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Chile has experienced a substantial immigration boom in the last 10 years. The urban areas of this nation present high levels of residential segregation, represented in its main city, Santiago. This article presents results of an exploratory analysis of the relationship between residential segregation, immigration rate by educational institutions and changes in school performance. Based on the generation of clusters characterized by cultural, social, economic and symbolic capital, an analysis of the changes in school performance in those schools that received the greatest number of migrants is generated.

The study addresses the underutilisation of wood in construction in Chile, particularly given the country’s robust forestry sector. The research investigates perceptions, tensions, and contradictions among end-users regarding timber construction in Valdivia, a city with a mixed forestry industry. Methods included a comprehensive survey of 96 households across various socioeconomic clusters, utilising descriptive and exploratory statistical analyses. Key findings reveal persistent negative perceptions about wood’s durability, fire resistance, and maintenance costs. However, positive aspects, such as lower construction costs and adequate thermal comfort, were also noted. Surprisingly, concerns were raised about wood’s environmental impact, including deforestation and its role in combating climate change, contrasting with the material’s known ecological benefits. The study concludes that these perceptions are deeply influenced by ideological and sociopolitical factors, suggesting that mere marketing strategies may not suffice to alter public opinion. Instead, a collaborative effort involving public policy, industry advancements, and transparent scientific communication is essential to promote the benefits of timber construction and address the entrenched biases.

This study investigates the socio-spatial distribution of food deserts in Santiago de Chile, aiming to understand how urban planning and socioeconomic factors influence access to nutritious food. Employing geospatial analysis techniques with data from OpenStreetMap and the 2017 Census, the research identifies areas within Santiago where access to healthy food is limited. The novelty of this study lies in its application of spatial autocorrelation methods, specifically Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA), to reveal clusters of nutritional inequality. The findings indicate significant concentrations of food deserts in both lower socioeconomic peripheral areas and, surprisingly, in some high-income central areas. These results suggest that both poverty and urban infrastructure, including car dependency, play critical roles in shaping access to healthy food. By highlighting over two million residents affected by food deserts, the study underscores the urgent need for integrated urban planning and public health strategies. This research contributes to the understanding of urban nutritional inequality and provides a replicable methodological framework for other cities. The implications extend beyond Santiago, offering insights into how urban design can be leveraged to improve public health outcomes through better access to nutritious food.

This study examines the link between food deserts and cardiovascular health in older adults in Santiago’s Metropolitan Region, Chile. As the population ages and chronic diseases rise, understanding the impact of food accessibility on health is essential. Using multiscale geographically weighted regression, we analyzed data from the Cardiovascular Health Program, socioeconomic indicators, and food desert maps, sourced from the Chilean Ministry of Health and other databases. Spatial analysis, including Voronoi diagrams, assessed the influence of food deserts on health outcomes. Findings show a significant correlation between limited access to healthy foods and higher cardiovascular disease rates, especially in economically disadvantaged areas. The regression model is significant to contribute to the explanation of disease prevalence, emphasizing the impact of food availability on health. This study highlights the importance of considering spatial factors in urban planning and public health policies. By showcasing the role of food environments in health disparities, it advocates for integrated health interventions. Targeted urban planning to address food deserts can enhance access to healthy foods, improving cardiovascular health and well-being among Santiago’s elderly. The findings provide insights for policymakers to create healthier urban environments and stress the need for sustainable food systems to support public health.

El presente estudio aborda el fenómeno de la investificación en el mercado de arriendo del Gran Santiago. Para ello se utiliza un enfoque metodológico cuantitativo por regresiones geográficamente ponderadas. A través de la recopilación y análisis de datos de transacciones y de indicadores urbanos, se exploran los patrones de localización de inversiones residenciales con relación a funciones urbanas específicas a nivel de zonas censales. El análisis revela que la proximidad a instituciones de educación superior, la estabilidad en los precios de arriendo y la presencia de personas mayores son factores determinantes en la selección de propiedades para inversión. Estos hallazgos evidencian la transformación del paisaje urbano como espacios de renta para el capital y destaca la creciente segmentación socioespacial, subrayando así la necesidad de regulaciones que atiendan las implicancias del investification en la dinámica urbana del Gran Santiago.

Considering the global scenario of population aging, which countries such as Chile are going through, the social problems that it means in terms of viability and quality of life for the elderly are increasing and are a cause for concern. For this reason, this study summarizes the results of investigating the accessibility of services and recreational spaces under the parameters of a “15-minute city” for the elderly people in the city of Santiago de Chile. The investigation employed a multivariate geostatistical analysis with a quantitative approach and was developed on a census block scale to test some of the principles of the 15-min city along with the principles on active aging of the elderly. The results are surprising, show a good territorial coverage for the study area and open the possibility of Santiago becoming a 15-min city for older adults. However, there are still several challenges in terms of public policies, from mental and physical health to the design of public spaces, which are fundamental to think about for cities of the future.

Examinar una tradición de levantamientos de inspección visual fundamentados en evidencia empírica representa la base para el desarrollo de un asistente digital (App) como instrumento de diagnóstico y valoración de estructuras en albañilería simple durante la post-emergencia sísmica. La integración de los códigos observacionales derivados de esta tradición permitió la calibración y el análisis de las técnicas de levantamiento y medición utilizadas. El asistente aprovecha las tecnologías ampliamente disponibles en la población e integra los conocimientos especializados y las técnicas tradicionales derivadas del levantamiento directo como base analítica para la valoración de los daños. Esta dimensión analítica de la representación del daño es uno de los aspectos críticos que establece las correlaciones entre los códigos visuales y las escalas de valoración del algoritmo que determina el riesgo sísmico y el grado de habitabilidad estructural de las viviendas.

