49(10) 2085–2107, August 2012

‘Latino Gentrification’? Focusing on

Physical and Socioeconomic Patterns of
Change in Latin American Inner Cities
Jorge Inzulza-Contardo

[Paper first received, February 2010; in final form, May 2011]

Abstract
Although gentrification is an accepted process nowadays around the globe, little
debate is found in the Latin American context—particularly, when considering that
70 per cent of this continent is urbanised and that major physical and socioeco-
nomic changes have been observed in its historical neighbourhoods in the past 20
years. This paper focuses on the continuity and change that Santiago, Chile, has
shown in recent decades. Empirical data are provided to reflect both the physical
and socioeconomic patterns of change that have modified the urban morphology
and the social capital of Santiago’s inner city. Furthermore, by selecting Bellavista—
one of the oldest inner-city neighbourhoods of Santiago—this paper draws conclu-
sions about how specific urban regeneration strategies can promote gentrification
and then links them with wider patterns of ‘Latino gentrification’.

Introduction
Diverse perspectives are reflected in the lit-
erature with respect to the process of ‘gen-
trification’. Since Glass (1964) coined the
term to describe the process observed in the
early changes in London in the 1960s, where
middle-class English people came back to
occupy inner neighbourhoods, displacing
working-class people living there (Smith
and Williams, 1986; Zukin, 1988; Butler,
1997; Hannigan, 1995; Sargatal, 2000;
Smith, 1996; van Weesep, 1994), a large
number of authors have described this sub-
ject, using different approaches focusing on
the economic, social and cultural impact.
There is a consensus that, apart from the
social change mentioned (from working-
class to middle-class), gentrification is asso-
ciated with a change of tenure, both from
rental to owner-occupancy and from multi-
occupancy to single family.
Other concepts used to describe these
changes of gentrification are ‘Londonisation’

Jorge Inzulza-Contardo is in the Departamento de Urbanismo, Universidad de Chile, Portugal 84,

Pabellón A, Piso 2, Santiago, 3387, Chile. E-mail: jinzulza@uchilefau.cl.

0042-0980 Print/1360-063X Online

Ó 2011 Urban Studies Journal Limited
DOI: 10.1177/0042098011423425
2086 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO
by Dutton (2003) and ‘super-gentrification’
(Lees, 2003) for London’s urban setting;
‘revitalisation’ (Gans, 1982) and ‘brown-
stoning’ used in New York studies; and also
‘whitepainting’ in Toronto (Pacione, 1990)
as North American concepts. Likewise,
Spanish terms such as ‘aristocratización’
(Hardoy, 1992), ‘reconquista urbana’
(Sargatal, 2000), or ‘elitización’ (Garcı́a,
2001) have been used to explain the same
phenomenon in Latin American and
Hispanic contexts.
However, the term ‘gentrification’ has
not been explored in depth in Latin America
as it has been in the European, US and even
recently in the Australian and South African
contexts. This paper seeks to contribute to
the debate around gentrification in Latin
America and to uncover differences between
this continent, Europe and the US; particu-
larly in historical neighbourhoods where it
is possible to observe displacement of low-
income classes and changes in housing type.
The link between the physical and socioeco-
nomic nature of this phenomenon in Latin
America naturally poses various questions.
Are middle-class households (gentrifiers)
displacing lower-income residents in inner
cities? And, what types of dwellings are
linked with these gentrifiers? By exploring
the urban governance experience in Latin
America, what has been the role of the state
in this process of physical and social change?
And, what other factors are involved in the
‘Latino gentrification’ process?
Globalisation as a Common
Language for the ‘Latino
Gentrification’ Process
Clearly, industrialised countries show differ-
ent physical and social structures, economic
capacity and demography in comparison
with developing countries (Fajnzylber, 1990;
Garcı́a, 2000). It is well known that urban
development was first observed in the indus-
trialised countries of Europe and North
America, extending quickly to developing
countries. Nevertheless, the effects were dif-
ferent in the Latin American urban context,
causing an unequal development and inter-
nal differentiation of urban territories and
societies (Panadero, 2001). The forms of
gentrification seen in recent decades vary
further, the different effects depending on
the physical and social features of individual
cities. In this sense, the singularities found
in the literature on the nature of European,
US and Latin American inner cities mainly
observed since 1990s are instructive. In fact,
Ward provides a valuable comparison
amongst these continents to
demonstrate how urbanization and inner-
city development in Latin America, although
tied into processes which are global in terms
of their economic genesis and consumerist
inspiration, have produced rather different
outcomes from those observed in North
America and in the United Kingdom (Ward,
1993, p. 1155).
European cities have developed more com-
pactly than North and South American
neighbourhoods. Their character is distin-
guished by a strong presence of pre-
industrial architecture and symbolic values
of their old quarters inherited from the
Middle Ages, the renaissance, the baroque
and classicism, which is clearly treasured
and conserved. Examples are the old quar-
ters found in Islington, London and Le
Marais in Paris, where most of the build-
ings built in the 19th century have been
restored from multiple occupancy to family
housing, or converted into homes for new
gentrifiers since the 1960s. On the other
hand, North and Latin American cities tend
towards increased verticality (the presence
of high-rise buildings) and more develop-
ment of suburban development spaces than

