Symposium Explores Urban Policies in Santiago During the Pinochet Dictatorship

In early August, the Santiago Center co-sponsored a symposium examining the urban and architectural policies implemented in Chile’s capital between 1977 and 1990 under the Pinochet dictatorship. This period saw the addition of thousands of hectares for urban development in the city's periphery. The event, held at Universidad Católica’s School of Architecture, was also sponsored by the Santiago Research Cell, established in 2013 by alumni of the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) to foster collaboration, networking, and research initiatives in architecture, public space usage, urban planning, post-disaster reconstruction, and future city development. The symposium was curated by architectural historian and Columbia alumnus Daniel Talesnik (GSAPP'16).

The program focused on the transformative national policies for urban development adopted in 1977, particularly those enacted in 1979, which triggered significant structural changes in Santiago. It featured four panels:

1. Public and Consumption Spaces: Liliana de Simone discussed architectural projects designed for consumption, including the rise of shopping malls in Santiago during the 1980s. Daniel Opazo addressed alternative public spaces created during the dictatorship, such as “soup kitchens,” where slum dwellers organized collective cooking.

2. Disciplinary Discourse: Fernando Carvajal presented a 1977 self-commissioned master plan for West Santiago by an architects' collective known as CEDLA, while Fernando Portal (GSAPP’12) explored the history of the first five Chilean Architecture Biennales starting in 1977.

3. Architecture: Francisco Díaz (GSAPP’13) examined architecture and postmodernity during the dictatorship, and Daniel Talesnik argued that a series of high-rises in downtown Santiago constructed between 1979 and the end of the 1980s exemplified Chile’s neoliberal shift.

4. Housing Policies: Emanuel Giannotti and Javier Rojas presented on the reformulation of housing policies from 1975 to 1985, while Alejandra Celedón discussed the growth of Santiago in the 1980s as an illustration of the Non Plan, an urban theory from late 1960s England that criticized top-down approaches to urban design. Celedón's paper is based on her research for the Chilean Pavilion at the current Venice Architecture Biennale.

Each panel included a moderator and comments from Genaro Cuadros, Horacio Torrent, Alejandro Crispiani, and Gonzalo Cáceres. Sixteen faculty members from Universidad Católica, Universidad de Chile, Universidad Diego Portales, Universidad Andrés Bello, and Universidad de Las Américas participated in the event. A forthcoming publication based on the presentations aims to address gaps in the literature regarding Santiago’s urban development and related topics from 1977 to 1990.