The Electrification of Public Transportation as a Method of Sustainable Urban Development, the Case of the Elevators and Trolleys of Valparaiso, Chile

Abstract

This study aims to explore how the electrification of public transport promotes sustainable urban development, focusing on mobility as the main working issue. The object of study is the city of Valparaiso in Chile, because it is an example of electrified public transport. Historically, its means of transportation through elevators and trolleybuses have allowed the development of the city from the plan to the hill, living times of boom and decline, being relevant elements of the historical memory and the local imaginary. Methodologically, the study will be carried out through the analysis of secondary sources with an urban historical approach of the city, focusing mainly on the means of transport and their influence on the development of the city, in addition to a specific study, both constructive and functional, of the elevators, to understand them and thus establish their sustainable role in the development of the city. It is concluded that the electrification of transportation allows establishing models of sustainable development in the city, so much so that through the years it is one of the iconic methods that are still in force in the city and are part of the collective imagination.