Cities 31 (2013) 96–104

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Cities
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Revitalization and tugurization in the historical centre of Santiago de Chile

Axel Borsdorf a,⇑, Rodrigo Hidalgo b
a
Institute for Mountain Research, Man & Environment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, Austria
b
Institute of Geography, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In Latin America, globalization started first in Chile, around the shift to the neoliberal economic model in
Received 14 August 2011 1974. It has manifested itself in various structural changes in the Chilean capital Santiago. Privatization of
Received in revised form 5 June 2012 public space, accelerated socio-spatial segregation, the privatization of services and especially education,
Accepted 15 September 2012
plus foreign immigration, led to urban renewal and functional revitalization on the one hand, to tuguri-
Available online 23 October 2012
zation and ghettoization trends on the other. The result is a fragmented urban fabric, characterized by
islands of wealth and poverty within the traditional urban structure.
Keywords:
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Santiago de Chile
Fragmentation
Gentrification
Tugurization
Globalization

Introduction horizontal and vertical gated communities, closed-off streets and

Since 1974, Chile and its capital Santiago have been following
the economic doctrine of neoliberalism and of opening up to the
world market. As a result, Chile has experienced an economic boom
that has liberated the country from underdevelopment and secured
it a place among the 10 leading OECD states. In 2010, Chile had the
highest rate of economic growth of all OECD countries (OECD, 2008,
2011). Opening up to the world market under conditions of neolib-
eralism has produced a withdrawal of the state (and the metropol-
itan region) from formerly important areas such as town planning
and urban development. This deregulation went hand in hand with
the privatization of public institutions and the liberalization of the
real estate market. This market is now controlled indirectly by cri-
teria such as rate of return and profitability. Key actors often are
transnational investors and real estate companies. The economy
has taken the place of politics in urban development.
For the Chilean capital, but also for other large and medium-
sized cities in the country, globalization has brought with it a num-
ber of unexpected consequences that manifest themselves in the
urban physiognomy and structure. Most striking of these are the
fragmentation of essential services, retail, industry, office and res-
idential districts, the privatization of public space in the form of
⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Institut für Gebirgsforschung, Mensch und
Umwelt (IGF), Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Technikerstr. 21a, A-
6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Tel.: +43 512 507 4940; fax: +43 512 507 2895.
E-mail address: Axel.borsdorf@uibk.ac.at (A. Borsdorf).
private motorways, and the verticalization of the skyline with
the advent of ever higher skyscrapers. The authors have docu-
mented this development in a series of texts (Borsdorf & Hidalgo,
2007, 2008; Hidalgo, Borsdorf, & Sanchez, 2005).
Another effect of privatization is the establishment of private
universities, permitted in Chile since 1980 and currently num-
bering 36 institutions, compared to 25 state universities. By
early 2011, these private universities (excluding the Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Chile) registered 295,801 students,
which is roughly half of all students in Santiago. Public univer-
sities are operated by the state. In recent years, many private
universities have been established that are run by Chilean and
transnational corporations. Both types of universities require
high taxes, and there is an ongoing debate about the level of
these taxes in the country. Private universities are located across
the whole metropolitan area but cluster somewhat in the central
districts, thus upgrading them to a certain degree (see Fig. 1).
This raises the question whether such impulses may trigger
gentrification.
At the same time, the central districts are the destination of
international immigration, especially from Peru. Although they
make up only the second-largest group of immigrants, Peruvians
are ‘visible’ and sometimes marginalized by Chilean society, which
in turn has produced a degree of micro-ghettoization. In spatial
terms, this is a process by which minorities or social groups are
physically separated from surrounding areas. The term is derived
from Jewish enclaves in Europe and has been used for the ghettos
of blacks in US cities (Macionis & Parillo, 2009). In Santiago,

0264-2751/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2012.09.005
 A. Borsdorf, R. Hidalgo / Cities 31 (2013) 96–104 97

Fig. 1. Universities city in the municipality and the metropolitan area of Santiago 2011.

