Title: The use of territory carrying capacity in an urban development master plan in Neuquén city, Argentina

Authors: Juan Manuel Mendía; Juan Carlos Armando Roca

Addresses: Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Ruta 151 Km 12,5, 8303 Cinco Saltos, Río Negro, Argentina ' Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Ruta 151 Km 12,5, 8303 Cinco Saltos, Río Negro, Argentina

Abstract: The City of Neuquén is located at the confluence of the rivers Limay and Neuquén (12,800 ha), in which there is a wide variety of geological formations and ecosystems. Urban land use is mainly for residential, industrial, commercial, institutional and O&G exploitation purposes. An industrial zone and urban residential development are planned to be settled in a section of the city called 'Lote Z1' (700 ha). Information on physical variables was considered. Transformation functions and indicators of environmental quality were established for each unit of 10 ha (a cell) to calculate primary carrying capacity which was modified by external factors. Two districts were delimitated: district 1 had 45% high and very high carrying capacity, 39.5% medium and 15.5% low; whereas, in district 2, 32.6% had high and very high, 39.5% medium and 27.9% low carrying capacity. Finally, a recommendations draft for the 'Master Plan Lote Z1' was presented to the city council.

Keywords: carrying capacity; land use planning; urban master plan; territorial ordering plan.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENVH.2017.088123

International Journal of Environment and Health, 2017 Vol.8 No.4, pp.272 - 281

Received: 30 Jul 2016
Accepted: 15 Mar 2017
Published online: 24 Nov 2017 *

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