Geographies of the Ephemeral: Public Space, Porosity and Daily Encounters in the Neoliberal Streets of Downtown Santiago

This presentation aims to investigate the relationship between the process of neoliberal verticalization of downtown Santiago and the daily interaction between its inhabitants. We seek to understand how a densification process based on neoliberal policies that prioritize profit maximization of private developers (López-Morales 2012) ends up impacting on a more public dimension of the urban experience. For the above, we will seek to understand how the material form of public space resulting from this process (Vicuña 2017) affects everyday practices and interactions between inhabitants.

Conceptually we will appeal to the debates on Geography of Encounters (Albrecht and Stevens 2023), that inquire on how certain urban attributes can foster or restrict sociability in public space, and the concept of Urban Assemblage (McFarlane 2011), considering the relational character of the urban experience where materiality, practices and perceptions are intertwined in daily experience.

In addition, the concepts of Public-Private Interface (Dovey and Wood 2015) will be considered to characterize the urban attributes of streets, sidewalks, and adjoining private space; Porosity (Stavrides 2018) to describe the capability of the form of such spaces to encourage a greater everyday use; and Public Familiarity (Blokland and Nast 2014) referring to the ties of recognition that emerge from everyday encounters.

Methodologically, we study the relationship between the conditions of porosity of the public space of verticalized neighborhoods with the practices and daily encounters between inhabitants, using maps of everyday life (Wythe 1982, Gehl and Svarre 2013) as a methodological tool that allows to juxtapose in a graphic manner the different entities that compose such urban assemblages; normative, materialities, practices and encounters, representing the futility of chance encounters (Perec 1975).

In general terms the urban form of the streets in verticalized neighborhoods is characterized by their low porosity, attributes that have a negative impact on social interaction.