in their European counterparts (White,
1984; Yarwood, 1974). However, US cities
conserve old quarters from 19th Century as
in the European context, but with a greater
presence of old industrial buildings, which
have been converted into home-studios
(for example, the lofts in Soho, New York).
For the Latin American context, a mixed
heritage of both European and US urban
concepts is found in the inner-city areas.
An eclectic European architecture contex-
tualised in a post-Hispanic gridded urban
fabric using local materials for historic
buildings (such as adobe, wood and brick)
is observed (Gilbert et al., 1982; Almandoz,
2006). Some expressions of Latino gentrifi-
cation are the influence of glass and steel
buildings used mainly by corporate compa-
nies to generate a commercial recentralisa-
tion. A population displacement occurred
in the 1990s, identified as a ‘modest gentri-
fication’ by Ward (1993); and new housing
projects—gated communities—have also
been incorporated into old quarters of
inner-city areas as part of this current pro-
cess (Janoschka, 2002).
In this sense, Latin American historic
areas have been more vulnerable than
European inner cities to the effects of new
housing proposals or corporate buildings
that replace existing residential properties.
This situation, with an incipient label of
gentrification, was identified by Ford in his
improved model about the urban fabric of
Latin American cities, pointing out that, in
the 1990s, cities
began to acknowledge their historic land-
scapes and to establish special protected dis-
tricts aimed at attracting tourists, artists’
colonies, and local elites (Ford, 1996, p. 440).
Thus, historic neighbourhoods are seen as
trendy areas to promote commercial and
housing projects, supplying the needs of a
new Latin American middle class.
‘LATINO GENTRIFICATION’? 2087
Hardoy (1992a, 1992b) and Gilbert et al.
(1982) have written extensively about the
main physical and social changes in the
Latin American urban context, summaris-
ing papers written by different authors
within the period 1977–82 for countries
such as Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and
Ecuador. In those papers, common con-
cepts are poverty, social inequality and
political and urban landscape change in
inner cities. Favelas in Brazil, poblaciones in
Chile and tugurios in Colombia as marginal
towns allow an illustration of the hyper-
urbanisation problems in Latin America,
where urban development was dissociated
from industrial growth and the city’s
increasing size was more an extension of
the peripheral areas than a densification of
historic centres. In this sense, the return
of the middle class to Latin American
inner-city areas, and the subsequent dis-
placement of the working class, has been
less common when compared with the
European or US movements in the 1960s
and 1970s. Thus, first- and second-wave
gentrification seem to be more exclusive
to developed urban settings with particu-
lar effects in the European, US, Canadian
and Australian contexts.
Nevertheless, globalisation has been a
common language to define gentrification
from the 1980s onwards in the different
continents. In particular, Lungo and Baires
describe globalisation in Latin America not
only as an economic issue but also as a pro-
cess, which involves
social, political and cultural dimensions that
modify substantially the territorial and occu-
pational grid, prevailing in the last decades of
the [20th Century] (Lungo and Baires, 2001,
p. 5).
Social segregation (Caldeira, 2000; Hardoy,
1992b; Lungo and Baires, 2001; Portes,
1989; Sabatini, 1997; Rodrı́guez and
2088 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO
Winchester, 2001) and urban poverty
(Gilbert, 1992; Gilbert and Ward, 1985;
MacDonald, 2003) have become the main
issues for many Latin American cities such
as Buenos Aires, San Salvador, São Paulo
and Santiago. Gentrification seems to be a
‘domino effect’, where new patterns of
physical and social expression are found
mainly since the 1980s and throughout the
1990s in the Latin American context.
Janoschka (2002) reinforces the idea that
this substantial physical and social change
observed in Latin American inner cities has
provoked a rapid transformation of the
urban landscape into a fragmented city,
where different ‘isles’ of consumption and
production, of high-income bracket neigh-
bourhoods (gated communities) and of
informal sectors, can be identified.
Urban Lifestyle and New Housing
Trends
In the past 50 years, access to urban land has
been one of the basic needs of the inhabi-
tants of Latin America (MacDonald, 2003).
Because of their electoral concerns and
using the slogan ‘the dream of your own
house’, Latin American governments have
supplied the cultural necessity of homeow-
nership for the high-, medium- and low-
income-classes seeking an improved social
status. Moreover, for low-income groups,
homeownership is linked to the desire for
security that partially compensates for the
social exclusion they experience in the per-
ipheral areas (Lindón, 2005).
According to the urban morphology that
the modernist period produced, housing in
the central areas should imply a lower com-
muting cost than in the outskirts and a reduc-
tion in negative effects such as lack of public
transport, urban infrastructure and insecur-
ity. The local authorities in Santiago during
the 1990s proposed actions for reversing the
decrease of population in the central area,
based on a social study that indicated that
to house a new inhabitant in central Santiago
was 16 times more desirable (in terms of
social investment) than in the peripheral area
(Valenzuela, 2003, p. 57).
This initiative was formally carried out
through an ‘urban renewal subsidy’ (SRU,
Chilean acronym) in 1992, which aimed to
stimulate the interest of people to live in
inner areas as a way to spend less money, to
be nearer to their jobs or simply to feel safer
(and also to access their cultural heritage).
Thus, replacement of existing residents of
inner areas, promoted by national and local
governments, has been observed, mainly
since the 1990s, through new housing market
actions and the promotion of an attractive
urban lifestyle to regenerate these areas (for
example, La Boca in Buenos Aires; see Herzer
et al., 2008). However, at the same time, an
urban lifestyle emulating Soho loft living has
been badly imitated in these neighbour-
hoods, with new housing projects based on
foreign models of consumption, far from the
urban lifestyle of Latin American reality. In
fact, the open space in living rooms of the
new housing projects called ‘lofts’ is seen by
occupiers as a way to exhibit luxury furniture
and fashionable materials (marble, granite or
plastic and wood) considered as being of a
high standard, giving some signs of élitism to
the Latino middle class.
Therefore, Latin American society is
characterised by an urban lifestyle, which
has been changing mainly in the past 20
years, especially with the globalisation pro-
cess. Nowadays, its social structure is
strongly linked to the consumption of a
different urban lifestyle represented by new
housing projects, which involves tearing
down heritage buildings and then modify-
ing local identity patterns in the central
areas. This current situation of insistent

demand from Latino gentrifiers searching
for an unconventional inner-city life
through housing (flats) located mainly in
the heights of the city is seen as a ‘labora-
tory of experiments’. Approximately, 70
per cent of Latin America is urbanised,
with a large proportion of the population
living in major metropolitan areas (Gilbert,
1992), providing the perfect opportunity to
promote the interests of local and transna-
tional companies through new housing
markets.
From the 1990s specifically, new housing
areas in Latin America have been generated
particularly through three kinds of privati-
sation: planned decisions driven by political
and/or economic issues; practical decisions
driven by administrative agreements; and,
unplanned decisions. This last modality has
been developed in large undertakings
through agreements between local govern-
ments and tertiary sector companies. Thus,
the urban context has suffered the conse-
quences of those privatisations, especially
with the public tenders of large housing
projects in valuable urban areas and the
concession of urban public services (Herzer
and Passalacqua, 2003).
Gran Santiago: An Analysis of
Urban Changes
Since the 1960s, the metropolitan area
known as ‘Gran Santiago’1 has undergone
a major metamorphosis similar to that of
many other Latin American cities; how-
ever, the causes of its transformation are
distinct. Both physical and socioeconomic
patterns have been altered mainly due to
the impact of a major increase in housing
provision since the 1960s encouraged by
two metropolitan masterplans and, later,
in the 1980s, with two National Urban
Development Policies, when market forces
took a main role in the urban planning of
‘LATINO GENTRIFICATION’? 2089
the city. Even though these policies put
considerable emphasis on the social devel-
opment of the city under the name of
‘market social economy’ (in 1979), and
established that ‘urban land is a scarce
resource’ (in 1985), a close examination of
the development of Gran Santiago in the
past 30 years shows a clear liberalisation of
the regulations for urban land density,
which has led to a noticeable predomi-
nance of residential property as a real
physical effect, with consequent effects on
the social fabric. Clearly, these patterns of
social and physical changes demonstrated
in Santiago from the 1990s onwards can be
also linked with the Latino gentrification
symptoms described previously (urban
lifestyle and new housing trends). Three
key indicators are selected for further anal-
ysis to enrich the empirical debate in the
next sections.
The Tertiary Sector and Employment
Change
The tertiary sector has increased due to glo-
balisation, producing an important change
in the profile of the employed population in
the period 1992–2002 for Gran Santiago. An
increase of 311 113 people (from 729 867 to
1 040 980) working as business managers
and in academic and education leadership,
and an additional 110 471 employers (an
increase from 210 381 to 320 852) in com-
merce and the services activities groups are
found (de Mattos et al., 2005). Observing
where these groups of employees are located
in Gran Santiago, there are two groups
which have experienced major changes:
managerial professionals and general work-
ers. Between 1992 and 2002, the first group
increased by 4 per cent; in the same period,
the second group decreased by 8 per cent,
with a 12 per cent increase and 18 per cent
decrease respectively for 2002 (see Figure 1).
Likewise, both groups are concentrated in
2090 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO

