Los usos de suelo como huella de la producción y reproducción del espacio periurbano de la Ciudad de Cuenca. Caso de estudio Parroquia San Joaquín

Abstract

The parish of San Joaquin, historically known as “the orchard of Cuenca” because of its fertile soil, is affected by the accelerated and disorderly urban growth of the city. The agricultural land has been invaded by new activities and buildings, bringing into discussion the development of the peri-urban space of the city of Cuenca in the parish. This space has been the propitious scenario for the change of land use, going from rural to urban, with the significant implantation of buildings, commerce, services and equipment that no longer find a place in the consolidated city, generating a great impact on its surroundings. In this context, the need arises for a study that establishes the changes in land use that the parish has undergone and the reasons for these transformations. For this purpose, through an original methodology that integrates a bibliographic and descriptive analysis, the peri-urban area is conceptualized and characterized, followed by a temporal analysis, which together identify the conformation of the peri-urban area of Cuenca in the parish. Then, with a descriptive and spatial statistical analysis, the spatial structure of land use is established and characterized. Finally, an approximation of the endogenous and exogenous causes that produce the transformations of the spatial structure is reached.