of the age group of 0-4, what means an increase of births and a bigger weigh of the child population in the last 5 years, which accentuates a substantial improvement of the birthrate in the zone. If we compare this situation with the same range of age (0-4) for the pyramid of population of the town of Palencia we observe that in the URBAN zone the increase of births has been much bigger during the last four years, aspect that make sure the better recovery of the zone population and a sustainable grown of it for the next years. This increase of birthrate cannot be explained by sociologic reasons (mayor proportion of Romany population in the zone or emigrants), because in previous years the figures were low and similar to the rest of the town, but only it is explained by an increase of population in the zone, from other places of the town (internal mobility) as well as other municipalities of the province (mainly) since the foreign population is residual in the zone, as presently it has been formed as an area of residential growth, to which during the last four years a high number of generations in age of having children has gone.

 

On sexes, it is seen in the child ages a slight higher proportion of women than men which is not notable.

 

Regards to the cohorts of age which gather the childhood and youth (from 4 to 24 years old) the significant phenomenon to stand out is the progressive reduction of individuals, which is explained by a constant decrease of the birthrate during the last 20 years in the URBAN zone as well as in Palencia, which is also common to the rest of Spain and among the developed countries. For the group from 20 to 24 years old, this fall gets worse because of the leave of individuals in age of working and/or studying out of the URBAN zone and mainly to other spaces out of Palencia, phenomenon that can be watched too in the pyramid of Population of Palencia.

 

But maybe the most significant phenomenon of the pyramid of the URBAN zone is the widening of the generations that starts to note in the group from 50 to 54 years old and that experiments a progressive increase to reach its maximum in the cohort correspondent from 30 to 34 years old. This phenomenon is known as “Baby Boom” and begins to happen in the 60s. As it can be watched, although in a more attenuated way, it is also common to the Pyramid of Population of Palencia. Nevertheless, in the URBAN zone the increase of population in these cohorts of age it is more notable and has got such a sociologic component that shows the composition of the population in the zone during the decades of 60 and 70 of last century, because a big part of it belonged to the Romany ethnic which has traditionally characterized by having a birthrate much higher than the rest of the groups of population. Even so, we have to point that during the 60s and 70s an exit of individuals of the URBAN zone was made to other zones of emigration outside the province, what has also affected intensively to these groups in adult age (groups from 54 to 45 years old).

 

Regarding the analysis on sexes, there is a tight balance between men and women due to the early age of getting married, the duration of marriages and the bigger perpetuation of the familiar union comparing to other zones of the city and to other age groups. The mortality in these groups is not significant. From the 60s, the generations start progressively to decrease basically due to an important increase, as the age increases, of the mortality rate, which, it can be watched in the pyramid, acts more intensively in men than in women. Nevertheless, the increase of life expectancy hides other phenomena such as the exit of the elderly of the URBAN zone to other districts of the town or outside it, mainly if they have children who can take care of them or they go to the different old people’s home of the town and the province. Although attenuated by the other factors, the effect of the civil war can be seen too. .

 

 

Main characteristics of the Urban Zone

• Mayor growth of resident population regards to the total of the town
• Natural growth less negative than in the total of the municipality, due to a higher proportion of births.
• Migratory growth to the URBAN zone mainly from other zones of the town.
• A bit higher population density in the URBAN zone.
• Higher proportion of population with low rents and less proportion with high rents.
• Lower levels of socioeconomic situation than in the total of the town.

 

Regards to the temporal evolution of the residential population, during the period between 2001 and 2007, the population of the URBAN zone has risen 21.74%, more increase than the one observed in the total of the town during the same period of time, 3.70%; this makes that in terms related to the population weight of this urban zone regards to the total municipality has passed from 11.04% opposite 12.96% (PICTURE 2 AND TABLE 5 from APPENDIX I).

 

 

Table 5. Población law 2001-2007. (Data on the population's right 2001). Source: Municipal Population (various years) Census of Population and Housing 2001.

 

Regarding the natural and migratory flows of population, now the analyzed data and the conclusions are shown. As it can be seen in TABLE 6 of APPENDIX I, and focusing in the period 2004-2006, the total growth of the population was much higher in the URBAN zone than in the total of the municipality (9.87% opposite 1.28 of the total) being higher too the average annual growth in that zone (3.29 opposite 0.43 of the total). If we analyze these variables according to the nationality of the population, we find that the bigger part of this growth has its origin in the national population, where the greater differences are observed, being these ones much less than in the case of the foreign population.

 

Table 6. Population growth in the period 2004-2006. Source: Municipal Population (various years).

 

Regarding to the natural population flow, it stands out that during the period 2004-2006 306 births and 337 deaths happened in the URBAN zone. These data generate a natural population growth (births – deaths according to the total population) negative in this zone, but in any case, less negative than in the total of the town (-0.30 opposite -0.79 of the total of the municipality). Since the mortality rate (expressed in per thousand for the data of 2006) are similar in both zones ( in comparison), the differences with regard to the natural population growth would be greater due to the birthrate in the URBAN zone regards to the whole of the town (11.58% respect to 9.87%) (TABLE 7 AND 8 OF APPENDIX I).