Managerial professionals Workers

Northwest Northeast Northwest Northeast

4 4
7 7
8 8
3 3

6 6
1 2 1 2

Puda
huel
5 5

Cerril
los
Southwest Southeast Southwest Southeast

Bellavista neighbourhood
0 2 4 6 km

0 to 5
6 to 10
11 to 15
16 to 25
26 to 34

Figure 1. Percentages of managerial professionals and general workers in Gran Santiago dis-
tricts, 2002.
Key: 1. Santiago centre. North-east quadrant districts: 2. La Reina; 3. Las Condes; 4. Lo Barnechea;
5. Ñuñoa; 6. Providencia; 7. Vitacura. North-west quadrant: 8. Recoleta.
Sources: approximated from Census of Population 2002; de Mattos et al. (2005).

opposing quadrants of Santiago. In 2002, an location of managerial professionals and

average of 27 per cent of managers and pro-
fessional employees were concentrated in
the north-east quadrant of the city.
Meanwhile, employees categorised as
‘workers’ are spread evenly across the south-
east, south-west and north-west quadrants.
Santiago’s centre district (district 1, in Figure
1) demonstrates similar proportions for both
these kinds of employees, with 15 per cent for
the leadership group and 11 per cent for
workers in 2002. Moreover, it is possible to
observe a clear territorial difference for the
worker groups for the whole Gran Santiago
territory, with managerial professionals con-
centrated in eastern Gran Santiago and work-
ers concentrated on the western side. Further,
the north-east quadrant shows a predomi-
nance of managers and professionals, who are
associated with higher and middle incomes.
In this sense, Recoleta, (district 8, in Figure 1)
located in the middle of the north-east and
north-west quadrants, can be highlighted as
an example of the opposite situation, with
only 4 per cent of managers and professionals

resident there and only 25 per cent of workers
(associated with lower incomes).
Moreover, Recoleta and Providencia
(districts 8 and 6, in Figure 1) illustrate a
striking difference: Recoleta has the lowest
percentage (0–5 per cent) and Providencia
the highest (26–34 per cent) of people on
higher incomes. Curiously, these districts
are largely separated by a significant natural
boundary: the San Cristóbal hill, with the
neighbourhood of Bellavista (which forms
part of Santiago’s historic centre) as the
only connection between them. In this
sense, Bellavista as the particular ‘neigh-
bourhood boundary’ is a clear object of
gentrification within Gran Santiago’s urban
setting, where tensions between different
socioeconomic groups can be associated
with replacement (rather than displace-
ment) of existing low-income residents.
Demographic and Income Changes
A main demographic change that Gran
Santiago has experienced in the past 30 years
is the contrast between the increasing popu-
lation in the outer area versus a decrease in
the inner city. Santiago’s historic centre with
5 408 142 inhabitants (13.6 per cent less
than in 1992) and other inner districts such
as Quinta Normal (–24 077) and Recoleta
(–16 072) have experienced a reduction in
population during the period 1992–2002.
Furthermore, the composition of the popu-
lation has changed during the same period
in these districts. The core of Santiago and
its north-east area increased in terms of the
percentage of economically active people in
the 19–59-year-old group. Likewise, those
sectors present the lowest proportion of
under 18-years-olds, but a higher propor-
tion of retired people.
In terms of income, Gran Santiago shows
important territorial differences between the
incomes received per household. There is a
clear predominance of higher family incomes
‘LATINO GENTRIFICATION’? 2091
(1 600 001–2 500 000 Chilean pesos, CHp
per month) in the north-east quadrant in
municipalities such as Providencia, Las
Condes and Lo Barnechea. The major survey
conducted by the Ministry of Planning in
2000 (CASEN), showed that the average
monthly household income is between
500 001 and 700 000 CHp (INE, 1999;
MIDEPLAN, 2000) for the Santiago district.
Although this result is similar to the ones in
other eastern districts (Macul and Peñalolén)
that contain some of the high-income élite
and the middle class (Sabatini, 1997), in real
terms Santiago’s centre shows important ter-
ritorial disparities that are closer to the dis-
tricts with the two lower ranges of household
incomes (250 000–400 000 and 400 000–
500 000 CHp monthly).
Thus, an unequal urban image can be
observed in the western neighbourhoods in
comparison with the eastern neighbour-
hoods. For the former area, a great number
of working-class residents were located his-
torically in the south-west of Santiago his-
toric centre coinciding with the first years
of the Chilean Republic, when the first
mapuches (native people) arrived in
Santiago and were relegated by the
Spaniards to live in that zone, forming the
city’s shape (de Ramón, 2001). By contrast,
the eastern neighbourhood area has been
most attractive to upper- and middle-class
Santiaguinos.
Housing Market Transformation
Great activity in the housing sector has been
observed in the past 30 years with benefits
mainly to private-sector development, rather
than social housing provision by the state
(Arenas, 2006). For the Gran Santiago area
from 1992, household tenure has maintained
similar proportions, where 67.91 per cent of
households are private owner-occupiers and
13.07 per cent are private rented households
in 2002 (see Table 1). In absolute terms, this
2092 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO

Table 1. Household tenure, Gran Santiago, 1992–2002 (percentages)

Households
Owner-occupied Private rented Other
Districts/quadrant 1992 2002 1992 2002 1992 2002

North-east quadrant
La Reina 71.81 71.95 5.83 7.82 21.00 20.23
Las Condes 66.34 65.59 6.19 3.18 24.23 31.23
Lo Barnechea 68.54 76.20 17.59 8.57 10.11 15.19
Ñuñoa 67.71 64.03 3.67 3.82 26.35 32.13
Providencia 57.43 53.65 5.41 4.61 32.17 41.71
Vitacura 70.18 68.73 3.82 2.25 23.82 29.01
Total 67.00 66.71 7.13 5.04 23.94 28.25

Recoleta 68.79 68.73 8.48 9.16 21.12 22.08

North-west 73.01 73.30 11.47 10.82 15.05 14.82
South-east 73.28 73.80 18.18 19.63 7.07 6.55
South-west 73.85 74.21 16.40 18.08 8.33 7.68
Santiago Centre 45.28 46.53 7.49 6.73 42.78 46.71

