Felipe Link

Tendencias recientes del crecimiento metropolitano en Santiago de Chile. ¿Hacia una nueva geografía urbana?

Frente a la tendencia hacia lo urbano generalizado que se observa actualmente en la mayor parte del mundo, este trabajo tiene el proposito de analizar si esta tendencia tambien se ha manifestado en el crecimiento del Sistema Urbano Metropolitano de Santiago (SUMS). Para ello se analizaron las tendencias dominantes observadas en las ultimas dos decadas, prestando especial atencion a los fenomenos de dispersion urbana y recuperacion del crecimiento de algunas comunas del area central de la ciudad de Santiago. Al respecto, la informacion analizada permite concluir que la tendencia dominante de crecimiento urbano continua siendo hacia la expansion del area urbana del SUMS, al mismo tiempo que tambien se puede comprobar la recuperacion de algunas de las comunas centrales, en un fenomeno complejo en el que dispersion territorial y re centralizacion, aparecen como fenomenos complementarios y caracterizados por un patron de urbanizacion desigual.

Urban vulnerability and the contribution of socio-environmental fragmentation Theoretical and methodological pathways

As ongoing parallel processes, urbanization and climate change call for overarching context-specific responses that tackle the complex challenges involved and include a comprehensive data base to identify the most pressing action needs. We argue that urban vulnerabilities must take centre stage in this regard. What comes to the fore in the context of urban vulnerability to climate-related hazards is the interaction of human systems with the environment. Understanding the impact of changes in temperature and precipitation on socio-ecological systems is therefore not enough. Insights into the complexity of urban development, social inequalities, economics and politics are needed. To address this complexity, the article focuses on the challenges associated with socio-environmental fragmentation patterns and residential vulnerability, since the interlinkages between them contribute substantially to furthering insights into the specifics of ‘urban’ vulnerabilities to climate-related hazards. An approach that combines socio-environmental fragmentation and residential vulnerability is presented. This approach explores socio-environmental urban developments as well as individual perceptions and capacities.

Segregación, estructura y composición social del territorio metropolitano en Santiago de Chile. Complejidades metodológicas en el análisis de la diferenciación social en el espacio

The study of social differentiation in space requires signifi cant theoretical and methodological defi nitions in order to address the complex relationship between space and society. In that regard, it is possible to identify different lines of research that claim to account for this relationship. The aim of this paper is to present an analysis of social differentiation in space in the metropolitan area of Santiago using socio- spatial typologies. The results indicate that, although it is possible to identify some general patterns that are similar when using different approaches, typology analysis can better address the social complexity of metropolitan space. Finally, this paper aims to account for the centrality of the variable occupation as a factor of social differentiation in the urban context.

Impacts of the urban dynamics on labor markets in major Chilean cities

Resumen Las reformas de liberalización económica y financiera en la mayoría de los países de América Latina, provocaron un cambio radical en la base de producción material en la región. En este contexto, este trabajo pretende identificar y caracterizar el vínculo entre el crecimiento de las principales ciudades chilenas y la evolución de sus mercados laborales urbanos, buscando responder si estamos en presencia o no, de un proceso de urbanización de la estructura laboral. Específicamente, la hipótesis es que, a pesar de que las ciudades analizadas se distinguen en función de economías regionales especializadas, las estructuras de los diversos mercados laborales tienden a un proceso de homogenización, asociados a una dinámica eminentemente urbana y arrastrando con ello a la estructura de diferenciación social.

New neoliberal public housing policies: between centrality discourse and peripheralization practices in Santiago, Chile

Abstract The lack of geographical equality in the development of neoliberal social housing models is evidence of differing ideological discourses and socio-spatial practices in the production of social housing. Based on a critical analysis of the Housing Policy for Quality Improvement and Social Integration promoted in Chile in 2006—the basis for a set of subsequent policies—this study seeks to identify the link between state discourse promoting further urban centralization of social housing and neoliberal subsidy allocation practices that have shaped the geography of recent residential production (2007–2012). Using an ideological critique and a descriptive spatial analysis to assess the notions of urban centrality, we found that equality and integration form the rhetoric used to legitimize and reproduce practices that lead to peripheralization of the poor. These practices are not limited to the city but have expanded to the extended urban area, creating a larger niche for the real estate industry.

Arriendo en propiedad

Current housing policies and the increased price of land hamper the construction of well-located dwellings for low-income groups in Chile. On the other hand, international recommendations propose the leasing of dwellings as a solution to the spatial segregation generated by housing policies. However, the situation of tenants and the activity of leasing as well as the housing policies involved in this sector have been scarcely explored in Chile and Latin America. The case study of the port district of Valparaiso, a site characterized by the development of this type of tenure –where more than 90 percent of dwellers are tenants– explores and describes the subjective dimensions of tenancy associated with attachment and the sense of belonging to the place of residence and the neighborhood, which transcend the type of land ownership. This paper analyses the characteristics of tenancy, which is understood as a specific type of residential vulnerability within a context marked by social production at a neighborhood scale and the pressure exerted by urban renewal and gentrification initiatives.

Competitividad, mercados del trabajo y estructura socioterritorial en Bogotá, Lima y Santiago

Economic and labor market reforms to varying degrees and at different times have affected the emergence of new mechanisms of exclusion in Chile, Colombia and Peru. These, in turn, have contributed to the segmentation of labor markets and residential developments in Santiago, Bogota and Lima. Thus the aim of this paper is to provide answers to questions that arise from this process: how have the processes of economic liberalization and productive restructuring, which sought to stimulate economic growth in these countries in the context of globalization, affected the transformation of the urban labor market and socio territorial structure of these cities? Is the search for increased competitiveness reconcilable with a city with lower levels of urban exclusion?

Coping with Natural Disasters and Urban Risk: An Approach to Urban Sustainability from Socio-Environmental Fragmentation and Urban Vulnerability Assessment

Abstract Purpose Cities have been exposed to a variety of natural disasters such as flooding, extreme temperatures, storms, earthquakes, and other natural shocks, and have had to respond and adapt to such pressures over time. In the context of global climate change, natural disasters have increased across the globe. Apart from climate change, many urban environments in Latin America are experiencing significant transformations in land use patterns, socio-demographic change, changing labor markets, and economic growth, resulting from recent decades of globalization. Such transformations have resulted in the internal fragmentation of cities. In this context, the purpose of the present chapter is to demonstrate the importance in both theoretical and methodological terms, of integrating the concept of socio-environmental fragmentation into urban vulnerability research in order to make progress toward higher degrees of local sustainability in those areas of the city that suffer natural disasters and fragmentation. Methodology/approach A mixed methods approach is used in order to combine different technical issues from urban and climate change studies. Findings The findings are related to the importance of an integrated approach, regarding the complexity of urban life, and the relationship between the urban, the social, and the environmental phenomenon. Social implications This chapter relates to the revisit of the current state of preparedness and to determine whether further adaptations are required. The authors understood that these kinds of mixed approaches are necessary in order to understand the new complexity of urban processes.

De la casa al barrio

Como componente estructural de la realidad urbana, la calle suele tomarse como un hecho dado y hasta cierto punto, obvio. La reflexion sobre las primeras normativas que regularon su naturaleza da pistas sobre los destinos y roles que, en nuestra realidad contemporanea, la calle puede asumir.