 

Table 7. Births in the period 2004-2006. Source: Municipal Population (various years) and Natural Population Movement (INE)

Table 8. Deaths in the period 2004-2006. Source: Municipal Population (various years) and Natural Population Movement (INE).E).

 

It is also remarkable that according to the shown in the pyramids of population elaborated with data of 2007 (PICTURE 1 and 2 of APPENDIX I) the birthrate goes on increasing in the URBAN zone in the following years to the ones shown here and respect to the data of the whole population. Regarding to the migratory population flow (TABLE 9 and PICTURE 4 of APPENDIX I), the data of the population register 2001 show that the interior migration during the previous 10 years has been more than in the case of the whole municipality, while the migration of people from other provinces or the ones from other countries has been higher in the URBAN zone. In both cases, most of the people who moved in their new house during those dates were from the same province and just a few were from other provinces or abroad.

 

 

Table 9. Migratory movements of population since 1991. Source: Census of Population and Housing 2001.

 

In the URBAN zone, of the 336 new inhabitants from the province of Palencia, the 94% were from other districts of the capital and only the 6% were from other municipalities of the province. Moreover, from 2001, as it is shown in the data from the population pyramids of 2007, the migratory flows to the URBAN zone have considerably increased in the last 7 years, since this area has become an essentially residential and growth zone of the town.

 

Regarding to the relative population density, if besides the conventional measure of number of inhabitants, we watch alternative measures linked to the idea of urban agglomeration as the population by housing or the population by occupied housing, the result is lightly superior for the URBAN zone comparing to the whole of the municipality in every case (TABLE 10 and PICTURE 5a and 5b of APPENDIX I)

 

Table 10. Measures of population density. Source: Compiled by authors from Census of Population and Housing 2001 and supplied by the City of Palencia in area

 

 

 

Regarding to the analysis of the household gross income available per capita, and the distribution of the population according to the rent, there are not appraisals of level of rent that decrease to a level of desegregation inferior to the municipality, neither to the provincial one, nor estimates that approach that level of rent. It is for this reason that we will use as variable proxy the education level of people. The reason of its use is because of the strong correlation seen between the level of studies and the monetary variables as home income and expenses as well as other indicators of richness and wealth.

 

So, the percentage of population in the URBAN zone who is illiterate or don’t have studies, is identical to the whole of the municipality (16% in all the cases). Nevertheless, it can be observed that the weight of population of the URBAN zone with studies of first grade is more than the whole of the population, (38% opposite 28%), what also indicates a situation of inequality regards to the percentage of the population who have studies of second or third grade (46% in the URBAN zone opposite 56% in the whole of the municipality) (PICTURES 6 and 7 of APPENDIX I). .

Like this, if we make the approaching of the individuals who are illiterate, the ones who don’t have studies and the ones who have studies of first grade have low rents, the ones who have studies of second grade have medium rents and the ones who have studies of third grade have high rents, the distribution of the rent would be the one which appears in the CHART 8 of the APPENDIX I, characterizing the URBAN zone because of having in general lower rents than the whole of the municipality, standing out mainly the proportion of low rents, which is 10% higher in the case of the URBAN zone..

With the aim of having another indicative about the rent level of the inhabitants of the zones compared, the information of the variables of occupation, activity and professional situation was combined as it has been doing in the survey of Working Population. According to these criteria, the following classification was established. This classification was used for the treatment of data and to prepare the corresponding chart that is shown in the APPENDIX I (PICTURE 9):

As it can observed in the picture, the inhabitants of the URBAN zone have a socioeconomic level Low – Low, being a bit higher the men one that is near to Low – Medium. The greater differences between the URBAN zone and the whole of the town are between women that in the first case have a socioeconomic level 23% lower than the whole of the municipality in the same group of population. These differences are of 10% in the whole of the population and about 5% for men..

 

 

Main Characteristics of the Urban Zone

• Higher percentage of the population with low level studies.
• Very low percentage of population with third grade studies.
• More accentuated differences in the case of men, fact that can originate a greater difference in the rent levels of both zones.
• Less rate of schooling
• Lower percentages of population that don’t have compulsory schooling, above all regards to medium or superior studies and studies of continuous training in companies.

 

Regarding to the level of education of the inhabitants of the compared zones, and as it has been shown in the before point (PICTURES 6 and 7 of the APPENDIX I), there are significant differences between the two.

The percentage of people with first grade studies is higher in the URBAN zone than in the whole of the municipality (30.01% opposite 27.68% of the whole municipality), what is translated into an inverse difference regards to the third grade studies (6.48% opposite 15.52% of the whole municipality), being the percentage of people who have done studies in the whole municipality, more than the double found in the URBAN zone. The percentage of illiterate, people without studies and people with second grade studies are similar between the two zones. The total number of population without studies, illiterate, or with low level studies (of first grade), means the 53.96% of the total in the URBAN zone, and the 43.73% in the whole city. If we analyze the data according to sex (PICTURES 10-13 of APPENDIX I), we find that the tendency is the same, for men as well as for women, although it is true that the differences between the whole of the municipality and the URBAN zone are accentuated for the first ones. In this case, the percentage of men who have done third grade studies in the whole of the municipality approaches the triple of the ones found in the URBAN zone.