From the analysis of the Wave 5 National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey 2021 dataset, the study conducted in South Africa, we developed a model of analysis based on three dimensions, namely, subjective well-being, material living conditions, and importance attributed to education during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional analysis of the data for Gauteng area indicates that the dimension of subjective well-being of families in South Africa—even in relation to the factors such as conditions of deprivation (e.g., hunger)—does not necessarily influence the importance the respondents attach to their children’s education, this as reflected in whether or not they send them to school when COVID-19 restrictions allowed for schools to come back to face-to-face teaching. Subjective well-being of parents and guardians is, however, a predictor of concern about their children’s education and future. Our working hypothesis is that, although there is little evidence that subjective well-being has a significant association with the respondents’ willingness for their children to continue their schooling, there is a significant indirect effect of subjective well-being—which is especially determined by the gender as well as of the living material conditions—and the greater or lesser importance that the respondents attribute to their children’s education. Likewise, and in more general terms, subjective well-being is clearly related to gender, with women having the lowest levels of subjective well-being.

Energy poverty, considered a form of deprivation distinct from income poverty, is associated with three factors: low-income levels, high energy costs, and poor residential energy efficiency. It is necessary to study the socio-spatial distribution of energy poverty, particularly in metropolitan areas, due to persistent socioeconomic segregation and their public agenda implications, including the U.N. SDGs. A model of these characteristics can propose a spatial analysis of urban and climate implications, contributing evidence for public policy. This article aims to address energy poverty from a spatial approach extended to the urban area in Santiago de Chile through an exploratory model that estimates the impact of socioeconomic, urban, and climatic variables at a territorial scale on the performance of homes. Using a geographical weighted regression with the inside home temperature in winter as the dependent variable, the independent variables were the percentage of professionals, NDVI, annual thermal amplitude, and housing material quality. A housing quality pattern that acts as a proxy for vulnerability to energy poverty was found, repeating the distribution pattern of the different socioeconomic sectors. The findings incorporate a new interpretive matrix into the complex reproduction of segregation and inequality in a capital city from a developing country.

This document makes a comprehensive analysis of the inequality of the water market in Chile, measured by the Gini coefficient method. The situation of water rights in Chile is of particular interest because it is a wholly privatized system, where rights are traded in the market and therefore water is presented as a commodity. This privatization of water in Chile occurred as part of the process of neo-liberalization since the 1981 Water Code. The results of this study indicate that both concentration and inequality in the distribution of water rights are very high, which undermines a just social development process and facilitates the economic exploitation of the environment. It proposes a profound revision of the application of a mercantile logic to a scarce essential resource for life such as water and explores the importance of its role as a national good for public use.

This article presents a methodology for evaluating the potential for an urban area to become a 15-min city based on its existing essential urban functions. To elaborate this methodology, the research focused on the Metropolitan Area of Santiago de Chile, by identifying 28 urban functions and applying principal component analysis to review how these georeferenced variables are grouped into synthetic components that illustrate the walkability of each block concerning access to these functions. Variables are mapped by GIS software to review where concentrations of essential urban functions occur and where there is a need to increase availability of these missing uses. One of the findings of this study in the Metropolitan Area of Santiago is that essential urban functions provided by the state present a relatively equitable distribution in the metropolis. In contrast, essential urban functions provided by the market are highly concentrated in specific clusters, segregating walkability areas in the metropolitan space. The methodology presented here is replicable for other cities, and the findings offer a critical perspective on land management and urban planning for this case study, where normative frameworks must change to implement the 15-min city.

Chile faces a housing affordability crisis, given that most of the population is unable to secure a house. While housing prices between 2008 and 2019 increased by 63.96%, wages only increased by 21.85%. This article presented an analysis of the housing price configuration for the main borough in the country—Santiago. The assessment focused on verticalised housing constructed between 2015 and 2019. The article developed an exploratory study on the price of housing in Santiago to generate a diagnosis to identify the role played by expectations of profitability when configuring price. Based on the information generated, we sought to contribute to the discussion on public policies that advance the development of affordable housing in central boroughs with high urban value, as is the case for Santiago’s borough of Greater Santiago. We hypothesised that profit expectation of real estate developers plays a key role in the housing prices, and an adjustment in the profit ratios might increase the affordability while keeping the housing market above profitable rates. This research addressed the lack of data transparency in the Chilean housing market with archival research, reconstructing costs and earnings from projects based on official registrations of transactions at the borough level. In Chile, the access to investment costs, land values, yields, and house price formation are not publicly available, even though these factors imply that many households are facing severe difficulties in paying for and accessing decent housing.

This paper is part of a general research project whose main objective is to establish a baseline for post-occupancy energy consumption and indoor environmental quality for office buildings in Santiago, Chile. This study aims at understanding how architectonical variables relate to, and can even determine, user comfort perception. Thus, one-year continuous monitoring in several floors at four office buildings was performed and seasonal surveys were completed. Survey participants were asked a series of questions regarding spatial orientation and comfort perception in their workspace.The data from the comfort survey and onsite measurements such as season of the year, case study, type of workspace and possibility of an outdoor view from the workstation were contrasted with the components obtained by a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Three components were selected from the PCA, and three Maps of Perception (MP) were produced. These maps were then analyzed and interpreted so as to obtain information on the general perception of thermal and lighting comfort at workspaces within several office buildings in Santiago.