Street experiments in intermediate cities: scope and perceptions of COVID-19 interventions

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered significant changes in sustainable mobility in many large and well-known cities of the Global North, such as Paris, Milan or New York. Soon, various large Latin American cities followed suit, taking advantage of this global trend that included significant street experiments. However, it is less clear how these changes affected intermediate cities in this large region and how the population perceived these changes.

This paper analyzes the series of street experiments developed in Chilean intermediate cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We intend to analyze to what extent intermediate cities have engaged in street experimentations and to examine the perceptions associated to street experiments. To this purpose, we surveyed public officials from Chilean intermediate cities and then focused on examining the street experiments developed in Quilpué, a city located 125 km west of Santiago.

The results showed that 9 of the 10 intermediate cities surveyed carried out interventions, with the emergency bicycle lane being the most frequent measure, followed by the widening of sidewalks. These were located in areas of high pedestrian flows and were mostly financed by own funds and ministerial funds. However, the main difficulty encountered was budgetary. In the case of Quilpué, shopkeepers have a rather negative view of the process, which was perceived as not very inclusive and participatory, with harmful consequences for the operation of their businesses. These results show that, to be more successful and gain long-term recognition, street experiments should pay more attention to community involvement, especially in small urban areas with deep-rooted auto-centric ways of thinking.