Search results

In 1975, private and social housing production in Chile started to become increasingly privatized, in parallel with capital switching into the secondary circuit due to severe deindustrialization of the country. Since then, housing demand has largely drawn on state housing subsidies aimed at middle- to low-income demand, but more recently, a growing financialized mortgage market has increased demand even further, enlarging the mortgage debt burden on Chilean households. Private housing producers achieve higher profits by increasing sales prices, whilst production costs are kept relatively stable by purchasing and developing the cheapest land available, both on the fringes and within the inner sectors of the main metropolitan areas, as a form of accumulation by dispossession in hitherto underexploited, non-commodified land. However, low purchase prices of land create housing unaffordability for numbers of original owner-residents who sell land to redevelopers but cannot then afford replacement accommodation given the soaring housing prices in the main metropolises. It is for this reason that some central areas become gentrified. Focusing on the case of high-rise redevelopment of inner-city areas in Santiago, Chile, this paper addresses the extent to which demand and private developers’ profits increase alongside the risks of a generalized growing level of household debt and the displacement of low-income communities from inner areas. The continuous expansion of the extremely privatized housing market of Santiago responds to the needs of capital expansion rather than to the people’s needs.

Sustainable transport is often defined according to energy efficiency and environmental impacts. With global approval during Habitat III, however, a set of Sustainable Development Goals have become the focus for human development until 2030, underlining the relevance of health, equity and other social issues.

These goals raise the challenge of achieving significant progress towards ‘transport justice’ in diverse societies and contexts. While exclusion occurs for different reasons, discrimination, based on cultural roles, combines with sexual harassment and other mobility barriers to limit women’s mobility. This makes gender an area of particular interest and potential insight for considering equity within sustainability and its social components.

Using data from Metropolitan Santiago to ground a conceptual exploration, this chapter examines the equity implications of women’s travel patterns and sustainable transport. Key findings underline the importance of considering non-work trip purposes and achieving better land-use combinations to accommodate care-oriented trips. Moreover, barriers linked to unsafe public transport environments limit women’s mobility and, therefore, their participation. Women account for a disproportionately high number of walking trips, a situation that can be interpreted as ‘greater sustainability’ in terms of energy use and emissions, but suggests significant inequalities in access. Environmental and economic sustainability gains may be achieved at a high social cost, unless specific measures are taken.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the daily rhythms of eating, namely, the times at which food intake occurs during a day-long period, in Santiago, Chile.

The data used in this research come from a first time-use survey applied in Santiago in 2007 and 2008, which works with a retrospective activity journal to document the amount of time dedicated to different activities during the 24 hours of the previous day. Descriptive analysis and multinomial regressions were performed on a sample size of 2,282 cases, corresponding to those individuals over the age of 12 who responded to the daily activity prompt in full.

This study shows that people in Santiago tend to eat according to the same timetables (morning, midday and evening) and that socio-demographic variables have limited influence on the synchronization of this intake between Monday and Friday.

The data did not allow for the exploration of the duration of food intake, commensality and its variation over time.

These data reveal that, for Santiago residents, eating is far from becoming de-structured towards a mode of constant grazing throughout the day, contradicting the thesis of alimentary modernity.

These results yield evidence that calls into question the applicability of the thesis of alimentary modernity within a Latin American context, which has not before been subject to investigation.

This paper aims to ascertain that Latin America's current urban growth through large and organized ‘land squattings’ and limited invasions is a massive, plural and common phenomenon which, to a certain extent, has been, up to now, ignored by 'the academic world and by formal urban planning.

On July 5, 1999, 10,000 organized individuals occupied a 23.45 ha. plot at Peñalolén, in Santiago de Chile. The event had great impact and received much attention, and the author closely followed the events that led to the consolidation of the ‘settlement‘ (1999-2006) through phases of negotiation, evacuation and relocation of its settlers, and finally to the current (2008) transformation stage which the plot is undergoing in order to become ‘Peñalolén's Communal Park’.

