Governing Pudahuel: Applying Regime Analysis to a Chilean Study Case

Abstract

This research uses Urban Regime Theory and identifies one in Pudahuel, Chile. It examines the process through which the public-private agreements and a strategic agenda were organized to develop urban and social policies in Pudahuel commune through local actors between 1994 and 2010. Given the lack of decentralized planning in Chile and taking advantage of a change in the balance of power in Pudahuel, local actors imagined and produced environmental and social policies based on their local reality. And concluded the process with a local masterplan, mainly financed by the private sector. The process develops a model of urbanization through compensation. However, this does not guarantee full citizen participation, effective alternatives to segregation nor balanced development. The analysis also serves as an indicator of how effective the central government is in directing the urban economy. The Pudahuel regime was eventually used as a model for national urban programs; both reductionist models of the initial meaning of producing urban policies through compensation that consider local environmental conflicts.