We propose to approach the discussion of the issue of social vulnerability, from a territorial and social perspective, understood as a process of interaction between the conditions of the territory (opportunity structure) and the potential of the population that inhabits it. In general, the issue of vulnerability is understood in ecological and environmental terms. In this work it is defined as a social risk characterized by the concentration of the precariousness of collective services and public investment in infrastructure in the territory, which thereby causes a lack of social protection of the poorest communities. It is in the interaction between the social, economic and cultural aspects of the population and the place they inhabit (its potentialities) that would result in the degree of vulnerability of those places. We sought to analyze those concepts that lead us to hold a discussion about the relationship between social and spatial vulnerabilities, it is this articulation that allows us to interpret the territorial configuration that meets the materiality that is proper to the territory and the social life that animates this existence, given by the action of social relations. Thus, we hope to contribute to promote the recognition of individual rights, improve the living conditions of families and, even more, the economic, social and urban development of communities.
Social and Spatial vulnerability; Opportunity structure; Social inequalities