This paper emphasizes the main paradigms that can be drawn from the different occupation stages, with special focus on peculiarities found at ‘Peñalolén Settlement’ compared to other Latin American ‘squattings’, in an attempt to systematize and draw conclusions on ‘self-development urbanism’.

This paper aims to describe an evaluation instrument designed to detect physical barriers and risks in basic activities of daily living (BADLs) performance by senior citizens and presents findings obtained in a representative sample of older persons living in housing programs provided by the State of Chile. Its aim is to develop an objective instrument which can serve as reference point for housing adaptations and improvement or for the use in new designs, appropriate to the changing functional capacities of this age group.

The research is broadly framed in an ecological perspective. It draws on an empirical study, observing older people's BADLs performance in selected State provided housing in the Santiago area. The approach includes some quantitative but mainly qualitative aspects from a descriptive, explanatory and cross sectional perspective. Objective observation of functional BADLs performance, as well as subjective users' perspectives, is compared.

State housing design is significant in BADLs performance, limiting functionality in one third of associated operations observed. These mainly concerned demanding reaching requirements associated with height, but also extended to other inadequacies in design or lack of elements in different situations, which act as barriers or bring potential risks.

Heterogeneity in the functional conditions of older people regardless of age and gender, as well as different housing types makes it difficult to develop standardized recommendations, requiring a tailored approach in the case of adaptations, thus limiting coverage. Further research should be carried out after performing corrective adaptations to evaluate the impact of these interventions.

The paper prompts a reassessment, by State housing providers, of the architectural design of housing types for older people as well as the adaptation of existing units to extend independence in time rather than undermine it.

The study of the effects of architectural design of housing on older people's independence when performing BADLs is underdeveloped and should be increased in order to promote a better quality of life for this age group through a more friendly and inclusive environment.

This research attempts to generate an objective instrument, useful to provide evidence for architects, designers and policy makers and suitable to be applied in other housing contexts in order to improve the habitat and older people's quality of life.

Cities have been exposed to a variety of natural disasters such as flooding, extreme temperatures, storms, earthquakes, and other natural shocks, and have had to respond and adapt to such pressures over time. In the context of global climate change, natural disasters have increased across the globe. Apart from climate change, many urban environments in Latin America are experiencing significant transformations in land use patterns, socio-demographic change, changing labor markets, and economic growth, resulting from recent decades of globalization. Such transformations have resulted in the internal fragmentation of cities. In this context, the purpose of the present chapter is to demonstrate the importance in both theoretical and methodological terms, of integrating the concept of socio-environmental fragmentation into urban vulnerability research in order to make progress toward higher degrees of local sustainability in those areas of the city that suffer natural disasters and fragmentation.

A mixed methods approach is used in order to combine different technical issues from urban and climate change studies.

The findings are related to the importance of an integrated approach, regarding the complexity of urban life, and the relationship between the urban, the social, and the environmental phenomenon.

This chapter relates to the revisit of the current state of preparedness and to determine whether further adaptations are required. The authors understood that these kinds of mixed approaches are necessary in order to understand the new complexity of urban processes.

Women in entrepreneurship can have a significant impact on economic and social development globally and particularly in developing countries. But the challenges entrepreneurial women face are unique and multiple, pressing the need for research and policies to maximize impact. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the challenges women start-up founders face to secure funding in the technology industry. The tech industry was selected because it is a non-traditional industry for women with high potential for role models to bridge an existing gap in information on women start-up founders to secure capital financing to attain business sustainability. It covers venture capital investors’ role, Latin American cultural reasons, and gender.

This study is based on an inductive, qualitative approach and in-depth interviews with 20 women entrepreneurs and start-up founders from Latin American countries who received support from the Chilean Government sponsored accelerator “Start-Up Chile.”

The analysis uncovered ten aspects that impact entrepreneurial women founders’ access to capital in three categories: capital needs, networks, and individual characteristics.

This study identifies factors that affect women entrepreneurs in raising capital and in facing the following challenges: first, working in a non-traditional field for women as it is the technology industry, and second assuming a leadership role as start-up founders. The results offer recommendation with potential to drive public policies in Latin America, which may be scalable to other developing and also to developed countries where market systems prevail. The findings show that women entrepreneurs, but also men, seeking start-up financing and alternatives are a viable source of employment and economic sustainability to mitigate the effects of increasing levels of unemployment worldwide.

