Urbano

Migrant trade in Valparaíso, Chile. Practices of city appropriation

2025-12-01T18:21:00+00:00

The urban transformation of Valparaíso reflects the recent arrival of migrant groups from Latin American countries. This study examines how these populations appropriate the city through trade, employing a theoretical approach to mobility. Through a multi-sited ethnographic investigation that includes diverse research techniques on movement and its triangulation, three modes of appropriation through commercial practices are analyzed. Some involve relatively mobile locations, others reveal the formation of commercial spaces that replicate local trends, while some emerge at the intersection with other urban uses. Transnational connections that foster specific forms of rootedness are also identified. The heterogeneity of these practices highlights migrant trade as a way of occupying, appropriating, and disputing urban space. However, these processes are not exempt from power inequalities that shape urban experiences.

layouts, occupation processes and hillside neighborhoods in Inter-Andean Valleys. The case of the Northeast area of Cusco, Peru

2025-12-01T18:18:15+00:00

In the Global South, urban production is facing reinterpretation to better understand the emerging reality. This study analyzes the layouts and processes of territorial occupation, settlements, and hillside neighborhoods in the Huatanay River Valley, using historiography and urban mapping to examine morphological evolution, along with direct observation in the unit of analysis. The results reveal that the territorial layout serves as a mechanism for progressive location in the sociohistorical and spatial production, which determines morphogenesis in the Inca, Hispanic, and modernizing periods, characterized by a dichotomous conception between valley slope and base layouts. This contrasts with the mixed layout that emerges on the irregular edges of the plots on the northeastern shady slopes, demonstrating a better adaptation to geomorphological conditions during the social production of the urban hillside habitat in the city.

Urban morphogenetics and public space quality in Chaupimarca, Cerro de Pasco, Peru

2025-12-01T18:22:15+00:00

Currently, Latin American cities have complex and fragmented urban forms, the result of historical and social processes. These configurations pose significant challenges for planning, as they can directly affect the quality of public space. To reinterpret urban morphology from a morphogenetic perspective, this study conceives the city as an evolving system comprising typological genes that shape its structure and dynamics. The research looks to contribute to closing the existing scientific gap regarding the relationship between urban morphogenetics and public space quality. This study, conducted in the district of Chaupimarca, Cerro de Pasco (Peru), employed a quantitative approach supported by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify typological genes and assess their morphogenetic characteristics regarding the quality of their associated public spaces. The results reveal no statistically significant correlation between the two variables; however, it was observed that functional diversity has a positive influence on public space quality. Despite the weak overall correlation, the value of the morphogenetic approach is emphasized to guide more comprehensive and context-sensitive urban interventions.

The wildland-urban interface as no man’s land in the construction of wildfire risk for Chilean coastal cities

2025-12-01T18:21:48+00:00

The impact of wildfires in wildland–urban interface (WUI) zones of central-southern Chile has steadily grown in recent decades, intensifying during the 2022–2023 season with 1,834 fires that burned more than 183,000 hectares in the Biobío Region. While most studies have focused on the Concepción metropolitan area, this article examines the case of Arauco, assessing wildfire threats and their relationship with the zoning established by the 1988 Municipal Master Plan (PRCA, in Spanish). Using a spatial analysis that integrated biophysical and anthropogenic variables, the study found that 60% of Arauco’s urban area has a high wildfire risk, and that over 75% of this surface is authorized for high-density residential uses by the PRCA. This overlap reveals that planning instruments not only overlook wildfire risks but also contribute to their social construction by promoting urban densification in highly exposed areas. The study concludes that the wildland–urban interface in Arauco, as in many coastal Chilean cities, remains largely unregulated, shaped by regulatory obsolescence, institutional fragmentation, and the absence of explicit risk criteria, effectively converting these areas into “no man’s lands.”

Multiscalar analysis of flooding in urban and rural areas for resilient territorial planning: the case study of Cotopaxi (Ecuador)

2025-12-01T18:21:24+00:00

Flooding in urban and rural areas of the Cotopaxi province is a recurring problem that has had multiple adverse effects on the environment, society, and the economy. This research focuses on the factors involved in pluvial and river flooding at three scales: territorial, urban/rural, and local. Using a mixed-methods approach, supported by qualitative methods and spatial analysis techniques, a multiscale analysis of flooding in urban and rural areas is conducted. This methodology can be extrapolated to other areas with similar characteristics and includes three processes: documentary review and compilation; characterization of the territory through Geographic Information Systems and cartography; and, finally, analysis of regulations and technical instruments for territorial planning. As a result, four macro factors of flooding are described, with the change in land use and cover being the most relevant, affecting the urban/rural scale to a greater extent, making it a key scale in flood risk management. Ultimately, this methodology has enabled identifying the origin of floods according to different scales of analysis and, in addition, establishing specific problems, possible solutions, and competencies to reduce the vulnerability of affected areas.

