El imaginario "verde" y el verde urbano como instrumento de consumo inmobiliario: configurando las condiciones ambientales del área metropolitana de santiago

Abstract

The commodification and instrumentalization of different natural elements and processes have created perfect platforms for wealth accumulation. This has been possible thanks to political, social and economic conditions. Likewise, in the case of urban environmental conditions, a “green imaginary” based on living in spaces surrounded by nature emerges in large part of the population. These conditions have triggered an unequal distribution of environmental characteristics, because when urban management is controlled by the private sector, the elite is the only group with access to green areas. This research seeks to identify urban nature as a real estate “consumption instrument”, as well as the implications of this concept on the distribution of the environmental conditions in Santiago de Chile. To this effect, the urban space in capitalist cities is regarded as a link within the platforms for wealth accumulation. In addition, this paper shows the perspective of offered/used imaginaries in the housing sector as a central issue to complete this accumulation platform.