Urban form at the fringe of Metropolitan Santiago (Chile). A result of a normative or profitability plan?

Abstract

Metropolitan Santiago is one of the many Latin American cities which has been developed according to a spread model of urbanisation. This pattern has caused at least two types of consequences: economic and physical ones. The former is shown in the speculation of land value at the rural fringe of the metropolitan area which has low prices, these have suddenly increased after the normative changes in the land use, from rural to urban. The later shows location of massive low-income housing and commercial malls regardless connection to the urban fabric and spatial shaping of the existing city. This results in a chaotic urban form resembling a "patchwork". This paper reviews the scope of a Chilean policy instrument called "Plan Regulador" used to control physical urban growth, particularly sprawled on the fringe of the city. It is believed that as a consequence of this Plan, normative procedures are not good enough for achieving its objectives. Conversely, urban form appears to be a result of a profitability plan made by private developers. Given the weakness of this instrument, some recommendations related to spatial models are suggested to incorporate to or complement the "Plan Regulador".