Fig. 2. Global and local drivers of revitalization and tugurization and effects on the structure of the inner core of Santiago de Chile.

immigrants moved into old warren quarters (conventillos and cité-
s). This process may be better called tugurization.1
Despite strong globalization effects in metropolitan areas, they,
and particularly central municipalities, are striving for a policy of
revitalizing2 central districts. By doing so they are also combating
profitability interests of land speculators, real estate companies
and investors, who, in the course of the fragmentation3 of the urban
space, are reconsidering central locations as attractive and poten-
tially lucrative. Drivers of revitalization and tugurization are
visualized in Fig. 2. To revitalize their inner cities, municipal
administrations are using heritage listing and subsidies for renova-
tion and refurbishment as well as increasing the appeal of such
districts by investing in infrastructure and city marketing.

1
Tugurization (from Peruvian tugurio = hovel) means a process of concentration of
Peruvian immigrants to inner-city old warren quarters, formerly inhabited by poor
Chileans. The process results in a transformation of former socially segregated
quarters into ethnically segregated ones.
2
Revitalization is a policy to face urban decline by upgrading derelict quarters.
3
Urban fragmentation is a process of social exclusion and segregation. It is
characterized by the rise of gated communities, enclosure of streets, privatization of
public space, controlled urban entertainment centres and walled business parks
within poor and marginal communities.
98 A. Borsdorf, R. Hidalgo / Cities 31 (2013) 96–104

Below we shall discuss in more detail the processes of revitali- Table 1

zation, gentrification4 and tugurization, followed by an analysis and Levels, standards, binding instruments and strategic planning in Chile.

cautious assessment of the potential of inner-city Santiago to initiate National level National urban development policy
locally sustainable urban development under conditions of global- General law on planning and construction
ization. Our study area is the Comuna Santiago and adjacent General ordinance of planning and construction

municipalities. Regional level Regional development strategy (ERD)a

This is a new approach. There are plenty of studies about the ef- Regional plan for urban development (PRDU)

fects of globalization in Santiago de Chile, both synthetic ones (de Metropolitan level Inter-communal zoning plan (PRI)
Mattos, 2010) and analytical ones (Borsdorf & Hidalgo, 2008). Metropolitan zoning plan (PRM)

What they leave out, however, are the three processes that interest Community level Communal zoning plan (PRC)
us here, i.e. revitalization, gentrification and tugurization. Sectional zoning plan
Communal development plan (PLADECO)a
a
Strategic, non-binding instruments.
The case study area

