The expression of inequality at the metropolitan scale: the case of the Metropolitan Area of Santiago de Chile

Abstract

Since the so-called social outbreak in October 2019, Chile has experienced a progressive process of questioning its institutional regime inherited from the 1980 constitution, approved during the civil-military dictatorship, which, beyond the reforms promoted since the recovery of democracy, have not been enough to address social discontent, even though Chile has one of the highest per capita incomes and one of the lowest poverty levels in Latin America. Where is this discontent expressed, which has led the country to consider a referendum to elaborate a text of a new constitution, which the citizens have rejected? Fundamentally in the big cities and, especially in the Metropolitan Area of Santiago (AMS), profound inequalities in urban quality of life are manifested. This result is nothing more than the sum of a weakening of urban planning, because of the processes of land liberalization during the dictatorship and a highly centralized state, with a low incidence of subnational governments (regional and local), in public policies of significant impact on the urban-territorial configuration of metropolitan spaces.