Villa CEREPEC-Chiguayante. Cooperativism and collective housing in Greater Concepción

Abstract

The Metropolitan Area of Concepción (AMC) has industrial traces in its urban development. Under the auspices of state industries and their workers, housing complexes were developed in the second half of the twentieth century, away from industrial plants, proposing new modes of urban development for the period and location. A case in question is the Cooperativa de Empleados Refinería de Petróleo Concepción (Concepcion Petrol Refinery Employees Cooperative or CEREPEC), in Chiguayante. This article records part of the urban evolution of this commune, through the analysis of a housing complex materialized by workers of the National Petroleum Company (ENAP) under the cooperative model. The results show both the foundational contribution in building the urban space of "Manantiales street", as well as the way cooperativism materialized in the urban design and the architectural project of the CEREPEC complex. The company-worker-savings bank relationship stands out, where the worker assumes the leadership and the company supports its management, in a model that is very distant from industrial paternalism, and which logically builds different new sectors in the city. It is a relevant model because participatory processes are in demand today, involving the dynamics of construction and transformation of houses and neighborhoods.