The municipality of Santiago is the local government for Table 2

200,800 people living in this central community. It is the core of Sources of information for the study.
the 34 municipalities in the metropolitan area (Arenas & Hidalgo,
Data Source Year
2003). In the last census (2002), 5.5 million people were counted
Universities GPS by authors 2011
in the metropolitan area (40% of the Chilean population). Estimates
Building permits Dirección de Obras Municipales, 2006–2009
of the actual population put it at 6.4 million. The metropolitan area Municipalidad de Santiago
makes up the urbanized area of the metropolitan region, which is Commercial Phone books 2010–2011 and 2011
the administrative unit. establishments municipal patents for commercial
The General Law of Urban Planning and Construction (1975) units
Peruvian population Census 2002 2002
regulates the process of urban planning. In purely formal terms IDS Census 2002, variables relative to 2002
of planning, Chile has a clear pyramid structure. At national level, education level, quality of dwellings
the general political guidelines are given in the National Urban and infrastructure of households
Development Policy, a strategic instrument that sets the frame-
work for other levels of planning. This instrument is prepared by
the Department of Housing and Urban Development (MINVU) To identify the concentration of commercial establishments, a
and approved by presidential decree. At regional level, guidelines density analysis (Kernel) was carried out using ArcGIS 9.3. To de-
to regulate urban development are defined in the regional plan scribe the socio-economic level of the population, the index of so-
of urban development. This is a strategy tool developed by the re- cio-economic development (IDS) was applied (Borsdorf and
gional MINVU office (SEREMI-MINVU) together with municipali- Hidalgo, 2008), including the three subindices. The data are based
ties and requires final MINVU approval. The inter-community on the last available census (2002).
level is covered by the inter-communal zoning plan which, accord- To estimate the 1992–2002 changes in socio-economic status
ing to the guidelines defined by national and regional policies, pro- (SES) within each census district, we relied on indicators com-
vides macro-zoning (land use) and defines the city limits of monly used in the literature on urban social structure. On the basis
metropolitan areas. The plan must be signed by the regional gover- of the data available from the 1992 to 2002 Chilean censuses, we
nor and regional council (CORE). The mayor is appointed by the constructed an index of socio-economic development (IDS) using
president of the republic and CORE is an advisory unit composed standardized (Z) values. Socio-economic status was measured by
of the mayor and a group of regional directors who are elected the consumer goods available at household level, including cars,
by municipal councillors. The communal council members, in turn, motorcycles, washing machines, TV sets, cable TV service, and
are elected positions in municipal elections. Once enacted, the zon- microwaves. A second set of variables considered the attributes
ing proposal for the inter-community level is to be approved, ulti- of the dwelling, such as the quality of roofs, walls and floors. The
mately, by MINVU. third dimension was the educational level of the head of household
The Communal Development Plan (PLADECO) establishes (incomplete lower school, completed lower school; incomplete
guidelines for urban development at community level, while the middle school, completed middle school; completed technical
regulatory plan and the sectional plans define land use in detail. training; completed professional training). By adding the standard
Communal zoning plans and sectional zoning plans must comply values of these dimensions, we estimated SDI values for 1992 and
with land uses allowed in the inter-communal zoning plan. These 2002 in each census district, differentiating between districts with
instruments are developed by the respective municipalities and and without social housing. The index values range from 0 to 1,
should be approved by the councils. Final approval is granted by with higher values indicating higher SES (Hidalgo & Borsdorf,
the SEREMI-MINVU (Table 1). 2005).

