Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Professor Ana Marcel Ardila Pinto, Dr Natalia Villamizar DuarteORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
This paper examines how urban centralities are socially constructed through mobility practices in Bogotá (Colombia) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil). As socially constructed geographies, centralities are shaped not only by agglomeration and density but also intersubjectively by mobility practices that vary widely depending on situational and relational dimensions of individuals such as gender, age, income, and their modal transport choices. To identify the formation of centralities beyond ‘traditional’ urban cores, we developed two indexes: the Diversity Centralities Index, which identifies areas attracting a broad range of social groups, and the Differential Centralities Index, which identifies areas attracting specific groups such as older people, women, low-income individuals and active transport users. The results show that while obligatory travel patterns align with planned centralities, distinct local centralities also emerge based on the spatial patterns of different social groups. In both cities, these local centralities appear not only in traditional cores but also in peripheral areas. These findings challenge the central–peripheral dichotomy often emphasised in urban planning and reinterpret urban centralities as dynamic, socially constructed spaces shaped by diverse and differential mobility practices.
Author(s): Viana Cerqueira E, Ardila Pinto AM, Villamizar-Duarte N, Antunes Lessa D, Ruiz CA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Urban Studies
Year: 2025
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 03/09/2025
Acceptance date: 17/07/2025
Date deposited: 09/10/2025
ISSN (print): 0042-0980
ISSN (electronic): 1360-063X
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251362648
DOI: 10.1177/00420980251362648
Data Access Statement: All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
