Peripheral urban sprawl configures new, extensive conurbations that transcend current administrative boundaries. Land use planning, supported by the analysis of future scenarios, is a guide to achieve sustainability in large metropolitan areas. To understand how urban sprawl is consuming natural and agricultural land, this paper analyzes land use changes in the metropolis of Quito, considering a combination of urban planning, natural conservation and risk areas. Using the Dyna-CLUE model we simulate spatial demands for future land uses by 2050, based on two growth scenarios: the trend scenario (unrestricted growth) and the regulated scenario, which considers two parameters—a government proposal for urban expansion areas and laws that protect natural areas. Both scenarios show how urban expansion consumes agricultural and natural areas. This expansion is backed by urban policies which do not sufficiently account for conservation areas nor for risk areas. Therefore, these simulations suggest that planning should follow a more holistic approach that explicitly considers urban growth beyond current administrative limits, in what we refer to as the New Metropolitan Area of Quito.

The Metropolitan Area of Quito has experienced exponential growth in recent decades, especially in peri-urban sectors. The literature has described this process as “urban sprawl”, a phenomenon that is changing the landscape by increasing land consumption and forming conurbations with the nearest populated centers. This article proposes a new, broader and more complex metropolitan structure for the metropolis of Quito, the linking of neighboring and conurbed areas to the form a new metropolitan area based on the case study of the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ). This new metropolitan area identification considers the interpretation of satellite images and the classification of land uses, highlighting the main urban growth areas located outside, but contiguous to the administrative limit of the DMQ, over a period of 19 years (1998 to 2017), the demographics analysis, particularly the densification of new urban peripheral areas close to the DMQ border and the mobility links of population, goods and services between human settlements that allows the configuration of urban corridors and the integration of the territory. The main findings evaluated are the need to evaluate urban planning strategies aimed at sustainable development.

La propagación de la COVID-19 ha enfrentado a los sistemas sanitarios del mundo a diversos desafíos. El incremento exponencial de casos que requieren atención hospitalaria ha generado escenarios de sobresaturación de los hospitales. En estos contextos la población y las instituciones han planteado diversas estrategias, entre las que se incluye la movilización de pacientes desde los lugares de vivienda a otros donde podrían ser atendidos. Estos desplazamientos se inscriben en una lógica de regiones funcionales construidas a partir de las prácticas espaciales de la población en un contexto de crisis sanitaria. El objetivo de esta investigación es observar el manejo de la crisis sanitaria desde una perspectiva regional para determinar áreas de influencia de infraestructura hospitalaria, flujos hospitalarios y vínculos entre territorios de vivienda y lugares de atención médica. Como resultado se obtuvo que la atención médica en el contexto de la crisis sanitaria devela una configuración regional subyacente. Esta organización espacial tiene un gran interés para la construcción de eficaces y eficientes sistemas territoriales de atención a pacientes en contextos de crisis y para la construcción de una resiliencia territorial.

Cemeteries are sites for the final disposal of human bodies that constitute a source of contamination of soil and water as a result of the cadaveric decomposition generated. The current research performed an initial study on the contamination of soil and water due to the influence of cemeteries and verified compliance with the legislation regulating land use and occupation of Central Ecuador (PUGS) with the aim of proposing an environmental and territorial solution to the problems generated by the mismanagement of cemeteries, through the physicochemical analysis of soil and water and studies of land use compatibility. The results indicate the tendency of contamination caused by the studied cemeteries, since the samples taken in both the rainy and dry season for the measurement of parameters BOD5, COD, DO, pH and electrical conductivity fail to meet the established requirements of the Ecuadorian and international environmental regulations. In addition, land use conflicts were encountered in the cemetery grounds. It is concluded that the existing cemeteries should be subjected to more detailed environmental analysis and subsequently should be treated as security landfills in the closure and post-closure stage. Also, it has been concluded that the cemeteries should not be located in urban or peri-urban areas.