Everyday Proximity Index · Montevideo
How close is everyday life on foot in Montevideo?
We measured Montevideo by the same yardstick we use in Mexico, Colombia and Spain: for each person, how far away food, education, health, recreation, culture and transit are, walking along the street network, compared with everyone else in the city.
01 · How it is measured
The distance to everyday life, person by person.
From the point of each populated census zone, the network of streets and paths is followed to the nearest place of six functions: food, education, health, recreation, culture and transit. Fifteen minutes on foot, at 4.8 km/h, is 1,200 m along the network. In Montevideo the unit is the INE census zone, with the 2023 population published by the Intendencia; the destinations of the six functions come from OpenStreetMap. 67 populated census zones (8,306 people) have no index: their point could not be connected to the pedestrian network within 150 m.
For each function, each person receives the position they hold relative to everyone else: an index of 30 means they live farther from that function than 70% of the people measured; one of 80, closer than 80%. The index is the average of the six functions, and a city’s index is the average of the people who live in it.
02 · One scale
03 · People and proximity
Where many people live far from everything, and where there is city to spare nearby.
Each census zone has a density, how many people live per hectare, and a proximity index. Crossing the two reveals two situations that call for opposite responses:
Where many people live with little proximity, services are needed. Where there is high proximity and few people, the city can take in more residents without moving them away from everyday life.
04 · What is missing
The index summarizes six functions, but they are not all equally missing. The table shows the score of each function, from 0 to 100, with the same color scale for the whole table; below each score, the median distance per person.
People without the service within a fifteen-minute walk
The index compares positions; these bars count absences: the share of the population without a single place of that function within 1,200 m along the network.
05 · The eight municipalities
The eight municipalities, on the same scale.
Montevideo, municipality by municipality, with the same color scale. Tap one to open the city map.
06 · Interactive atlas
Explore each census zone on the map.
Choose a function or the cross of people and proximity. On hover, each census zone shows its population, its index and the distance to the nearest place of each function.
Measure your neighborhood: find your street and compare it →
For your city
We carry out this analysis for your city, with your data and your question.
The same method works in any city with open data, and it is refined with each government’s own records.
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