Determination of the infrastructure needs for municipalities using an objective method
Introduction
The quality of life in a population center is intimately related to the quality of the infrastructure. Infrastructure in a poor or lacking state leads to various needs remaining unsatisfied in a municipality. Covering those needs implies a better quality of life. The greater the need for infrastructure, the lower the quality of life.
Since 1985, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) has been carrying out regular inspections of the infrastructure and equipment of Spain’s municipalities and preparing indices, which are used for regulatory purposes.
By means of these indices, one can determine which municipalities have more possibilities for improvement in the quality of life, and whether the size of the population will affect this capacity for improvement. Municipalities that have their infrastructure and equipment needs covered will be in the best position for such improvements.
The regulatory indices of the state of infrastructure and equipment are the following (Ministry for Public Administrations, 1994):
(1) Water supply index (Icap): The percentage of the seasonal population that is affected by insufficient water supply.
(2) Potability (drinking water) index (Ipot): The percentage of the seasonal population that is affected by a deficiency in the control of drinking water quality or its periodicity.
(3) Water deposits index (Idep): The total capacity of the water deposits in m3 divided by the estimated consumption of the maximum seasonal population represents the number of days of reserves with respect to the maximum seasonal population in the municipality. Therefore, Idep will be given by the expression:
The number of days of reserves is given by the expression:The value of 0.2 is given because the assumed water consumption is 200 l per inhabitant per day. The recommendation is to use a cutoff for the value of the capacity, with the supply capacity per inhabitant considered sufficient for any value equal to or greater than this maximum. The maximum R (Rmax) selected is three days, which is assigned the value 100.
(4) Distribution index (Idis): The percentage of the length of the water mains network in a poor or deficient state.
(5) Sewer index (Isan): The percentage of the length of the sewer network in a poor or deficient state.
(6) Water treatment and discharge index (Iver): The percentage of the maximum seasonal population with no treatment of their wastewater.
(7) Street paving index (Ipav): The percentage of the urban street network that is unpaved or has paving in a poor state relative to the municipality’s total paved roadway area.
(8) Street lighting index (Ialu): The number of street lamps per 25 m of roadway. The street lighting index is given by the expression:With one street lamp per 25 m, the street network is assumed to be sufficiently lit.It seems advisable to assign an upper bound to the results, depending on the maximum value of L.
(9) Garbage collection index (Ibas): The percentage of the maximum seasonal population with no garbage collection service.
(10) Rubbish dumps index (Ires): The percentage of the maximum seasonal population affected by uncontrolled rubbish dumps.
(11) Cultural index (Icul): The cultural index is defined by the expression:The area of space devoted to cultural use, with the space being in a good or regular state, is averaged per seasonal inhabitant in each municipality using the expression:
After a comparative study of the results, it was considered opportune to set an upper bound on the results. A value of 100 will be assigned to all of the results equal to or greater than that cutoff, taking the area of cultural spaces per seasonal inhabitant to be sufficient in such a case. The maximum selected is:whereand n is the number of municipalities studied.
(12) Sports index (Idpo): The area of public space devoted to sport facilities and in a good or regular state, relative to the population size. Hence, this is calculated as in the previous case – with the arithmetic mean and standard deviation, the sports index is defined by the expression:
The area in good or regular condition and devoted to sport facilities is averaged per seasonal inhabitant in each municipality, using the expression:
After a comparative study of the results, it was considered opportune to set an upper bound on the results. A value of 100 will be assigned to all of the results equal to or greater than that cutoff, taking the area of sport facilities per seasonal inhabitant to be sufficient in such a case. The maximum selected is:
(13) Green zone index (Izve): The area of public green zones in good or regular states relative to population size. Hence, this is calculated with the arithmetic mean and standard deviation, as in the previous case, and the green zone index is defined by the expression:
As in the previous case, the area is averaged using the expression:
After a comparative study of the results, it was considered opportune to set an upper bound on the results. A value of 100 will be assigned to all of the results equal to or greater than that cutoff, assuming the area of green zones per seasonal inhabitant is sufficient in such a case. The maximum selected is:
(14) Administrative use index (Iadm): The area of buildings of administrative use in a good or regular state relative to population size. Hence, this is calculated as in the previous cases, with the administrative use index is defined by the expression:
As in the previous case, the area is averaged using the expression:
After a comparative study of the results, it was considered opportune to set an upper bound on the results. A value of 100 will be assigned to all of the results equal to or greater than that cutoff, assuming the area of administrative use per seasonal inhabitant is sufficient in such a case. The maximum selected is:
Once these indices have been calculated, they each provide a ranking of the municipalities, i.e., 14 individual rankings. The current literature describes a general index, termed a synthetic indicator, which is a weighted average of the above indices as given by the expression:where the Ii are the above set of 14 indices, and the wi are the corresponding weights assigned to each of them, as listed in Table 1.
If we analyze these weights, some inconsistencies are apparent. Indices relating to health should have more priority than others relating to services, with those relating to service enjoying greater priority than indices relating to leisure. This should be reflected in the weights. However, the weights are incoherent with this hypothesis. For example, the garbage collection index, Ibas, is affected by a weight of six, the same weight that affects the sports index, Idpo.
The present work presents an alternative to the synthetic indicator. The set of rankings given by each of the items (the individual indices) are unified into a single measure using a method based on the Rasch model as the instrument of measurement (Álvarez, 2005). This measure discriminates the set of items in terms of municipalities and vice versa. It is this last aspect that distinguishes a Rasch measure from the synthetic indicator used up until now, together with the absence of more or less ad hoc weights, which distort the objectivity of the information underlying the data.
Section snippets
Method
One way to form a single synthesis of the items, which are expressed in different measurement units, is by means of a common referent that holds them all together. This referent, which will be adimensional and constitute the latent variable or construct, shall be termed “need”.
To achieve an adimensional characterization, we first categorize the data corresponding to the individual items of the municipalities. In particular, 10 categories or levels are established for all of the items (Álvarez,
Results and discussion
After processing the data, it was derived that the needs most frequently covered are those relating to health, followed by services, and, finally, leisure (see Table 1). That is apparent if Fig. 3 is analyzed. As reflected by their measures, all of the indices relating to health are satisfied in the majority of the municipalities. Particularly, the potability, water treatment, and garbage collection indices, Ipot, Iver, and Ibas, have the highest measures – 64.8, 65.3, and 57.5, respectively –
Conclusions
The use of the Rasch model as a measurement alternative to the synthetic indicator has some important advantages. This method unifies the information from all of the individual indices into a single measure, without using weights, which can distort the objectivity of the information underlying the data. Moreover, the Rasch measure discriminates the set of indices in terms of municipalities and vice versa, which is a useful information tool for analyzing the more or less frequent needs of the
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