Analyzing in more detail the studies level of the population of the compared zones, it can also be seen significant differences regards to the studies of second or third grade (PICTURES 14 and 15 of APPENDIX I).

The percentage of people without studies of Secondary, Primary or Lower Baccalaureate, is higher in the URBAN zone (22.53% opposite 20.76% in the whole municipality), while the percentage of people who have finished the Higher Baccalaureate is notably less (6.51% to 10-83% of the whole municipality). The percentage of people who have done studies of Professional Training doesn’t show notable differences between the two zones.

 

graduates(1.89% - 6.08%) and doctors (0.07% - 0.29%), respectively.

 

The explanation that in the URBAN zone there is a less number of people with superior studies could have several reasons. On the one hand, the main reason of these differences between the URBAN zone and the whole municipality could be the shortage of means and the lack of a culture in favor of education in the families living in the URBAN zone. It could also happen, that the ones who have finished the studies and found employment, have changed their housing to better equipped zones of the town.

 

The slant observed against the male population of the URBAN zone, would have a negative involvement, if we have into account that the rate of activity and the rate of occupation are higher in men. This fact, that we will see more detailed in the following paragraph, would be translated into bigger differences in the levels of rent, and consequently of wealth, of the inhabitants of the different zones. Having into account the current studies according to the Population Register 2001, and taking as reference (100%) the existing rate in the whole municipality, it is observed that the schooling rate in the URBAN zone is 17.29% lower than in the whole town, being this difference lightly lower for men (16.92%) and lightly higher for women (17.65%). Having into account that the child population is higher in proportion in the URBAN zone, the fact gets a bigger importance (PICTURE 20 of APPENDIX I).

 

On the other hand, if we analyze the non-compulsory education (PICTURES 21-25 of APPENDIX I),we can state that, in general, the percentage of people which in that date of 2001 doing any type of non-compulsory studies, comparing to the whole of the population, was less in the URBAN zone (9.7% opposite 15.75% of the total of the municipality).

 

The more significant differences appear in the group of people doing studies of Secondary and Higher education (Bachillerato, BUP and COU) (30% less of the population were at that moment doing that type of studies in the URBAN zone comparing to the total of the municipality), doing any University Degree or equivalent formation (differences of 54.71%) or doing any other type of courses (as information technology , competitive examination…) (differences of 58% in this case).It is also remarkable that the workers who do studies in the heart of their companies (continuous training) are much fewer in the case of the URBAN zone, comparing to the total of population who does this type of studies (differences of 53.49%).

 

In the other analyzed studies, the differences are not so many, although it is true that in most cases, the percentages are lower in the URBAN zone than in the total of the Municipality.

 

 

Main Characteristics of the URBAN zone

• Similar size regarding to the population age of working.
• Lower activity and occupational rate in the URBAN zone than in the whole of the municipality, being bigger the differences in the case of female population.
• Higher unemployment rate, male and female, being bigger the differences in women.
• The differential of unemployment is higher in the group of people who have worked, being a lot of times of unemployed of long duration and/or with dependent relatives, so the social seriousness of this phenomenon increases.
• The unemployment rate by ages shows a higher unemployment in the URBAN zone in almost every level of ages, particularly between younger individuals.
• The activity branches in which there are bigger differences in favor of the URBAN zone regarding to occupation are construction, commerce, repairing services and manufacture industry.
• Those ones in which there are bigger own differential the public administration, defense, compulsory social security, education, health-care activities, veterinary activities, social assistance, all of them activities which require more the possession of university degrees.
• Imminent worker nature of the URBAN zone opposite the whole of the municipality.

 

Focusing on the study of the differential between the URBAN zone and the whole town of Palencia, according to the data of the Population Register of 2001 (TABLES 11 and 12 of APPENDIX I) and as a result of the distribution of the age cohorts quoted in the paragraph about the population, the percentage of population in age of working (over 16 years old and under 65 years old) was lightly higher in the URBAN zone (70%) than in the whole town (69%), proportion that was maintained doing the analysis on sexes.

 

Table 11. Percentages of people depending on age and sex. Total Township Palencia. Source: Census of Population and Housing 2001.

 

 

Table 12. Percentages of people depending on age and sex. URBAN ZONE. Source: Census of Population and Housing 2001.

 

 

 

Regarding to the working population, calculating the activity rate (PICTURE 26 of APPENDIX I) as the quotient between the working population and the population in age of working, we get higher ratios in the whole municipality (62,8% opposite 51.8% of the URBAN zone), tendency that is maintained if the analysis is done according to sex, being the difference between the two zones, higher in the case of women (12.1% of difference opposite 10.9% in men and 11% of difference in the whole population).

Regarding to the employed population, calculating the employment rate (PICTURE 27 of APPENDIX I) as the quotient between the employed population and the active one, we get higher ratios in the whole municipality (86% opposite 83.7% in the URBAN zone), tendency that is maintained if the analysis is done according to sex, being the difference between the zones of study, again higher in the case of women (5.2% of difference opposite 1.3% in men and 2.3% of difference in the whole population).

Regarding to unemployed population, the unemployment rate, calculated as the quotient between the working population, shows the hard labor reality in the URBAN zone. As it can be observed in the PICTURE 28 of APPENDIX I, the unemployment rate in the URBAN region is 16.3%, observing, as it is logical, the same differences seen in the employment rate but on the other way around. Again, the differences are accentuated in the case of female population..