Methods
The analysis is based on cartographic methods and on analyzing
the data compiled by the authors (field work and statistics). In a
first step, the building permits for housing, educational institutions
and commercial buildings were geo-referenced using the sources
mentioned in Table 2.
4
Urban gentrification refers to the changes that result when wealthier people
move to low income and working class communities.
Results
Revitalizing the residential function
Urban regeneration policy in the inner city of Santiago is based
on an Act of 1987 (Ley 18.595: Renovación Urbana) and on an ini-
tiative of 1991 (Subsidio de Renovación Urbana, SRU) promising
state subsidies for renovation measures (Bertrand, Figueroa,
& Larraín, 1991).
Between 1991 and 2005, in 17 municipalities (out of a total 34)
of the metropolitan area, some 20,000 applications for subsidies
 A. Borsdorf, R. Hidalgo / Cities 31 (2013) 96–104
were granted, 7500 of them in the Comuna Santiago alone
(Arriagada, Moreno, & Cartier, 2007).
Alongside the regeneration and renovation measures, the
authority CORDESAN (Corporación de Desarrollo de Santiago) was
created in 1985 by the municipality of Santiago to complement
these efforts with measures to upgrade the image of the inner city
through aggressive marketing (Contreras, 2009: p. 3). The original
motive was to recuperate the damages of the 1985 earthquake. In
the following year, CORDESAN became the principal driver of real
estate activities (restauration, rehabilitation, reconstruction, con-
struction, decontamination, preservation of the architectural heri-
tage, impulses for commercial activities, and gateway to the
private sector, see Valenzuela (2000)).
Even so, the SRU programme has not been the main driver of ur-
ban regeneration policy. Between 1990 and 2010, private housing
associations created 10 times more residential units in the munic-
ipality of Santiago, usually in the form of high-rise apartment
blocks, than were created through state-subsidized schemes. In
the Comuna Santiago, between 2001 and 2010, the total residential
floor space increased from 2.634 million m2 to 4.933 million m2,
i.e. by 87.3% (based on the Catastro de Avuluaciones SII, 2001–
2010). See Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Average footprint and year of construction of buildings erected in the municipality of Santiago.
99
Such building activity deserves a closer look. Under the current
regulatory framework, neither building quality nor height are pre-
scribed. This has led to the construction of residential towers of
more than 30 storeys on very small plots. The developers’ top pri-
ority remains maximizing the rate of return.
Issues of protecting historical monuments or ensembles are
being neglected. There is no regulation of cityscape, green areas
or urban tree stands, nor is there any basis for assessing the aes-
thetic, historical or economic value of the buildings. In 1996, the
Chilean government put down 433 established norms of anti-
seismic construction. However, the norm is weak with respect to
planning decisions.
The earthquake of 27 February 2010 might have acted as a spur
for creating such a basis for well-founded planning decisions about
reconstruction or demolition. Such a study would also be desirable
because Santiago is hit by larger earthquakes every 10–20 years. In
the city centre of Santiago, about 100 buildings suffered severe
damages, which are now being repaired, not least with SRU funding.
Revitalization measures and new building activity have let the
population of the Comuna Santiago grow from 230,977 in 1990
to 237,369 in 2010. Compared to the increase in residential floor
space, this growth is minimal. In 2001, average floor space per
100 A. Borsdorf, R. Hidalgo / Cities 31 (2013) 96–104
inhabitant was 11.25 m2, rising to 20.78 m2 per person in 2010, a
clear indicator of the upgrade of residential units in the municipal-
ity of Santiago. However, the growth of floor space also includes in-
creases in commercial space.
The numbers would be even more striking were it not for the
strong immigration since 1990, mainly from Peru, into the Comuna
Santiago. These immigrants come from the lower classes and live
in the remaining degraded buildings of the inner city.
Contreras (2009) found that many of the new inhabitants of the
city centre belong to the middle-income bracket, often below the
income level of the existing local population (Contreras, 2009:
13). This statement would contradict the observation that some
inner-city districts have entered a phase of gentrification. Actually,
Contreras’ generalizing finding needs to be modified in the sense
that there are three groups migrating into the inner city: the
people in the middle-income bracket that he mentions, plus
students from the private universities, and foreign migrants
(mainly Peruvians). Such an amendment does not change Contre-
ras’ analysis of incomes but allows us to identify the opportunities
and risks of gentrification and tugurization of this development.
Functional revitalization
Until the end of the 1960s, the inner city centre of Santiago was
also the main retail and service centre. When first small shopping
centres opened in upper-class areas, this did not alter the situation.
With the reorientation in the early 1980s towards a neoliberal eco-
nomic policy, more and more hypermarkets, shopping centres,