Gran Santiago total average 67.48 67.91 12.13 13.07 19.46 19.80

Sources: Census of Housing, 1992 and 2002.

means 998 063 owner-occupied and 193 654
private rented households (there were in
1 489 645 households in Gran Santiago in
2002). Santiago central district represents a
different situation of household tenure in
comparison with the north-west, south-east
and south-west quadrants.
The ‘other’ category made up about 47
per cent of households in 2002.2 This can be
explained by the fact that, in this sector,
mixed land uses such as commerce, industry
and public institutions are competing with
private housing land use. Therefore, other
kinds of household tenure have been
adopted, including families in which the
main householder is employed in public ser-
vices. A similar situation is observed in
Santiago centre and in the north-east quad-
rant, these having 6.73 per cent and 5.04 per
cent respectively of private rented house-
holds, adding 221 582 households to Gran
Santiago’s urban fabric. For example,
Recoleta district, in the north-west quad-
rant, increased its total of private rented
category to 36 706 households between 1992
and 2002 (0.68 percentage points). For the
southern quadrants, the percentage of pri-
vate rented households is more than twice
that of the north-east quadrant, reaching
almost 19 per cent on average (south-east
with 19.63 per cent + south-west with
18.08 per cent) and surpassing the Gran
Santiago average in 2002 (13.07 per cent).
By analysing the types of dwelling, two
main groups of housing can be summarised:
‘houses’ and ‘flats’. For the first group, ter-
raced, semi-detached and detached houses
are included, one to three storeys, located on
individual urban sites or as part of a common
site, normally called a ‘condominium’. The
second group (flats) corresponds to housing
located in either middle- or high-rise build-
ings, which may be part of a condominium.
For the period 1992–2002, disparities are
 ‘LATINO GENTRIFICATION’? 2093

Table 2. Property development in Gran Santiago, 2001 (fourth quarter)

Total offered built area UF/square metre
Quadrants/boroughs Unit Square metres UF Average Minimum Maximum

North-east
La Reina 33 194 893 968 618 4.97 3.00 11.49
Las Condes 89 223 348 3 872 854 17.34 1.24 70.00
Lo Barnechea 51 121 609 755 192 6.21 1.50 24.00
Ñuñoa 28 41 520 511 111 12.31 4.30 30.00
Providencia 40 61 596 1 214 057 19.71 10.00 32.00
Vitacura 36 122 146 1 695 386 13.88 1.90 35.00
Total 277 765 122 9 017 218 12.40 3.65 33.74

Recoleta 18 30 874 185 244 6.00 2.76 25.00

North-west 68 453 622 1 436 808 4.23 1.83 11.71
South-east 116 483 676 2 157 017 4.71 2.18 9.11
South-west 67 283 517 1 124 222 4.17 2.11 12.80
Santiago centre 47 69 726 737 004 10.57 3.24 19.00

Gran Santiago 575 2 055 663 14 472 269 7.21

Sources: CCHC (2003); SEREX (2002).

found between the north-east quadrant and
Santiago centre and the rest of the Gran
Santiago built-up area. According to the
Censuses of Housing in 1992 and 2002, a
remarkable increase of 53 591 flats or 75 per
cent is recorded during this period in the
north-east quadrant (from 71 407 to 124 998
units), placing the north-east at the top of the
list for number of flats and also representing
almost 40 per cent of the total number of flats
in Gran Santiago in 2002. For Santiago
centre, the situation is similar, with 38 661
flats in 2002, representing an increase of 70.3
per cent for this type of dwelling in this dis-
trict. Furthermore, this central area is the
only sector of Gran Santiago where the
number of houses decreased (4364 units
fewer in 2002 from 1992).
The effects that these dwelling types have
had on the Gran Santiago skyline in recent
decades require analysis, linking these effects
to the new urban lifestyle patterns. For
Santiago centre, the current set of properties
on offer shows 50 new high-rise buildings
being offered for residential use with three
main options: studio flats, one-bedroom
flats and two-bedroom flats with one or two
bathrooms (some flats offer three bedrooms
in the same overall built area). The price
range expressed in Unidades de Fomento
(UF)3 is between 530 UF (£12 304 approxi-
mately) and 1450 UF (£33 662 approxi-
mately) and the floor area is usually between
30 square metres and 70 square metres,
depending on the interior design and the
number of rooms proposed.4 An important
aspect of these new housing projects is the
variety of architectural proposals that have
been developed in recent decades. Buildings
that emulate American and European styles
such as ‘lofts’, Victorian facxades and
‘Silicone Valley’ expressions are redefining
Santiago’s skyline. In addition, a clear direct
relationship between the most extensive
property development activities and land
values can be found (see Table 2).
2094 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO

Santiago centre and the four districts given that market forces seem to be the main
that belong to the north-east quadrant drivers of urban development in the city.
(Vitacura, Las Condes, Providencia and
Nuñoa) have the highest land values, at an
average of almost 15 UF per square metre. Bellavista Neighbourhood: The Two
In this sense, the north-east quadrant con- Faces of the Coin
tains more than one-third (37.2 per cent The neighbourhood of Bellavista forms part
or 765 122 square metres) of all property of the core of Santiago, with a strategic loca-
development in Gran Santiago (2 055 663 tion in the north-east quadrant and with a
square metres) with 765 122 square
strong urban image that is firmly incorpo-
metres. Likewise, in 2001, the municipality
rated in the collective memory of each
of Santiago centre registered an invest-
Santiaguino. This historic quarter dates back
ment by the private sector of 737 004 UF
to the beginning of Santiago’s foundation
in property development. This is compara-
when it initially formed its west side as the
ble with the south-west quadrant’s invest-
‘La Chimba’ quarter, making it one of the
ment of 1 124 222 UF, although the
first suburban areas in 16th-century Chile
central area has less than a quarter of the
(Winchester et al., 2001). Subsequently, at
south-west quadrant’s built-up area
the end of the 19th-century, it comprised
(69 726 versus 283 517 square metres).
part of the León XIII quarter (one of the first
Thus, territorial disparities found in Gran
Catholic working-class neighbourhoods
Santiago’s urban fabric are encouraged by
established in Gran Santiago) (Hidalgo and
current property development activities,
Cáceres, 2003). Nowadays, Bellavista is
which have reinforced the tendency from
divided between two municipalities:
the past 30 years onwards. These housing
Providencia and Recoleta (see Figure 2).
market tendencies are promoting strong
However, much water has passed under
territorial differences between the eastern
the bridge since its formation and Bellavista
and western areas of the city. At the same
has seen many physical and socioeconomic
time, this dynamic process is accentuating
changes, especially in the past 20 years.
tensions generated between local commu-
Modern urban life and international influ-
nities who suffer disadvantages due to the
ence from the US economic model, foreign
increase in the price of homes, and the
consumption and globalisation have
local governments which lack adequate
strongly modified Bellavista’s neighbour-
urban regulations and protection measures
hood identity. In this sense, Bellavista rep-
for the residents (Arriagada and Simioni,
resents a typical case of physical and social
2001).
change that most historic Latin American
In short, changes in the patterns of resi-
neighbourhoods are experiencing nowa-
dent profile and housing demand tendencies
are summarised for the past 20 years; these days. In consequence, conservation and
have affected much of the original identity recent effects of gentrification seem to be
and local life that inner Gran Santiago used influencing this historic area.
to have, especially in the old quarters. The
geography of gentrification based on recent The New Residents of Bellavista:
trends in Gran Santiago—such as new gated White or ‘Light-blue’ Collars?
community projects located in both the inner
and outer city—could make it more difficult The current social composition of the
to move towards more positive changes, Bellavista neighbourhood can be summarised
 ‘LATINO GENTRIFICATION’? 2095