Regards to this female unemployment, which in the two zones of study makes up more than the double of male unemployment, it stands out that the reality, which is not shown in the data, is the one of important black economy, so a lot of women complement the income of their husbands or partners with the ones they get of doing the housework in other houses. These jobs are paid but there isn’t legal constancy of them, neither contract nor affiliation to the Social Security in most cases. Anyway, even having into account this fact, the differences between the whole municipality and the URBAN zone go on being highly significant..

Table 13. Percentages of employed people according to gender. Total town of Palencia. Source: Census of Population and Housing 2001.

 

 

Table 14. Percentages of employed people according to gender. URBAN ZONE. Source: Census of Population and Housing 2001.

 

 

If we also analyze the unemployment rate according to the age of the individuals, it can be observed that in the case of the URBAN zone there is a great percentage of youth population unemployed. As it can be seen in the PICTURE 29 of APPENDIX I, the unemployment rate in the URBAN region is higher in almost every level of age, excepting the ones between 20 and 29 years old (where is lightly less: 24.3% opposite 28.4% of the whole municipality) and the ones between 55 and 59 years old (7.2% opposite 9.1% of the whole municipality). The greatest differences are observed in the level of age between 15 and 19 years old, for which there are 8% more of unemployment rate in the URBAN zone then in the whole municipality. According to the observed in the TABLES 13 and 14 of APPENDIX I, in both studied zones, the percentage of unemployed who have worked before is higher than those who look for their first job, and those percentages are higher in the URBAN zone in all cases, the highest differences are found in those women who have worked before and who have left the labor market due to different reasons (18.21% in the URBAN zone opposite 14.21% in the whole of the municipality).

 

These results, in both sexes, indicate, at first sight, a bigger shortage of labor contracts. Moreover, this kind of unemployment goes with more serious social problems than in the before method (unemployed who look for their first job), as there are more unemployed main supporters of the familiar core, who depend exclusively on the assistance or the subsidy of unemployment, and in the cases where they become long duration unemployed, even that. Focusing the analysis according to the activity branch that the employed group carries out and having into account the following classification::

 

• A - Agriculture, Ranching, Game and Silviculture
• B - Fishing
• C – Extractive Industry
• D – Manufacturing Industry
• E – Production and Distribution of electric power, gas and water
• F - Construction
• G - Commerce; Repairing of motor vehicles, motorcycles, cycles and personal and domestic use items
• H – Hotel
• I - Transport, Storage and Communications
• J – Financial Intermediation
• K – Real estate, Renting and Business services
• L – Public Administration, Defense and compulsory Social Security
• M - Education
• N – Health-care and Veterinary Activities; Social Assistance
• O – Other Social Activities and Activities of Services Provided to the Community; Personal Services
• P – Household Activities
• Q – Extraterritorial Bodies

 

We observe (PICTURE 30 of APPENDIX I) that most of the employed population in the URBAN zone carry out their jobs in the branch of Commerce (including repairing of motor vehicles, motorcycles, cycles and personal and domestic use items) (19.55%), that in the branch of Manufacturing Industry (19.42%) or in the Construction branch (13.93%). In the whole municipality, the people dedicated to the Commerce branch dominate ( including repairing of motor vehicles, motorcycles, cycles and personal and domestic use items) (16.04%), to the Manufacturing Industry (15.98%) or the Public Administration branch, defense y compulsory

The main differences are in the construction sector (4.14%), commerce (3.51%) and manufacturing industries (3.44%), sectors with domination in the URBAN zone opposite the total of the municipality. On the other hand, those sectors where the differences are in favor of the total of the municipality (predominance of the total to the URBAN zone) are the following; Public Administration sector, defense and compulsory social security (3.71%), Education sector (3.44%) and the sectors of health-care activities, veterinary activities and social assistance (2.66%). These differences are logically linked to the educative level in each zone, what explains that in the URBAN zone the jobs of higher degrees don’t dominate.

 

Focusing the analysis according to the socioeconomic situation of the employed group, and having into account the following classification:

 

• A – Farmers with employed people
• B – Farmers with unpaid workers
• C – Members of Agricultural Cooperatives
• D – Directors and Chiefs of firms or Agricultural Holdings
• E – Rest of Workers of Agricultural Holdings
• F – Professional Staff, Technicians and Employees who exercise self-employment with or without employees.
• G – Nonagricultural Employers with employed people
• H – Nonagricultural Employers with unpaid workers
• I – Members of Nonagricultural Cooperatives
• J – Directors and managers of nonagricultural Establishments, Senior Officials of the Public Administration, Autonomous Communities and Local Corporations.
• K – Professional Staff, Technicians and Employees who exercise self-employment
• L – Professional Staff with Occupations of Public Administration exclusively
• M – Rest of Administrative and Commercial Personnel
• N – Rest of Service Personnel
• O – Bosses and Inspectors of Nonagricultural Establishments
• P – Skilled and Specialized Operators of Nonagricultural establishments
• Q – Operators without Specification of Nonagricultural Establishments
• R – Professional Staff of the Armed Forces
• S – Not Classified by Socioeconomic Situation

 

We observe (PICTURE 31 of APPENDIX I) that most of the employed people in the URBAN zone carry out functions of skilled and specialized operators of nonagricultural establishments (32.56%), belong to the group of service personnel (17.86%), or to the group of administrative and commercial personnel (15.56%), excluding in the two last cases the public administration.