malls and specialist retail parks sprang up across the entire metro-
Fig. 4. Retail space density in the central municipalities of Santiago 2011.
politan region (cf. maps in: Borsdorf and Hidalgo (2007)). The
decentralization of retail, together with the spatial fragmentation
of business headquarters, office towers and industrial parks, as
well as the archipelago-shaped expansion of gated upper-class dis-
tricts are all characteristics of the fragmented city (Scholz, 2002).
For the city centre this meant a marked loss of significance. The
affluent groups in particular began to orient themselves on the
new temples of consumerism. In recent years, however, we can ob-
serve a certain reversal in this trend, comparable with similar pro-
cesses in European cities. Here we see the emergence of more and
more city-integrated shopping centres and malls, in an effort to
lure buying power back into central locations (Fig. 4). Santiago,
with its existing galleries of shops, offered good conditions for an
upgrade of its centre (Hidalgo & Zunino, 1992). Sixty percent of
the building blocks in the centre have such galleries that link the
adjacent streets for pedestrians. A city-integrated mall sprang up
in the city centre, following a European pattern. Eventually a mul-
ti-ethnic element was added when Peruvian restaurants, eating
houses and shops opened, something that is missing from the ster-
ile retail temples in the municipalities at the periphery. Chilean
bohemians are attracted to such locations that offer good shopping,
art galleries, excellent eating and exotic cuisine, cabaret, show
openings and other cultural choices. These developments created
further prerequisites for a gentrification of the inner city.
Gentrification
Gentrification processes are in some cases related to neighbour-
hoods where ethnic minorities have been established (Cahill, 2010;
 A. Borsdorf, R. Hidalgo / Cities 31 (2013) 96–104
Taylor, 2010). These ethnic minorities, in this case a Peruvian pop-
ulation, have dynamics affecting the urban structure. Because of
their low buying power, they settle in ‘‘subleased parts of old
houses from the early twentieth century, reviving the importance
of the tenements as collective rooms prone to overcrowding’’
(Hidalgo & Torres, 2009). These houses are in a state of decay
due to low investment by the owners (which means low rents
attractive for the immigrants), which leads to physical deteriora-
tion and functional and economic obsolescence, and a devaluation
of the built environment. This is associated with the life cycle of
the built environment, ‘‘by an initial stage of construction, followed
by successive regimes of use and maintenance, disinvestment and
decay. Thereafter, a process may emerge triggered by new revital-
ization investments. This is due to the gap created between the
current rent and the rent expected after revitalization’’ (Diappi &
Bolchi, 2008, p.11). According to López-Morales, this impairment
is a result of urban blight, occurring because the starting capital
had moved to the suburbs where the return on investment was
more attractive, thereby producing a lack of concerted investment
from developers due to high risk and low return rates, which
caused a long period of deterioration and lack of new capital in
these areas (López-Morales, 2009, 2011).
At some point in this situation of disinvestment and devalua-
tion, the interests of the operators revert to reinvestment through
rehabilitation and renovation of these areas. This process of disin-
vestment and reinvestment has been called gap of income (rent-
gap) in the literature (Smith, 2010, 2002; 1996; López Morales,
2008). Land agents begin to develop strategies for renewal, rehabil-
itation and refurbishment of these deteriorated areas and the pro-
cess of gentrification starts. This urban renewal leads to
gentrification (Davidson & Lees, 2010), depending on the growing
real estate development from the 1990s onwards (Contreras,
2011; Inzunza-Contardo, 2011b, 2011). Normally there are five
phases of gentrification. In the first, pioneers complement the
existing population. They, too, accept to live in precarious living
conditions, do not have a secure income, and are artists or stu-
dents, mostly unmarried. They live as singles, with a partner or
in shared flats or houses. In the second phase, the share of pioneers
increases and the composition of retail and services changes. Pubs,
second-hand shops, and antique dealers attract even people from
other districts, an incumbent upgrading (Clay, 1979) may follow.
Within the next phases, gentrifiers would move in, with higher dis-
posable incomes. Their motif is the urban and vibrant lifestyle and
they benefit from the low distance to their places of work.
A precondition for the gentrification trends were the education
reforms of the military government. In the late 1980s, permission
was granted to establish private universities for the business-
oriented educated elite of the country, but also for foreign inves-
tors, who immediately seized this opportunity. As the state
university, and the only private university at the time, the Pontifi-
cia Universidad Católica de Chile, also demanded high student fees
and limited their intake through high quality thresholds, the new
private universities offered some sections of the population their
first ever opportunity of a tertiary education for their gifted off-
spring. We must not underestimate the social change triggered
