Metropolitan formation from fragmentation. The conurbation process of Greater La Serena

Abstract

Metropolization can be understood as a phenomenon where a functional urban unit structures, controls and specializes a territory. In large South-American cities, the first metropolitan areas emerged from an accelerated urban growth of industrial cities that absorbed smaller urban centers until forming polycentric cities, that currently show noticeable phenomena of fragmentation and sprawl. In Chile, in recent decades, other important urban units have been forming, setup as metropolitan areas due to the interrelation of intermediate cities. These entities do not necessarily fit the same model as the traditional models of the subcontinent, and they require a specialized study of their phenomena. Taking the case of Greater La Serena, this research studies the formation process of a postindustrial metropolitan area, analyzing the evolution of its urban morphology, the planning and the urban events that have outlined its evolution.The results show that the configuration of Greater La Serena, although based on a series of State urban interventions carried out in the mid-20th century, is developed by spontaneous conurbation processes, starting from fragments that have been merging into a continuity, repeatedly breaking through urban boundaries, and forming an initially fragmented metropolization.