 

In the whole of the municipality, the skilled and specialized operators de nonagricultural establishments dominate too (21.42%), the professional staff, technician and employees who carry out their activity as an employed person (19.62%), the service personnel (19.45%) or the administrative and commercial personnel (14.74%), excluding too in the last two cases the public administration.

 

The main differences are in the group of skilled and specialized operators of nonagricultural establishments (11.14%) and the service personnel excluding the public administration (3.12%). In both sectors it is seen domination of the URBAN zone opposite the whole of municipality.

 

On the other hand, those professions where the differences are in favor of the whole municipality (domination opposite the total to the URBAN zone) are the following: professionals, technicians y asimilados who carry out their activity por cuenta ajena (9.1%) and administrative and commercial personnel excluding the public administration (3.89%). These differences mark the worker nature of the URBAN zone opposite the whole municipality.

 

Regarding to the professional situation of the employed group (PICTURE 32 of APPENDIX I), in both zones the steady employees dominate in about 62% in both cases. The differences come from the group of businessmen or professionals who employ perosnnel, lightly less in the URBAN region (4.14% opposite 6.33% of the whole town), although it is true that these differences are not very notable.

 

Main characteristics of the URBAN zone

• Very low economic activity in the URBAN zone, characterized by the great quantity of existing inactive premises.
• Regarding to the active premises, in general very low economic activity according to the existing population, what indicates the economic fall of this zone of the town, caused by a demand which has less and less purchasing power regarding to the one in the rest of the town.
• Especial shortage of services (legal, financing, bank, leisure) per inhabitant, which is 1/11 of the one in the rest of the municipality.
• This very low level of economic activity tends to turn out the zone, gradually and progressively, in a group of “Dormitory Districts”, with the circumstance that it makes them more vulnerable to the introduction of marginal activities.

 

Regarding to the Economic Activity of the Zone, it stands out the fact that, according to the data of the Population and Housing Register 2001, more than 50% of the premises in the URBAN zone have not activity, while in the whole municipality, this figure only goes up to 25%.

 

Because of the scarce importance or the similar weigh of the rest of examined activities, the lower relative percentage is found in the offices or services (legal, financing, securities…), that in the URBAN zone means the 9.27% of the activities opposite the 32.70% that represent in the whole of the municipality. The reason of the relative shortage of this kind of services in the URBAN zone has its explanation in the association between urban location and prestige in this kind of activities, because of that, lawyers, financial advisors, real state services, etc draw together in the main public ways of Palencia, which are not located in the action zone.

 

Having into account the data provided by the Local Development Agency and by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Palencia, correspondent to the present year 2007, it stands out the scarce of health-care activities as pharmacies (there are only 3 in the URBAN zone), of bank activities as banks and saving banks (there are only 6 in the URBAN zone), of activities about leisure (there are 20 premises of this type in the URBAN zone), or of the activities linked to social assistance (there is only one in whole URBAN zone) opposite the amount of commercial premises (100 in the URBAN zone).

 

However, rather than the percentage distribution of the activity, the representative indicator of the under-allocation of activities in the URBAN zone is the ration between the number of economic activities and the number of inhabitants in each zone, fraction represented in the CHART 35 of APPENDIX I. Observing the ratio which links the total of economic activities and the population goes out the huge asymmetry between the compared zones.

 

In the URBAN zone, per each 100 inhabitants, there are 1.71% economic activities, and 5.64% in the total of the town, which implies a very low level of economic activity in the URBAN zone, which doesn’t correspond to the volume of population. Differing by types of activities; the under-allocation of services (legal, financing, leisure …) is the greatest, since in the URBAN zone the ratio is 11.5 times less than the total of the town.

 

However, the low grade of activity also affects to other activities such as industrial premises (with a ratio 6.5% times less than in the whole of the town) and even the commercial premises, that in spite of meaning 73.51% of the activities of the URBAN zone, go on being less numerous than in the whole of the town according to number of inhabitants.

 

This very low of economic activity (consequence of allowing that the trade is the one which assign and reorder the use and the value of the land according to strictly economic criteria, without having into account the cultural worth of the preexisting structures) is getting the districts of the action zone, gradually and progressively, a similar situation to the ones of the dormitory towns, with the circumstance that this makes them more vulnerable to the introduction of marginal activities.

 

Main characteristics of the URBAN zone

• Isolation due to the existing railway, which separates it from the rest of the town, with few points of link.
• Shortage of bus lines which run the URBAN zone and shortage of bus stops inside it.
• Insufficient frequency of buses.
• Low allocation of taxi stops, which are as well into disuse.

 

The isolation is one of the main characteristics of the URBAN zone.

 

Separated from the rest of the town by the railway, the lack of link points generates the sensation in the inhabitants of this zone of living in the outskirts, although they aren’t, in a lot of cases, very far from the centre of the capital.

