Santiago:Land Use Governance

&Social Segregation

A case study on urban governance applied to land use in the metropolitan area of Chile’s capital city, Santiago, and its impact in social segregation along socioeconomic lines.

Santiago, Chile

Chile is considered a stellar performance by almost any standard within Latin America, being well known by its economic success in the last quarter-century (The New York Times, 2014). However, spreading of shanties around Santiago metropolitan area is still a reminder that Chile continues to follow the pattern that has characterized Latin America for centuries: a huge gap between wealthy and poor people.

‘Localist’ modelThis approach to land use governance favours the fragmentation of large metropolitan areas into small communities which control the development of those territories.

Easier citizen engagement

More efficient management

Sense of community

Social and economic exclusion Externalities: housing costs Local interests rather than

metropolitan

Urban challenge: social inclusive city

Under the shadows of high-rise apartments, still some slums of makeshift homes can be seen in Santiago (The New York Times, 2014). This city appears as a good example of the challenges that many metropolitan areas face today: how to provide an appropriate housing solution for low-income people within the urban society, avoiding class-based segregation.

Driving forces

Urban governance

As long as the urban perimeter began to grow, the value of the land increase and new real estate projects are likely to take place there.

The government offers housing subsidies to these families to relocate them to another district, however, they usually refuse to move from their social and economic networks (Mc Cawley, D 2015).

A wide variety of legal and policy instruments, including public and private actors, shape urban development. In Chile, the law governing city land use stablishes strong powers in the hands of public officials……

…… whose decisions are significantly influenced by political interests and respond to different schemes of incentives (Mc Cawley, D 2015).

Lessons learntChile has been able to promote massive access to housing in the last decades, allowing hundreds of thousands of families to move from the informal to the formal urban sector. Today, most of the irregular settlements have been removed. However, experience has shown that social housing policy based on subsidies cannot be the only remedy for socioeconomic segregation. Without addresing the institutional structure, social integration will remain unattainable (Mc Cawley, D 2015).

Good governance and planning

Governance without an adequate planning could lead to inequality. Segregated social groups have less access to social and economic opportunities that can help them to overcome their disadvantage situation. However, when a participatory design acts as a bridge builder that embeds urban planning in community development and ultimately in local governance, the latter becomes good governance (Saad-Sulonen, J & Horelli, L 2010).

Santiago: working towards a sustainable city

In spite of ongoing challenges, Santiago is a model for many Latin American cities, and it is working towards reforms in the legal structure that governs the processes of urban planning. Since 2006, ‘The New Housing Policy’ stablished by The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MINVU), assures that the social housing units will not be built exclusively in the periphery of the city.

References

Mc Cawley, D 2015, ‘The urban lawyer’, The Political Economy of Land Use Governance in Santiago, Chile and Its Implications for Class-Based Segregation, vol 47, No1, pp 119-146,148-163.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MINVU), viewed 27 August 2016, <http://www.minvu.cl/ingles/opensite_20070320074349.aspx#20070320120736 >

Saad-Sulonen, J & Horelli, L 2010, ‘The Journal of Community Informatics’, The value of Community Informatics to participatory urban planning and design: a case-study in Helsinki, vol 6, No 2.

The New York Times, 2014, Income Gap Shrinks in Chile, for Better or Worse, viewed 27 August 2016,<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/business/economy/income-gap-shrinks-in-chile-for-better-or-worse.html>