6
Recoleta Providencia 6
district district

11 7
5
3 1
9

10

Main public &

8 private green spaces:
San Cristóbal hill 1
2 Juan Pablo II park 2
0 0.05 0.1 km
Caupolican square 3
Camilo Mori square 4
Los Molinos square 5
Park (metropolitan including zoo / TV Chanels and square 6
and local squares (courtyards) San Cristóbal sport centre 7
Predominance of front-garden facades / Tennis club centre 8
cultural centre and secondary school yards Montecarmelo cultural centre 9
Natural boundary (Mapocho river) Inmaculada secondary school 10
Street boundaries (Loreto and Pío Nono) Murialdo secondary school 11

Figure 2. The Bellavista neighbourhood.

using both quantitative and qualitative data.
Table 3 provides statistical estimations of
population for residents in 2004, which was
undertaken alongside the residential profiles
of Bellavista, including family composition,
employment, housing type and tenure, and
educational level as key urban indicators.
This table has been compiled using methods
of data collection from both official statistics
and fieldwork undertaken in Santiago, Chile
during December 2006 to August 2007. Data
from the Census of Population and Housing
(1992 and 2002) and 60 semi-structured
interviews carried out with residents of
Bellavista have been combined in an attempt
to capture, as accurately as possible, the resi-
dent profile. Specifically, the semi-structured
interview schedule was applied in the period
December 2006 to January 2007 and con-
ducted with the two main categories of resi-
dent of Bellavista defined in this research:
long-standing residents nicknamed ‘old resi-
dents’, who have been living there for at least
20 years (and in many cases for more than 40
years); and ‘new residents’ who have recently
moved to the area (mainly since 2000). This
sub-division had the aim of exploring the dif-
ferent perceptions and values that both old
and new residents have concerning the urban
areas closest to them. Of the total inter-
viewed, the majority (36) are old residents
and the rest (24) are new residents. By
describing the district that they represented,
a slight difference is revealed: 29 Recoleta
2096 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO

Table 3. Old and new residents in Bellavista samples 2004

Old residents New residents
Profile (resident 20 years or over) (resident since 2000)

Resident profile family composition

Number of residents Estimated on 1276 residents
521 residents (66 years or
older)
755 residents (46–65 years)
Family composition 2–5 people per household
(married couple with children,
or sons and daughters)
1 person per household
(single, widow)
Housing type and tenure
Building typology Type A: terraced building
Type B: garden-city building
Type C: mainly ‘Cité’
Range 60–400 square metres
built area
Housing tenure Tenants
Mainly owner-occupied
(without debt like mortgage)
Education and employment
Education Higher education (professional
degree, technical, artist,
painter, writer, etc.)
Lower education from 2nd
and 3rd sector (technical,
worker)
Employment Paid employees
Self-employed
Some managers
Unemployed
House-keeping
Estimated on 1620 residents
904 residents (31–45 years
mainly)
716 residents (from flats,
estimated 2 people x 358 flats)
1–3 people per household
(young couples with or
without children)
1 person per household
(single, woman householder)
Type A: terraced building
Type B: garden-city building
Range 60–400 square metres
built area
Type C: mainly gated
communities with middle- and
high-rise building range 35–80
square metres built area (flat)
Tenants (possibly finance lease)
Both owner-occupied (with
and without mortgage)
Mainly higher education from
3rd sector (professional
degree, postgraduate, manager,
technical, graphic design,
press, some workers, etc.)
Paid employees
Self-employed
Some managers
Unemployed

Sources: based on: Resident profile from 60 semi-structured interviews for Bellavista residents;
Municipalidad de Recoleta (2005); Census of Population and Housing, 2002; Census of
Population 2002; Inzulza, 2011.

residents and 31 residents of Providencia
were selected.5
The design of this interview included 49
questions, in two sections: the first part with
20 questions including specific hard data (date
of birth, length of residence, housing tenure,
place of work, etc.) and the second part with
29 questions that included more open-ended
questions about the perception and values of
residents. A friendly environment was a cru-
cial condition to conduct the interviews. In
fact, only two people were interviewed outside