Refuge city in an arid climate: evolution of green cover in neighborhoods inhabited by older people, Mendoza, Argentina

2025-12-01T18:17:47+00:00

A multitude of urban initiatives have been implemented to create open public spaces to mitigate the adverse effects of extreme heat events. Outdoor climate shelters are one of the strategies used to provide comfortable thermal conditions and protect against inclement weather. This study analyzes and compares the evolution of green cover and the population dynamics of older adults since the 2000s in three traditional neighborhoods of a city with an arid climate and hot summers. This study aims to generate data and provide input to local and regional governments on the extent of heat vulnerability. This will facilitate the adaptation and implementation of urban cooling strategies that improve microclimatic conditions. Furthermore, these data contribute to increased thermal comfort in public spaces, promoting active aging and climate resilience among the population.

Urban commons in Cerro Barón, Valparaíso, Chile: networks, resignification, and provision

2025-12-01T18:16:29+00:00

This article examines the emergence of urban commons (UC) as development alternatives in cities and as responses to the limitations of the State and the market in providing mechanisms and means for communities to collectively access goods. Three cases are studied in Barón Hill (Cerro Barón) in Valparaiso: a space for memory and culture, a local space for community and territorial organizations, and a garden/soup kitchen. Through semi-structured interviews with organization members, institutional representatives, and informants from other hills, the results reveal mechanisms of dispute, appropriation, and resignification of urban/neighborhood spaces, along with the revitalization of abandoned areas, and the formation of a community-strengthening network featuring "inter-hill" nodes that facilitate the exchange of information and experiences. This research contributes to understanding the governance and political economy of urban commons, demonstrating that the role and scale of neighborhood organizations can significantly influence decision-making and provisioning processes in the city, both at specific moments and on a permanent basis.

Sustainable spatial planning for urban expansion in The West Bank 2023-2050

2025-12-01T18:16:43+00:00

Palestinian cities, regardless of their small size, struggle with high population density and fast population growth due to a lack of control over the land because of the Israeli occupation constraints. Accordingly, Palestinians must use all the available urban development models within city limits to accommodate the growing population. This involves expanding residential neighborhoods in all directions and developing the least developed lands. This paper examines the need of the Palestinians in the West Bank for urban expansion based on natural growth and the availability of land, taking into consideration sustainable urban development that enhances the quality of spatial areas through sustainable planning and an integrated environmental system, as well as the political constraints based on two scenarios: the first (2023-2030) considers planning under Israeli occupation restrictions; the second (2030-2050) envisages planning with full sovereignty over the lands of the West Bank following the 1967 borders. The paper outlines a model to assess land suitability for urban expansion and development, and to build new cities using Geographic Information Systems. This approach guarantees a balanced development and improves the overall spatial urban development plan for the West Bank, circling new city sites, areas, and other vital features.

Public safety and security for older people when walking: perceptions and practices in Santiago de Chile and Guadalajara, Mexico

2025-12-01T18:16:15+00:00

Safety and the feeling of security are essential but underexplored variables that may condition the decision to walk and the experience of walking. This influence may be especially true for population groups who, because of their age, may have a greater need to walk to remain autonomous and, at the same time, perceive greater insecurity. This paper proposes analyzing how perceptions of (in)security influence walking decisions and experiences among older people, comparing aging neighborhoods in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Santiago de Chile. A survey of 44 participants shows that perceptions of insecurity influence decisions to walk and mobility experiences among older people, leading to adaptive practices that restrict mobility without preventing them from continuing to walk.

Geostatistical micro-variances on the accessibility of urban public space: the case of Comala, Colima, Mexico

2025-12-01T18:17:21+00:00

Understanding accessibility as the localized potential for human interaction and urban-territorial integration, this research aims to analyze the distributional patterns of accessibility in urban public spaces. To this end, a method is proposed for the geostatistical integration of socio-environmental, environmental quality, and the spatial-morphological efficiency indicators of the urban fabric. In addition, perceptual/subjective data collected on-site on pedestrian accessibility and safety, perceptual/sensory quality, and urban vitality are included. The results highlight a centralizing tendency in urban accessibility, associated with spatial proximity to the Historic Center of Comala, which serves as a protective factor for the territory. Furthermore, it is seen that 20.53% of the population is located in consolidated centers with high accessibility, while 19.44% is vulnerable due to their functional isolation. From the analysis, 10 territorial-urban typologies are identified, based on their geostatistical similarity, taking into account the accessibility indicators incorporated.

Urban security in tension: Structural challenges of Latin American urbanism

2025-12-01T18:16:01+00:00

In recent decades, urban security has become one of the most pressing and complex issues in the debate on cities in Latin America. The region has some of the highest rates of urban violence in the world, and although levels vary between countries, the structural causes — inequality, spatial segregation, informality, and weak institutions — are widely shared. Traditionally approached from the police or judicial field, security is also beginning to be understood as an urban issue, linked to the city’s shape, management, and social life.

Recent literature agrees that violence and fear are not distributed randomly; they are concentrated in territories where precariousness, infrastructure deficits, low connectivity, and the absence of the state converge. Davis (2020) notes that in the Global South, contemporary forms of violence are combined with deregulated urbanization processes, generating territories of vulnerability where the precariousness of habitat and informality produce “cities at risk.” The spatial conditions — streets without continuity, poor lighting, urban voids, degraded equipment - affect both the occurrence of crime and the perception of insecurity. However, in recent years, there has been a rise in crime in urban centers, which has reduced their residential attractiveness and caused them to empty out during evenings and weekends.