Beyond metro-centricity: socio-spatial effects of housing policies in cities of different sizes

Urban studies have been organized on the basis of the study of a few large metropolitan cities. This trend, called metro-centricity, not only configures monistic understandings of the urban, but also leads to decisions regarding territorial policies based on the analysis of few case studies, which is particularly problematic in centralist countries such as Chile. Analysing Chilean housing policy, this presentation compare its socio-spatial effects in a metropolitan city and a small city, showing how urban integration, accessibility and the meaning of housing have different dynamics in both types of cities. It concludes by reflecting on the need to overcome metro-centricity and study “other urban spaces”, in order to produce territorially suitable housing policies.

Bio: Luis Vergara Erices is an academic at the Department of Social Sciences at the Universidad de La Frontera in Temuco, Chile. He is Ph.D. in Urban Studies from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Master in Social Science from the Universidad de La Frontera.  His research interests are housing policies, social cohesion, and small cities. He is currently the researcher responsible of the ANID-Fondecyt project Iniciación 11200793 “Social housing policies in cities of different sizes: from metro-centricity to the localization of housing policies.”