This article aims to analyze how gender and decision-making styles of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) impact the financial performance of the firms they manage.

Data were obtained for 2017 for 185 SMEs in Chile, an emerging economy, including firm information, CEO's sociodemographic characteristics and CEOs' decision-making styles. Generalized Least Squares (GLS) models were estimated to explain the influence of gender and decision-making styles on firm performance, controlling for a series of covariates. To test whether gender moderates the effect of decision-making styles on firm performance, interaction terms were included. Furthermore, models were subject to several robustness procedures, with no significant differences in results.

The authors find evidence of significant relationships for both gender and the avoidant style. Likewise, the authors find evidence of interaction effects between gender and decision-making styles, particularly between gender and the dependent style.

Findings contribute to prior research by analyzing the relationship between CEO gender and SME performance in the context of a Latin American emerging economy; by providing evidence of the impact of decision-making styles on the financial performance of SMEs; and by examining how a specific decision-making style, namely the dependent style, operates differently according to CEO gender, shedding some light on its ambiguous character as described by prior research. For policymakers and authorities, findings indicate the importance of incorporating women to SMEs and supporting their way towards higher management.

Esta investigación analiza cómo el género y los estilos de toma de decisiones de los gerentes generales (CEOs) de las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMEs) impactan en el desempeño financiero de las empresas que administran.

Se obtuvieron datos del año 2017 para 185 PYMEs ubicadas en Chile, una economía emergente, incluyendo información de la empresa, así como características sociodemográficas y estilos de toma de decisiones de los gerentes generales. Se estimaron modelos de Mínimos Cuadrados Generalizados (GLS) para explicar la influencia del género y los estilos de toma de decisiones en el rendimiento de la empresa, controlando por una serie de covariables. Para determinar si el género modera el efecto de los estilos de toma de decisiones en el rendimiento de la empresa, se incluyeron términos de interacción. Además, los modelos fueron sometidos a varios procedimientos de robustez, sin encontrar diferencias significativas en los resultados.

Los autores encuentran evidencia de relaciones significativas tanto para el género como para el estilo evitativo. Asimismo, los autores encuentran evidencia de efectos interacción entre el género y estilos de toma de decisiones, particularmente entre el género y el estilo dependiente.

Los hallazgos contribuyen a investigaciones anteriores al analizar la relación entre el género del CEO y el rendimiento de las PYMEs en el contexto de una economía latinoamericana emergente; al proporcionar evidencia del impacto de los estilos de toma de decisiones en el rendimiento financiero de las PYMEs; y al examinar cómo un estilo de toma de decisiones específico, a saber, el estilo dependiente, opera de manera diferente según el género del CEO, esclareciendo su carácter ambiguo tal como ha sido descrito en investigaciones anteriores. Para las autoridades y los responsables de políticas, los hallazgos indican la importancia de incorporar mujeres a las PYMEs y apoyarlas en su ascenso hacia la alta administración.

Within Santiago, Chile's capital city, Barrio is a fundamental urban concept: an identity of place that defines a social space more than the territorial boundary of a designated area. Nearly 30 years of sustained, economic growth have positioned Chile, and Santiago with 40% of the country's population, as a tourist, financial and investment centre for South America. After a general decline of the inner-city area during the time of dictatorship (1973-1990), three inner-city residential barrios are being re-defined by their social and urban heritage as part of the “coolest” city of South America. These residential barrios possess the social characteristics of an urban unit within the concept of an ethical city—autonomy, conviviality, connectivity and diversity—and, in form and use, the basis of urban cultural tourism, a living heritage of residential architecture, public space and urban culture. The spatial and economic transformation of these barrios shifts the existing dynamic between the residents' social capital and the barrios' symbolic capital to the question of whose rights and interest should prevail. Through a literature review, policy review and an analysis of morphology and land use of three barrios, this article draws lessons to assist a re-thinking of the development of this urban, social-spatial unit of Chilean cities.