Vertical Neighborhoods in Santiago De Chile: New Forms of Sociability in a Segregated Latin American Metropolis.

In the last two decades, Santiago de Chile has experienced a critical verticalization process promoted by financialization in the context of urban neoliberalism, which has radically transformed the built environment in central areas, the sociodemographic composition, and the social practices and interactions of its inhabitants. This paper proposes considering the importance of daily encounters in the public space in everyday practices, thus expanding the notion of local sociability besides the traditional urban community. Three vertical neighborhoods in Santiago, Chile, were analyzed through secondary data about their urban environment and primary data collected through surveys and qualitative interviews with residents of high-rise buildings. Although densification by verticalization inhibits social interactions, the results indicate differences between urban practices regarding urban vitality at a neighborhood scale. So, despite structural conditions such as segregation, the daily use of public space and local commerce favors the emergence of social ties, which are not considered personal networks but valuable in terms of public familiarity and recognition, transforming the traditional idea of neighborhood community. We seek to discuss the influence of the built environment of three different high-rise new buildings on the formation of social relations in urban space.