their houses (particularly in Camilo Mori
square). The rest of the people agreed to be
interviewed in their houses, which was helpful
as a way of examining the nature of the houses
in terms of size and some features associated
with specific kinds of resident (pioneer resi-
dents, new graphic artists, white-collars work-
ers, etc.).
The long-standing residents group is
estimated to include 1276 people, with dif-
ferent backgrounds (artisans, painters,
sculptors, architects, etc.); but also people
who have completed only their primary
education (workers, vendors, etc.). This
group (long-standing residents) is identified
across the whole Bellavista territory as
owner-occupiers of one- to three-storey ter-
raced houses dating from the end of 19th
century to the mid 20th century, mainly
identified as type A ‘terraced building’, of
the period 1890–1930, with a constructed
area of 60–400 square metres and additional
outdoor terrain (see Figure 3.A). The inter-
viewed ‘long-standing residents’ average age
is over 30, which means that most of them
have been established in this neighbour-
hood since the 1960–1970s. The main
reason for selecting Bellavista as their home
quarter was that it was an affordable option,
which allowed them to live in the core of
the city, with access to cultural activities
(theatres, galleries, schools of art, etc.).
Others also saw the surrounding natural
environment (hill and river) as important
in making locational choices. Moreover,
long-standing residents have good mem-
ories about neighbourhood life and a strong
local identity as ‘Bellavistinos’.
The second group, or ‘new residents’, is
characterised by a profile of 31–45-year-old
tenant and/or owner-occupier with mort-
gage, from a middle-class family (rather than
from a high-income family); with a good
educational background (university degree
and, in some cases, postgraduate studies) but
working as paid employees (rather than as
‘LATINO GENTRIFICATION’? 2097
managers) and being employed mainly in the
tertiary sector (marketing, computing, gra-
phic design, architectural drawing, etc.). It is
estimated that at least 1620 new residents
(12.6 per cent more than long-standing resi-
dents) have settled in western Bellavista
(Recoleta district) since 2002.6 By connecting
the physical findings about housing type,
‘new residents’ are particularly associated
with the first three building types: type A ‘ter-
raced building’, already described; type B
‘garden-city’ (1960–80), characterised by
detached and/or semi-detached one- to
three-storey buildings, with a built area in the
range of 60–300 square metres and located in
a plot with front garden and courtyard (see
Figure 3B.). Finally, for the type C ‘gated
communities’, three sub-categories are iden-
tified: C.1 the ‘Cité’ category with one- to
three-storey terraced buildings, which was
built before 1900 and with a constructed area
of 60–100 square metres. This sub-category
C1, together with the previous types A and B
already described, can be defined as ‘houses’.
The other two sub-categories of type C ‘gated
communities’ are similar and comprise
‘flats’, dating mainly from 1980 until the
present and located in middle-rise buildings
(three to seven storeys) as sub-category C.2,
or high-rise buildings (15 to 22 storeys) as
sub-category C.3. This last category formed
by high-rise buildings is described in more
detail in the next subsection (as shown in
Table 4 and Figure 4).
Similarly, residents from the long-
standing category can also to be found, in
particular, in middle-rise buildings of type
C. Types A and B housing refer mainly to
older one- to three-storey terraced and/or
detached buildings with a constructed area
of up to 400 square metres, that can be
used for both living (home) and working
(studio-home). Nevertheless, new lifestyle
patterns are associated with new residents
living in the type C high-rise buildings.
Although most new residents have been
2098 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO
Figure 3. A: an example of terraced building; B: a garden-city street.
Source: author’s photographs.
identified as rental tenants or even owner-
occupiers paying a mortgage, it does not
necessarily mean that new residents want to
settle in Bellavista permanently. From the
interviewed group of new residents living
in high-rise buildings, the choice to live in
Bellavista depended ultimately on their job
conditions. For example, three of the
young couples interviewed noted that they
decided to live in Bellavista primarily
because this quarter is located near to their
jobs (Santiago’s historic centre). However,
they were aware that the option of living in
Bellavista could change if they left their
current jobs, or if they wanted to move to
outer Santiago to a house or larger prop-
erty than their current 50 square metres
flats.
As the tertiary sector has grown in recent
decades, with good job opportunities from
companies established in the ‘Santiago
centre’ district (revised previously), this sit-
uation helps the housing market to stimu-
late new projects for people who choose to
live in the historic neighbourhoods located
beside Santiago’s main business area.
Hence, the selection criterion of choosing
Bellavista for its cultural activities could be
a second priority for new residents who
might only be there temporarily (for a few
years or even less).
In short, an urban scenario with a pri-
macy of paid-employee young-professionals
(rather than managers) who are tenants
(rather than owners) is the social panorama
seen in Bellavista (1992–2002). Furthermore,
this situation has been generating rapid
social change in inner Santiago during
recent decades, which appears dependent on
how sustainable the tertiary sector is.
Undoubtedly, this approach is a risky
option for the existence and consolidation
of historic neighbourhoods, as in Bellavista’s
case. The new residents, as analysed, do not
coincide necessarily with the white-collar
profile (manager category or a high-income
class) as the purest gentrification concept. In
this sense, they can be categorised as ‘light-
blue’-collar workers according to their social
profile, with a need for a better urban life-
style and mainly located in flats. In any case,
the group of new residents can be consid-
ered as potential gentrifiers as they are caus-
ing the displacement of old residents and
increasing both land value and the cost of
living in Bellavista.

Table 4. Number of flats sold with SRU in inner Santiago, 1995–2005
Area 1995–99 2000
Inner Santiago 13 815 1 673
Recoleta district 173 178
Bellavista neighbourhood n/i n/i
Sources: based on Arriagada et al. (2007, p. 33); Municipalidad de Recoleta (2005).
Urban Policies Initiatives:
Encouraging a Higher
Gentrification?
The recent patterns of change in the physi-
cal morphology of Bellavista can be
explained, in part, by the national urban
incentive already mentioned, the ‘urban
renewal subsidy’ (SRU), in force since 1992
for only half of the Bellavista neighbour-
hood (Recoleta district). This SRU pro-
moted the buying and/or the construction
of ‘social housing’, which can have a con-
structed area of 140 square metres (maxi-
mum) and a price of 2000 UF (£46 193
approximately). According to the ‘DFL2’
law, which regulates this social housing
subsidy, it can consist of new or renovated
housing. However, form and content prob-
lems during the implementation of the
SRU have been detected, with analysis
showing that this is particularly the case in
Bellavista: Bellavista has used this incentive
and, clearly, these areas (eastern and west-
ern Bellavista) reveal different physical and
social patterns of development. Relevant
figures can be found by means of the analy-
sis of statistics recently published by the
Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning
about the main synopsis of SRU. This key
study, an evaluation of the SRU for inner
Santiago in the period 1991–2005, shows a
great number of flats (42 962) sold with
SRU specifically for the period 1995–2005.
Of these flats, 76.5 per cent are located into
the Santiago historic area district with
32 871 units (see Table 4).
‘LATINO GENTRIFICATION’? 2099
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Total
18 13 2 799 4 780 7 314 10 768 42 962
95 165 215 600 702 2 128
72 — 115 678 865
The rest of the flats are located in three
main districts; San Miguel, Quinta Normal
and Recoleta, with 2799, 2176 and 2128 flats
respectively. By looking at the Recoleta dis-
trict, a progressive increment of flats may be
observed, mainly from the 2002–05 period.
In addition, western Bellavista has a consid-
erable number of flats (865 units) built
since 2001, even though this area does not
show any building activity in 2002. This
figure is more relevant when it is considered
that this area of Bellavista has almost half of
the flats that have been sold in the Recoleta
district (1777 units) for the period 2001–05.
Arriagada et al. (2007) point out that, since
this kind of housing began to be a main ten-
dency in inner Santiago, a rise in land prices
and an improvement in housing standards
have been observed. In terms of housing
types, these flats have an average size of 63
square metres and are located mainly in
dense high-rise buildings equipped with
underground car-parking areas, foyers in
the main entrance, 24-hour security, acces-
sibility and administration services of a high
standard. Moreover, these high-rise build-
ings have incorporated interior design with
sophisticated luxury materials similar to
those found in the high-income housing
market. In terms of the physical fabric, the
SRU is not really creating a positive homo-
geneous image of the city. Conversely, from
the western Bellavista sample, it is possible
to see that high-rise buildings with concrete
and glass frontages are being systematically
located in this area (see Figure 4). Thus,
2100 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO
Figure 4. A high-rise building located in western Bellavista. Source: author’s photograph.
physical manifestations of recent waves of
gentrification can be observed by the great
amount of housing that these high-rise
buildings are drawing into the new Santiago
inner skyline.
As mentioned before, the new housing
consumers are not necessarily in the high-
income bracket; neither are they recovering
their old properties as observed in 1960s
inner London or 1970s Soho, New York.
Nevertheless, ‘spots’ with a different social
composition can be observed in most of the
historic neighbourhoods, as in Bellavista,
accompanied by an increase in values of
urban land and new patterns of consump-
tion by new residents. Arriagada et al. (2007)
recognise that, although the gentrification
process as observed in the US or Canadian
contexts has not been part of the inner
Santiago landscape that the Chilean housing
market is using in advertising campaigns,
the same lofts and home studio units and
luxury facilities (swimming-pool on the top,
central heating system) are being employed
to attract the attention of the potential
inner-city residents. The 793 flats that have
been located in western Bellavista between
2003 and 2005 mean that, at least 1886 new
residents have moved to the area, assuming
two people per flat. This compares with the
existing 1819 residents who settled in this
area in 2002.
Therefore, pressures of change can clearly
be inferred from the application of SRU
applied in Bellavista/Recoleta. In this sense,
the dynamic housing market observed since
2000 in this historic area allows a link with
the theoretical debate of this paper about
recent waves of gentrification. The rapid
increase in flats, at an average of 264 units
per year for the period 2003–05, and the
global patterns of this housing type repre-
sented by high-rise buildings as shown in
Figure 4, can also be observed in many Latin
American inner cities. This means that prob-
ably most of the genuine urban fabric of
western Bellavista, as observed in other his-
toric neighbourhoods, will be replaced in

