Abstract

In order to determine the risk to health caused by precarious urban dwellings, this paper presents an approach based on complex thought, collective health, and global vulnerability from a holistic conception. The analysis focuses on sociodemographic vulnerability from a perspective that integrates the concepts of both, human and physical social capital, taking into account capital assets and structure of opportunities that a home possesses. A conceptual model is proposed which requires the application of a complex, non-linear logics of analysis for the determination of the risk rate to health caused by dwellings. This model uses the information yielded by population census to carry out the sociodemographic evaluation, as well as forms containing data gathered by local governments to assess the structure of opportunities.