Reclaiming public spaces: Planning through informality in Santiago de Chile

Abstract

This article aims to highlight how communities in Santiago de Chile have managed to claim back public spaces through informal practices that also take the form of informal planning. Particularly, the research explores the case of two community-led initiatives that are situated in deprived neighbourhoods in the north and south of the Chilean capital. The results demonstrate how communities develop and establish alternative spatial and institutional arrangements to contest the ineffectiveness of the state and ensure their own right to the city. Through the lens of informal urbanism, this article points out the political dimension of informal practices, and their importance in promoting structural change and expanding planning knowledge.