Urban Policy and Spatial Planning in a Globalized City—A Stakeholder View of Santiago de Chile

Abstract

Taking Santiago de Chile as an example, this practice review explores urban policy-making and spatial planning in a globalized city. Based on an empirical study, it presents insights into the experiences, observations and recommendations of urban development stakeholders from the public, private and civil society sectors. First of all, the article highlights the main characteristics of public policies and spatial planning in Santiago as well as their relevance in the process of urban development. Second, it examines the sociopolitical conditions that either facilitate or hamper policy and planning efforts. The contribution concludes that if the task of improving urban policy and planning is to be taken seriously, it must go hand in hand with addressing overall problems of urban governance.

Evolution of air quality in Santiago: The role of mobility and lessons from the science-policy interface

“…This issue is exacerbated in large urban areas, particularly in Santiago, where in addition to poor and relatively weak municipal institutions, political leadership is insufficient for governing the Metropolitan Area of Santiago as a whole. Vertical and horizontal coordination deficits among diverse urban authorities have been identified, as well as institutional weaknesses regarding the transparency of decision-making processes and opportunities for public participation (Hölzl and Nuissl, 2010;Hölzl and Nuissl, 2014).…”

The Spatial‐Political Outcome of Urban Development Conflicts: Emancipatory Dynamics of Protests against Gentrification in Peñalolén, Santiago de Chile

“…Compared to other Latin American cities, neoliberal politics of gentrification in (semi‐)peripheral areas of Santiago stand out owing to the close coalitions between investors and public authorities (López‐Morales, ; Janoschka et al ., ). Moreover, Santiago has no metropolitan government, and horizontal coordination between the 37 politically and economically weak independent municipalities constituting Santiago Metropolitan Area is lacking (see Figure ) (Hölzl and Nuissl, ). Among other things, a missing common administrative level hampers network creation beyond the local scale among activists and intermediary metropolitan democracy‐supporting institutions.…”

“…Thirdly, within a short time frame, successful referenda regarding local planning issues took place in two communities of Santiago: Vitacura (2009) and Peñalolén (2011). Thus, we might assume a certain institutionalization of direct democracy instruments in Chile, particularly as the organization thereof was facilitated by the eventual passage of Chile's participation bill in 2011 (Hölzl and Nuissl, ). However, in 2012 another law was passed to modernize elections in Chile, which reversed this facilitation by reducing the votes needed for the petition of a referendum from 10% to 5%, and with it the opportunity for low‐income citizens to organize a referendum.…”

Building Contraventions in Tehran and Its Control by the Municipality

“…For development of cities and rehabilitation of urban settlements, urban management is very important and has a decisive role in developing countries like Iran. On the other hand, the informal urban districts are a huge challenge against planned and managed urban development [5]. Urban development plans include responsibility of groups and organizations, financing method, operational projects and urban construction rules and regulations are the only applicable dimensions of urban development plans [6].…”