the short- or medium-term period by a new
physical expression of the housing market,
using globalisation as a common language
for the ‘Latino gentrification’ process.
Conclusion: Displacement or
Replacement?
From analysis concerning the four waves of
gentrification described from the 1960s to
the present-day by Lees et al. (2008), it can
be argued that the first and second waves of
this phenomenon are largely absent in the
Latin American context, but that the third
and even fourth waves of gentrification can
be clearly observed from the 1980s/1990s.
Thus, the metamorphosis that is gentrifica-
tion taking place across the world can also
be observed in the Latin American context,
but with some local differences which help
to propose the ‘Latino gentrification’ con-
cept as the main contribution of this paper.
‘Latino gentrification’ is defined as the
replacement of the existing residential
typology (one-, two- or three-storey ter-
raced houses) by a new housing tendency
(middle- and high-rise buildings), rather
than the displacement of people of low
income to the outskirts by people of higher
income, or the return to the central areas of
a middle class seeking to develop its artistic
or cultural activities.
Explicitly, by focusing on the core of
Latin American cities, four key issues that
are changing the physical and social patterns
can be described. First, an urban poverty
and social exclusion segregating this core
are observed (Sabatini, 1997; Portes, 1989;
Rodrı́guez and Winchester, 2001 and 2004).
Secondly, as the main physical and social
expression of this segregation, new types of
housing, such as gated communities con-
sisting mainly of high-rise buildings, are
being sold by developers encouraged by
national and local government agendas
‘LATINO GENTRIFICATION’? 2101
(Coy and Pöhler, 2002; Rojas et al., 2004;
Borsdorf et al., 2007). Thirdly, as potential
urban consumers of these new housing
expressions, Latino gentrifiers—typified by
people connected with tertiary-sector jobs
and new middle–low incomes (or ‘light-
blue’ collars)—are selecting historic neigh-
bourhoods to establish both an urban life-
style and a new trend in housing (Hardoy
and Gutman, 1992; Arizaga, 2003). Finally,
this tendency of use is strongly linked to
increased consumption encouraged by glo-
balised commodities, and conflict between a
pre-existing community and newcomers
who may lack any local identity (Jones and
Ward, 2004). In this sense, the historic
neighbourhoods in Latin America seem to
be the best commodities for public- and
private-sector interests in search of a signifi-
cant investment.
From the analysis of Gran Santiago, an
enormous territorial disparity can be observed
in the built-up area in the past 30 years. As a
result, four comparable portions (or quad-
rants) with different physical conditions and
social development can be identified. People
in the high-income bracket are mainly in the
north-east quadrant; people of low income
are in the south-west quadrant; there is a mix
of people of middle and low income in the
north-west quadrant; and people of middle to
high income are located in the south-east
quadrant. Thus, modern-day Santiago can be
described as a city searching for its identity
beyond its own reality, ‘overflowing’ its rural
history and especially inspired by foreign
development such as the US suburban style.
In the geographical centre, Santiago’s historic
area itself is being transformed into an
eccentric urban showcase for administrative,
business and trendy housing markets: high-
rise buildings emulating retroarchitecture in
xades; housing and office projects shar-
their fac
ing the same surrounding areas as historic
heritage buildings—and, quite often, with
similar names to the ‘historic monuments’
2102 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO
and ‘typical zones’. Ortı́z and Morales (2002)
have identified specific socioeconomic groups
of new Santiaguino residents who have
chosen to live in some areas of the historic
centre. For instance, 40 per cent of young
people who have migrated from the outskirts
to the core of the city are middle class and
qualified professionals who have been settled
in the east of the Santiago historic centre, spe-
cifically the Lira, Santa Lucı́a, San Francisco
and Lastarria quarters. In this latter quarter,
groups of people are buying or renting old
200–300 square metres flats located in front
of the Parque Forestal, overlooking the
Mapocho river, and with privileged access to
cultural activities located in the historic sur-
rounding areas.
This reality is being emulated but with
some differences (especially in the social pro-
file) for new residents of the Bellavista neigh-
bourhood located near to these old quarters.
Rehabilitation versus redevelopment actions
are further reinforcing the political-
administrative boundaries in force in
Bellavista since 1982. A different Bellavista
skyline can be observed nowadays, shaped
by high-rise buildings mainly located on its
western side (Recoleta district) with the San
Cristóbal hill as a natural backdrop, which
used to be the main landmark for any
Santiaguino. Even though Bellavista has
decreased in population in the past 20 years
(21.5 per cent) as part of the depopulation
observed in inner Santiago, an increasing
redistribution of the population of young
professionals can be observed in this historic
area for the same period. Consequently, this
situation helps to reinforce the fact that the
displacement of the working class by higher
classes returning to the core of Santiago has
not been observed in this context, as a key
feature of the first and second waves of gen-
trification. However, the apparent non-
displacement of low-income people does not
mean that gentrification is not occurring,
but rather that the physical and social
conversion is underway as contemporary
waves of this process.
Thus, gentrification here seems to be
more associated with a major social change
beginning in the 1990s produced by an
active housing market’s replacement of
terraced houses, and resulting in the dis-
placement of existing residents. In addi-
tion, this replacement has been for both
residential and commercial land uses. For
instance, in Bellavista, since 2002 only a
third of its built-up area has been used for
residential developments (29.05 per cent),
compared with 33.15 per cent for commer-
cial and offices land uses (20.75 per cent
and 12.4 per cent respectively). This situa-
tion is more critical when looking at the
western side of this historic quarter (the
Recoleta district) where the percentage of
commercial and office uses has risen to 38
per cent. Only one-quarter of the western
Bellavista area (26.6 per cent) was regis-
tered for residential use in 2002. The rest
of the area (35.5 per cent) corresponds to
other uses such as industry, education and
urban services.
The disparity between commercial, resi-
dential use and offices affects mainly the
original terraced-type houses but also the
historic public realm of this western area.
Apparently, around 70 per cent of the origi-
nal Bellavista/Recoleta area urban fabric was
comprised of terraced houses and that
means that at least one-quarter or more of
this original housing area has been con-
verted to commercial activities. In fact, a
conversion of these properties into discothe-
ques, clubs and small factories can be affect-
ing the architecture of western Bellavista.
These patterns of change described for
Bellavista are closely comparable with other
examples of Latin American historic neigh-
bourhoods with similar significant land use
changes. La Boca quarter in Buenos Aires
and La Candelaria in Bogotá are both exam-
ples of how most of the existing residential

