Waterfront market integration: housing and sustainability in Chilean urban policy (2000–2018)

Since the 1970s, urban policies in Chile have declared their objectives to be the common good and social and urban integration. After a considerable period without any form of national-level urban policy, the National Urban Development Policy (PNDU) was implemented in 2014 and includes sustainability and social integration as its central objectives. Based on friction between the subsidised housing model and the transformation of nature into waterfront cities, the present article explores the spatial and social effects of the PNDU. Using a methodology based on descriptive geography, the study addresses guideline documentation, official geolocation data, and policies for subsidisation and transformation of nature in these cities. It is concluded that the current policy is vague in its guidelines, forcing assemblages which, given the city-territory condition of waterfront cities, suggest these to be sustainable and inclusive due to the mere fact of their location.