 

In this sense there are a underground crossing and a level crossing which communicate the zone with the another side of the railway, it also stands out the lack of passages over the tracks.

 

Since the URBAN zone spreads along the railway, the mentioned points of joint are a obviously insufficient, and they don’t avoid neither the sensation of exclusion nor the danger one, backed up this last one by the too frequent deaths of people (especially youth) which cross the tracks without using the quoted crossings.

 

Regarding to the before aspect, perhaps the shortage of crossings which avoid the railway tracks is one of the main causes of the faults in the net of collective urban transport of the zone, although it is true that this fact does not justify that of the 6 urban bus lines which run the city, only two (line B and line E) (PICTURE 36 of APPENDIX I) runs the URBAN zone, having only 7 stops of one-way and 7 of return (line B) and 5 stops of one-way and 6 of return (line E) in the URBAN zone.

On the other hand, moreover the shortage of lines and stops in the URBAN zone there is also limited frequency of running these lines the URBAN zone, especially in the case of line E, whose frequency is only one hour.

The allocation of another mean public transport, the taxi, represented through the number of stops in each zone, it is still more insufficient in the URBAN zone and generally these stops are not used habitually by the taxi drivers.

 

 

Main characteristics of the URBAN zone

• More poverty in the URBAN zone than in the whole municipality, characterized by the kind of housing and their available services.

 

Moreover, as indicators of higher isolation and poverty in the URBAN zone, the following characteristics have been evaluated:

 

• Year of construction and state of housing.
• Size of the housing.
• Proportion of housing with garage.
• Proportion of housing with elevator.
• Proportion of housing with heating.
• Proportion of housing with flowing water.
• Proportion of houses with telephone lines.
• Proportion of houses with evacuation systems of waste water.

 

In this sense, and as it is shown in the following charts (PICTURES 37-45 of APPENDIX I), the URBAN zone is characterized by a higher general shortage, comparing to the whole municipality. So, except in the case of the availability of flowing water and evacuation systems of waste water, which is very similar in the URBAN zone as well in the whole municipality, the URBAN zone is characterized by owning fewer services than the total of the municipality and by owning older, smaller and worse condition housing.

If we analyze in detail each situation, we can point out that the proportion of housing built before 1960 is much higher (practically the double) in the URBAN zone than in the whole of the municipality (31.51% opposite 15.76% of the whole municipality), being lower the percentage of housing built between 1960 and 1980 (27.88% opposite 46.73%) and more similar the one of the housing built from 1989 (39.85% and 36.72% respectively), highlighting that due to the boom of construction, this percentage is lightly higher in the URBAN zone. To the factor of a higher proportion of old buildings in the URBAN zone, it is also summed a higher proportion (almost double) of housing in bad state or deficient state (7.79% opposite 4.11% of the whole town), although it is true that most of housing in both cases, are preserved in good state.

 

If we also analyze the size of housing, we also find too notable data. In spite of the fact that the two comparing zones follow the same tendency (abundance of medium-size flats and scarcity of large and small-size flats), the proportion of housing of less than 60 square meters is higher in the case of the URBAN zone (13.43% opposite 9.88% of the whole town) and this proportion rises in the flats of less than 75 square meters (45.2% opposite 33.19% of the whole town) and the ones of less than 90 square meters (82.88% opposite 68.39% of the whole town). In the flats larger than 90 square meters, the proportion changes, being higher in the whole of the town (17.12% opposite 31.62% in the whole of the town)

 

Regarding the characteristics and services available in the comparing zones, it stands out that 65.04% of housing in the URBAN zone doesn’t have garage, opposite the 56.96% that doesn’t have it in the whole of the municipality. If we analyze the elevator availability in the buildings, the difference is even higher (26.35%), being the percentage of housing without elevator of 59.66% in the URBAN zone opposite the whole of the municipality.

 

Regarding the heating availability, although the differences are lower between the two comparing zones, the percentage of housing without heating is higher in the URBAN zone (10.86% opposite 7.07% of the whole municipality). The same happens regards to the telephone lines availability, being 98.26% the percentage of inhabitants who own it in the total of the municipality, opposite 93.48% in the URBAN zone.

 

As we have already pointed out, the availability of flowing water in the housing and the availability of evacuation services of waste water is very similar in both zones, being very little the percentage of inhabitants who aren’t provided with these services.

 

Main characteristics of the URBAN zone

 

• The main marginal group in Palencia is the gipsy population. From the total, 38.1% lives in the URBAN zone.
• The gipsy group represents 6.53% of the whole population of the urban zone, what means a percentage 3.5 times more than the represented by this group in the total of the municipality.
• In the URBAN zone the 19.66% of the pupils of child education, primary or secondary is gipsy, and it is concentrated on the schools of the zone (reaching to represent the 75% of the students of the centers in some cases), what is causing the leaving of non-gipsy pupils to other school centers.
• Besides, there is a high grade of scholar absenteeismin the gipsy group, representing aproximately the 100% of the existing absenteeism in Child and Primary Education and the 57% of absenteeism existing in pupils of secondary.
• It is also remarkable the fact that the gipsy pupils leave the Educational System when they finish the Compulsory Secondary Education, doing it in lots of cases without success and most of the gipsy pupils attend to the compulsory secondary education with a curricular imbalance respect to their chronologic ages of two courses.
• The important presence of the gipsy group inside the URBAN zone, determines several of the representative indicators of the population rent, characterizing the URBAN zone with a high proportion of low rents, lower socioeconomic levels and higher poverty in general which is characterized by the type of housing of the population and the services available in them
• The 32.24% of the total receivers of the denominated social salary or Minimum Income for Inclusion in Society, live in the URBAN zone. Considerating the people belonging to ethnic minories, the proportion increase and practically the 50% of receivers of help who belong to this group, live in the URBAN zone.
• Higher social conflictivity and crime in the zone.
• The allocation of basic social services, which guarantee the access to the social action system, although saturada in the use of equipment and labor charge of the human resources, is comparable to the rest of the town and to the regional patterns, and its shortages are produced in the allocation of some specific social services.

