Streets as Public Spaces, a Challenge in Urban Planning for Intermediate Cities in Chile

Abstract

In the past 10 years, the concept of public space has gradually become a new key topic in Chile’s urban planning debate. Most often linked to sustainable urban growth and sustainable mobility, the concept arises in a context of legal changes aiming to reinforce the street as a public space dedicated to all type of mobilities, including active modes of transport (walking and cycling). These recent legal transformations represent an important shift in Chile’s urban planning, establishing guidelines for the future in order to encourage sustainable mobility and increase public space quality and access in Chile’s cities. This integrated approach to urban development represents a clear tendency to promote a more cohesive society in a context of increasing urban complexity and environmental challenges. It recognizes spatial, socio-economic and environmental issues and aims to articulate urban planning with mobility by seeking a balanced distribution of urban functions in Chilean cities. Although at first glance this new approach seems positive, it is important to analyse these changes through the lens of Chile’s urban production, especially in the case of intermediate Chilean cities that, due to their scale, still have the possibility to redirect their development towards a more sustainable growth. We propose a critical analysis of urban public space production in intermediate Chilean cities. By defining streets as public spaces and enabling specific social practices in line with specific urban contexts, we are able to define streets as a social space dedicated to mobilities. From this position, under what type of conditions are these public spaces planned and designed? What social consequences or conflicts emerge through their implementation? These processes will be illustrated through examples of public space projects and policies developed in intermediate Chilean cities these past few years.