Remapping Santiago: Water Rights, Infrastructure, and Urban Development, 1960–90

The Chilean water code of 1981 remains as one of the core policies that the military dictatorship (1973-1990) implemented as part of a set of structural reforms in the economy. The water tenure system changed and challenged previous dynamics of water and land use. This phenomenon and its consequences have been highly discussed especially for rural environments and monoculture systems in Chile. Scholars have paid less attention to the effects of this reform in the urban space and its relationship with urbanization trends in the last 40 years.

Considering the legal and institutional transformations that created the administrative framework for urbanization and water management in Chile, this presentation will focus on the role of water and its regulation in the construction of a modern urbanity in Santiago. Starting with the creation of the DGA in 1969 and going through important events such as the PNDU of 1979, the 1980 Constitution, and the Water Code of 1981, I will discuss how water came to be a relevant field of political action -and actor- in the city.

Understanding water as a fundamental element for urbanization, I argue that without the institutionalization and regulation of water as a resource, it is not possible to understand urban Chile, especially after the 1981 code. With this purpose, I will examine government documentation from the Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo and Ministerio de Obras Públicas, as well as newspapers. This research that is part of my dissertation project, invites us to reconsider urban waters through infrastructure, institutions, housing, and accessibility. It highlights the centrality of water in urban landscapes and re-thinks Santiago as a “hydroscape.”