by this development. Today the private universities educate more
students than the state universities.
Most of these private universities were created in Santiago city
centre (Fig. 1). In some cases, old residencies of aristocratic families
provided suitable buildings for the administration or the large hall
(e.g. in the case of the Universidad Andrés Bello). Students tend to
live close to their place of education. They brought the central dis-
tricts back to life (Pereira & Hidalgo, 2008). Bars, clubs and cabarets
sprang up. Peruvian immigrants seized their chance to sell low-
cost ‘ethno food’. Particularly at night, the districts near the new
universities are teeming with student life. The long-time residents
101
do not always welcome this, but Chilean bohemians may find this
new vitality attractive.
It is this combination of centrality of location, proximity to the
university, old town regeneration, cultural life, culinary choice and
retail infrastructure that has given parts of the city centre a new
appeal. We can observe three types of development: in the Barrio
Brasil (to the west of the Plaza de Armas and the Carretera Pan-
americana) private universities and the students living nearby en-
liven the district (Fig. 5). Affluent foreigners (North-Americans,
Europeans) and Chileans have moved into the Quartier Las Tarria
(between Parque Forestal and Alameda). They are attracted by
the proximity to the Bellavista district across the river. Bellavista
as such is inhabited by the lower classes, but its many bars, restau-
rants and chic courtyards provide an atmosphere that appeals to
the ‘gents’. The well-to-do remain amongst themselves in their res-
idences but are close enough to participate in the life of Bellavista.
The Santa Isabel district, south of the Alameda, is undergoing a so-
cio-spatial upgrade. Its central location and easy accessibility have
attracted higher-earning young adults and students into the new
apartment towers.
It remains to be seen if the processes described above will lead
to gentrification (Friedrichs & Kecskes, 1996; Lees, 2011; Macionis
& Parillo, 2009). The bohemians are visiting the Barrio Brasil only
in the evening or weekends and still shy away from moving into
the inner city permanently. Rents and real estate prices remain
low, the quality of new buildings is as yet not very good. The
inhabitants still are people who have lived there for a long time,
on low or middle incomes, students, immigrants. Within the
agglomeration, it is still mainly the lower-income bracket of the
population that is enticed by the ‘alternative atmosphere’ to move
into this area.
The Barrio Santa Isabel is experiencing a fast upgrade. Whether
this is enough to raise the image of the district to such a degree
that it becomes chic to live there for yuppies remains to be seen.
The district of Las Tarria has more claim to be called gentrified. It
has already reached the second stage of gentrification. Rents and
real estate prices are high, and the restaurants follow suit. The
poorer population, unable to keep up with theses prices, has
moved out. The Barrios Brasil, Santa Isabel and Las Tarria already
had the highest growth rates in population and number of apart-
ments from 1992 to 2002. These observations suggest that gentri-
fication is going on in the analyzed quarters.
Tugurization
One consequence of globalization is the liberalization of the
movement of people and of the labour markets. Where there are
significant wage or living standard differentials, this triggers
migration flows. The favourable economic development of Chile
makes the country a prime destination for migrants from (poorer)
neighbouring countries. When the economic crisis hit Argentina,
many Argentinians emigrated on the lookout for work. Today this
flow seems to be petering out. The second-biggest group of mi-
grants are the Peruvians. In contrast to the Argentinians, they are
easy to identify by their appearance. Peruvian immigration, unlike
that of Argentinians, therefore is often perceived as a problem by
the Chilean public (Borsdorf & Gómez, 2011; Torres & Hidalgo,
2009).
What contributes to this perception is the fact that Peruvian
males are concentrated in the inner city, while the females are
mainly found in the upper-class quarters (as maids) and the
amassed Peruvians in the city centre are highly visible. They run
cook shops, restaurants, shops selling ethnic goods, telecommuni-
cation services and money exchanges but also dance and social
clubs. Today the menus of the restaurants have adapted to Chilean
standards and become attractive for the bohemians of Santiago.
102 A. Borsdorf, R. Hidalgo / Cities 31 (2013) 96–104
Fig. 5. Universities, other educational establishments and infrastructure in the the north-western section of the municipality of Santiago.
The Peruvians are found at the bottom of the Chilean income
scale, some are only working in the informal sector. So they econ-
omize mainly in rental costs, often six people are sharing a flat of
30–40 m2 for a monthly rent of ca. USD 150. Up to 25 parties live
in the old courtyard houses of the city centre, sharing the basic
installations of kitchen and bathroom. With the demand for cheap
accommodation, the old warren quarters (conventillos or cités) be-
came attractive again. They were created back in the 19th century
by adapting courtyard houses (conventillos) or built from scratch