 

The main marginal group existing in Palencia is the gipsy population, formed, according to the data of Concejalia de Bienestar Social Wealth Council of the Town Council of Palencia, by 1,508 people (777 women and 731 men), what means the 1.89% of the total population. The 35.08% of this group is under 16 years old and only the 3.90% is over 65, so it is a population very young,moreover having into account that the 63.47% of the population are not over 30 years old.

 

In the PICTURES 46 and 47 of APPENDIX I, it is observed that from all the gipsy population, 575 people (38.1%) live in the URBAN zone, what means the 6.53% of the total population in this zone. If we also take into account the whole population of the URBAN zone, it represents 12.96% of the whole population of Palencia, the fact that the percentage of gipsy population is approximately the triple of the percentage of general population which represents the URBAN zone is also significant. This fact implies that the problems, which in lots of cases accompany to this group, as the overcrowding and lack of health between others, inciden with bigger force in this zone of the town..

The total of the gipsy population represents a percentage 3.5 times more in the case of the population of the URBAN zone than in the case of the total of the municipality, difference that is maintained if we analyze the group according to sex (PICTURE 47 of APPENDIX I). Analyzing the gipsy group of the URBAN zone according to ages (PICTURE 48 of APPENDIX I), it is observed that most of the gipsy population resident in this zone (60.8%) is under 30 years old, while the ones over 60 only represent 14% of the gipsy population..

It stands out that education is one of the more affected aspects because of the concentration of gipsy population in the URBAN zone, since it is confirmed the accumulation of gipsy population in some school centers of child and primary education. This phenomenon happens for a long time, and responds to the own distribution of the population in the land, besides the lack of correction measures in educative politics that, at local level, had originated a better distribution. As a consequence of it, it is more the number of gipsy pupils that in the last two years have left these centers and have opted for registering in other schools, which are located outside the URBAN zone in most cases.

As it is shown in TABLE 15 of APPENDIX I, the percentages of students of gipsy ethnic are high, in public schools as well as in High Shool located in the URBAN zone, standing out especially the very high percentage of gipsy pupils in Juan de Mena School (78.99% in the academic year 2007-2008). As it is shown in the legend of the mentioned table, it is also remarkable the fact that the gipsy pupils leave the Educational System when finishing the Compulsory Secondary Education, in lots of cases without success.

 

On the other hand, it is remarkable the high absenteeism scholar correspondent to the gipsy group, in the case of Child and Primary Education as well in the case of Secondary Education. Although the data available are of the province of Palencia, since most of the gipsy population lives in the URBAN zone, the tendency will be highly significant for this zone.

 

So, we can remark that during the course 2006-2007, the 18% of the gipsy pupils attending to school in Child Education was assisted by the commissions of scholar absenteeism, being this percentage 10% for the Primary Education and 50% for the Secondary. It is known that in Child and Primary Education, almost 100% of the pupils who don’t attend to school of the province belong to the gipsy ethnic, while in the case of the Secondary Education this group represents 57% of the total.

 

It stands out that the aproximations of the total of gipsy pupils of the province of Palencia and according to a study drawn up in February of the present year by the Provincial Directorate of Education of Palencia, most of the gipsy pupils se incorpora to the Secondary Education with a desfase curricular of two years respect to their chronologic age of two courses.

 

From another point of view, although it is a direct consequence of the important presence of the gipsy group inside the URBAN zone, several of the representative indicators of the population rent are seriously affected, as it was highly detailed in the paragraphs 2 and 7 of this socioeconomic analysis, where we make reference to a higher proportion of low rents in the URBAN zone, lower socioeconomic levels and in general higher poverty which characterizes the type of housing and services available in them.

 

Another representative indicator of the lower rent of the zone and the incidence of situations of social isolation, is the number of receivers of the denomitated social salary (RMI), whose profile is the one of the people of middle-age with dependent relatives and without studies or with primary studies, outside the labor market, whose level of rent doesn’t go over the denominated Minimum Income for Inclusion in Society. So, according to the data correspondent to 2007, provided by the Town Council of Palencia, and it is shown in the TABLE 16 of APPENDIX I, of a total of 304 receivers of this help, a third belongs to the URBAN zone (98); having into account that population of the URBAN zone represents around 12.96% of the whole population of the municipality, this means that in this zone there are 2.5 times more receivers of this help than the correspondent according to its population, if the division was equal in the whole of the municipality.

