Heritage movements and their impacts on the urban structure: The Typical Zone of León XIII Quarter, Commune of Providencia, Santiago, Chile

Abstract

In the past few years, social movements have become active in response to their quarters being put in jeopardy mainly by real estate developers. In this context, dwellers have organized and promoted processes to declare threatened areas as typical zones. This paper will use the León XIII Quarter in the commune of Providencia, Santiago, Chile as a study case, addressing the causes, effects and urban transformations triggered by the declaration of a typical zone in the Bellavista district from 1997 to 2016. The case shows how citizens empowered and organized different heritage protection movements, even stopping real estate projects. This however, did not manage to keep the social fabric in the areas to be preserved. The study highlights the need to have a structural and integrated view facing the impacts of typical zones in Santiago, including how to address these situational changes in time.