(cités) to provide accommodation for the rural migrants of the
time. A cité is a construction type, developed in the early 20th cen-
tury, an early form of gated community for the poor. The term cor-
responds the walled city centres of medieval times (Arteaga, 1985).
These warrens are now being upgraded so that the remaining
blocks in the cités have the highest concentration of Peruvians
(Fig. 6). In the earthquake of 27.02.2010, many of these buildings
were damaged. As money for rebuilding is lacking, many Peruvians
were still living in tents in early 2011. Fig. 6 compares the distribu-
tion of the Peruvian population with IDS (see the explanation
above and: Hidalgo & Borsdorf, 2005). In many, but not in all cases,
a low IDS corresponds to a concentration of Peruvians. Many of the
Peruvian immigrants occupy the old cités or conventillos where the
hygienic conditions are those of the early 20th century.
This precarious living situation and the renaissance of a dwell-
ing structure (warren), long thought gone, may be termed ‘tuguri-
zation’. We use this term, based on a Peruvian expression, because
of the ethnic background of the inhabitants. While seeming to run
counter to the processes of revitalization and gentrification de-
scribed earlier, tugurization is not necessarily in contradiction to
them. Rather, multi-ethnicity and cultural diversity, culinary
choice, price levels and a certain exotic atmosphere correspond
to the lifestyle and attitude towards life of the student population
and the bohemians.
Discussion
The effects of globalization on cities are often equated with
fragmentation (Low, 2005; Scholz, 2002). While not contradicting
this assessment in principle, the findings of this study suggest that
it needs to be widened. In city centres, too, fragments may occur in
the course of globalization, in the form of marginal inner-city
spaces, retail galleries, private universities or even gentrified
streets and blocks. Thus, tugurios can co-exist within quarters in
which gentrification processes are occurring. This fragmentation
occurs in many Latin-American cities (Coy, 2006; Grupo Vidanta,
2008). Santiago has only just entered this process (with an uncer-
tain outlook), which holds dangers and opportunities (López
Morales, 2009, 2011).
The process of fragmentation is part of urban regeneration pro-
cesses, driven by incoming population like students and artists.
 A. Borsdorf, R. Hidalgo / Cities 31 (2013) 96–104
Fig. 6. Peruvians living in the municipality of Santiago 2002.
This may be seen as an initiation of gentrification. Peruvian immi-
grants represent the other component of fragmentation, which in
this case is characterized by tugurization.
The picture given in this article is still incomplete. This is not
only due to the data sources we used, referring to different years,
but also to the imponderability of how the processes will continue.
Therefore only the future will tell whether unplanned urban regen-
eration, mainly subject to market forces, the immigration of poor
but active Peruvians, and the close proximity of students, tradi-
tional population and immigrants can improve relations and under-
standing. However, in many streets and blocks the number of
inhabitants per spatial unit is ecologically alarming, social cohesion
is still endangered and the economic situation remains precarious.
There are signs, however, that tugurization, which may indeed
be seen as ghettoization on a micro-scale, is no obstacle to revital-
ization or even gentrification. In the fragmented urban organism as
a whole, rich and poor are arranged in close proximity. In parts of
the city centre that show revitalization trends most clearly, such
close proximity is definitely tolerated. We must stress, however,
that the upgrade is only in its initial phase and we cannot yet dis-
cern whether, and if so, where, revitalization does indeed lead to
gentrification.
103
Conclusion
Rapid changes in the urban, social and economic structure char-
acterize current urban development in Santiago de Chile. Since
1974, when the country shifted its economic policy towards the
neoliberal paradigm, privatization occurred not only in industry
and services, but public spaces were also privatized. In the city, pri-
vate educational institutions and universities became the main
drivers of revitalization in former lower- and middle-class districts,
which may lead to gentrification processes in the near future.
However, an accelerated process of segregation has taken place
in the form of gated communities or even cities and the closure
of former open streets. Immigrants from other countries moved
to Santiago. The Peruvians are blamed for creating a new Lima in
the city centre of the Chilean capital, initiating a process of modern
tugurization.
All these processes transform the urban fabric of Santiago de
Chile into a fragmented space, in which globalized structures are
located like islands in the traditional city structure. Whereas the
urban growth of Santiago de Chile has slowed down in recent dec-
ades, the main transformation now is influenced by neoliberalism
and globalization (Greene & Soler, 2005).
104 A. Borsdorf, R. Hidalgo / Cities 31 (2013) 96–104
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the Chilean funding institution Fondecyt for
funding this research under Project Number 1095222.
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