If we have into account the receivers of the help in group of ethnic minorities, the difference is also higher, because of 168 total receivers belonging to this group, approximately half of them belong to the URBAN zone (79), what means 25% of the total receivers of the town.

 

As it can be observed in the correspondent table of APPENDIX I, the differences between the receivers who belong to ethnic minorities and those who belong to the denominated general population are much higher (practically double) in the URBAN zone (19.74% of difference in favor of the ethnic minorities) than in the total of the municipality (10.52% of difference in favor of the ethnic minorities).

 

All in all, and as a consequence of all the analyzed data, it can be observed more cases of isolation in the URBAN zone, which are translated into a much higher percentage of situations of extreme neccessity, because there is high grade of social conflicts and crime. In this sense, and according to the data of the Population and Housing Register of 2001, practically 10% of the population of the URBAN zone considerate that there is crime and vandalism in the zone.

 

The Town Council of Palencia, through the Social Wealth Counil hcas done a clear and decidida apuesta to develop the Basic Social Services as the Law 18/88 of Castilla y Leon Government and the Decree 13/90, which developes it, establishes.

 

 

Environmental Situation of the zone, the assessment is based on total and relative terms opposite the whole urban.

 

Main characteristics of the URBAN zone

• It only owns the 10.74% of the total of the garden areas of the town, with a deficit regarding the population in the zone.
• Levels of noise, visual and air pollution relatively high.
• Low allocation of solid waste collection and selective collection
• The zone is characterized by the existence of numerous external noises; by little cleaning in the streets, by a lack of green areas and by a high grade of pollution or bad odors.

 

The town of Palencia owns 820,000 square meters estimated of green areas, from which 88.068 square meters are located in the URBAN zone (TABLE 17 and PICTURE 49 of APPENDIX I). This means only the 10.74% of the total of the town, insufficient proportion if we have into account that the population of the URBAN zone means the 12.96% of the total municipality. In this sense, the green area per inhabitant of the URBAN zone is 1.7 points less than the one which corresponds to each inhabitant of the whole municipality.

 

Table 17. Surface of green areas in the whole municipality and the URBAN ZONE. 2007. Source: Council of Palencia.

Considering the total area of the whole municipality and the URBAN zone, the differences are less and favorable to the URBAN zone, which has a slightly bigger green area regarding the area of the zone (8.17% opposite 7.53% correspondent to the whole municipality)

 

Moreover, the Hill of Cristo, which occupies a great area (98004.66 square meters), hasn’t been included in this comparative because we consider that would cut the results in favor of the URBAN zone, without being able to consider it as an urban green space.

 

The mention Hill, in spite of increasing the green area of the URBAN zone, has some degradation and abandon conditions which make necessary its restoration, environmental as well as of infrastructure. By this way, the emblematic place of the town will be able to be considerate again a catchword for the inhabitants of the URBAN zone as well as for the rest of the town and the visitors and will be able to generate an impulse in the URBAN zone, increasing the number of visits. Moreover the insufficiency of parks and gardens and the degradation of the existing ones, there are other indicators that show, always in relative terms, such an environmental degradation. The action zone is conditioned in this sense by its proximity to the railway Madrid-Santander, which makes that the levels of noise pollution are high in the zone. Equally, the visual and air pollution is higher in the URBAN zone than in the rest of the town, due to, among other things, the existence of rubble in numerous places of the zone, fact that produces a very negative environmental impact.

 

Moreover air pollution is also caused by the low allocation of services of waste collection and low use of the existing ones between the residents. In this sense, the waste collection is daily done through containers of side collection in all zones and there are containers of selective collection of packaging as well as paper and glass. The allocation of containers or urban solid waste (TABLE 18 of APPENDIX I) is less than the one in the whole of the town, with only 65 containers in all the zone, there is a container of this characteristics per each 165 inhabitants, opposite 142 inhabitants who have to share the same container in the whole of the town.

 

Tables 18 and 19. Provision of solid waste containers and collection in the Urban Zone. 2007. Source: Council of Palencia.

Regarding to the allocation of selective collection containers (TABLE 19 of APPENDIX I), there are only 25 containers of glass collection, 18 of paper collection and 26 of packaging collection in the URBAN zone. The number of inhabitants who have to share the same container is especially alarming in the case of the containers of paper collection where the figure rises to 596 inhabitants what means the 18% of the population of the whole zone. According to the data of the Population and Housing Register 2001 (PICTURE 50 OF APPENDIX I), a high percentage of the residents in the URBAN zone considerate that the zone is characterized by numerous external noises (16%), by low cleaning in the streets (14%), by a lack of green areas (11%) and by a high grade of pollution or bad odors (4%).

 

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT Analysis and systems of indicators of monitoring of the PALENCIA URBAN Project.

 

The basic definition of STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS, which the social and resident agents and the examiners who have taken part in the analysis, has been, in short, the following:

 

• WEAKNESSES: A lack in quantity or quality of a domestic remedy for which can not be found the development strategy. Something to mitigate or strengthen.
• Threat: Danger internal or external, to use any strength.
• STRENGTHS: remedies in which to establish the development strategy.
• OPPORTUNITIES: A factor or situation that can benefit from outsourcing some strength. If they go ahead, allow strengths to work.