land uses have changed into commercial
and offices land uses (Carrión, 2005), as a
part of ‘Latino gentrification’.
Amongst physical changes, the location
of high-rise buildings seems to represent
the most aggressive pattern of gentrifica-
tion. This building type, which in most
cases has been expressed through gated
communities, gives a different image of
gentrification when compared with the first
and second waves in the US and European
contexts. Instead of old Victorian houses or
former industrial properties being con-
verted into lofts, ‘Latino gentrification’
seems to be rising to the ‘heights of the
city’. Many residents see this physical
change as the most invasive action affecting
the urban environment—especially when
these high-rise buildings are located on
small sites next to old residential quarters,
thus without any possibility of recovering
the claimed everyday life that characterises
most historic neighbourhoods.
Therefore, a crucial final point is that
gentrification in Latin America needs rec-
ognition as an official issue. The inclusion
of both theoretical debate and the empirical
case study of the Bellavista neighbourhood,
are the main contributions of this paper.
Authors such as Jones and Varley (1999),
Arriagada et al. (2007) and de Mattos and
Hidalgo (2007) have already argued about
the lack of empirical evidence to support
an analysis of gentrification in the develop-
ing countries of Latin America. Instead of
gentrification, terms such as ‘regeneración
urbana’ (urban regeneration), ‘renovación
urbana’ (urban renewal) or ‘mejoramiento
de barrio’ (neighbourhood improvement)
are used by national and local governments
in official urban policies, masterplans and
urban briefs to improve semi-derelict his-
toric areas and neighbourhoods in general
(Redfern, 1997).
Thus, it is urgent and necessary to
require new regulatory frameworks from
‘LATINO GENTRIFICATION’? 2103
policy-makers and urban managers, which
allow the development of housing market
renewal but, at the same time, protect the local
culture and reinvigorate the cultural heritage
of inner areas (Hardoy and Gutman, 1992;
Ward, 2001; Arizaga, 2003). Nevertheless,
from the Bellavista case, it is possible to argue
that gentrification does not mean only a
policy concern. An analysis of gentrification
including both physical and socioeconomic
indicators is fundamental as a way to under-
stand the qualitative and quantitative
approaches of this process, especially in the
inner cities, where historic neighbourhoods
are being transformed into trendy areas for
global consumption. The value that historic
neighbourhoods represent for the pre-existing
community is priceless. The local identity and
collective memory that residents have through
memories and images is an effective tool
for recovering the main sense of an historic
neighbourhood (Boyer, 1994; Hayden 1995;
Hebbert, 2005). Resisting the process of
displacement that affects previous residents,
as observed repeatedly in many cases
around the world, is one of the most traumatic
effects of gentrification. In this sense, protec-
tive legislation and effective actions to
improve historic neighbourhoods without
losing their essential spirit, while preserving
the inhabitants’ lifestyle, seem to be a main,
and enduring, challenge in urban renewal as
applied in Latin America (Jones and Ward,
2004).
Notes
1. ‘Gran Santiago’ territory (or also Santiago
city) is defined as the main urban territory
of the Santiago Metropolitan Region with 36
districts. Most of them (32 districts) belong
to Santiago province and 4 districts are
distributed in three provinces: Cordillera (2),
Maipo (1) and Talagante (1).
2. Examples from the ‘other’ category are
families where the main householder belongs
to the public-service sector—for example,
2104 JORGE INZULZA-CONTARDO
state school, army or city council. However,
this housing category is scarcer in
comparison with the ‘owner-occupier’ or
‘rented’ categories.
3. Unidad de Fomento or UF is a national
economic indicator; UF = Chilean $20 978.
45 and approximately £23.21 (June 2009).
4. See: www.pabellon.cl. A great of number of
flats are designed without balconies or
terraces. Compact structures like ‘vertical
boxes’ are raised from the basement, trying
to maximise the available space that the local
master plan allows for this area. In this
sense, a deeper analysis of the local master
plan conditions is suggested for
understanding the different city concepts
that these urban instruments propose for
each district of Gran Santiago. Moreover,
more mixture of residents in Santiago
historic centre than other districts must be
considered.
5. A close relationship amongst neighbours was
observed by the author through the friendly
environment experienced in his almost two
months as a temporary resident. To gain the
co-operation of this number of participants,
the author made an initial contact with key
social activist in Bellavista; this was crucial to
winning the confidence of the participants
and thus to obtain their co-operation in the
interviews. The starting point for the
application of the interviews was during a
lunch meeting on Sunday 3 November 2006,
to which the president of the Ciudad Viva
organisation invited the author. In this
meeting, the author gave a brief presentation
of his research to people mainly belonging to
Providencia local community; the first
participants were five people who were
contacted from this meeting. Thus, the main
techniques used here were mainly the
‘snow-ball’ method of finding participants
according to the selection criteria of
residents. It was necessary to interview an
average of three people per day in order to
achieve a total of 60 participants in
approximately seven weeks (plus one week
for the pilot interviews). Clearly, the contact
made at the beginning with community
leaders and the enthusiastic participation of
the residents, especially from eastern
Bellavista (Providencia), was decisive in
achieving that average.
6. To calculate the estimated number of 1620
‘new residents’, 716 residents were given by
multiplying 2 people x the 358 new flats
(data registered by Recoleta City Council in
2004) as a part of new housing projects in
western Bellavista.
Funding Statement
The author would like to thank the National
Commission for Scientific and Technological
Research of Chile (CONICYT) for funding to
carry out the research and conduct the field-
work in Santiago.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to express special grati-
tude to the residents of the Bellavista neigh-
bourhood for opening their doors and also their
hearts in the semi-structured interviews con-
ducted with them from December 2006 to
January 2007. They shared with the author their
precious memories and perceptions of Bellavista
in the one-hour interviews. Likewise, the author
wishes to thank Ciudad Viva organisation and
the Providencia and Recoleta local communities
for helping to organise the official meeting car-
ried out with residents on 7 July 2007. Finally,
thanks are due to the referees for the comments
which were very useful in helping to improve
the article.
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