Social mix or social integration? Conceptualising new horizons of housing policy in Chile

Abstract

Social mix and the connection of the most disadvantaged sectors of the population to urban services lie at the heart of current housing policy in Chile. With the help of social and territorial integration, the policy seeks to remedy the acute, long-standing crisis of segregation in Chilean cities. The evidence enables us to classify the process into stages, highlighting the role of the State, private agents and social demand in achieving social integration through social mix based on the provision of housing subsidies, the inclusion of the working class in the city, and the possibility of producing urban spaces to support encounter rather than exclusion. The intersection of these agencies has given rise to the discussions upon which the structure of the present article is based, and we offer a variety of conceptual approaches to the political foundations of the housing debate and its agency in the question of social mix. We conduct a critical discourse analysis covering legislative and political sources and scientific and press articles that address the question of social mix, beginning with a classification of integration processes over time. We then go on to discuss current spatial outcomes in Chile’s major cities. We conclude with reflections to guide future debates on the subject, paying particular attention to the political capacity of the State and private agents in the struggle to capture the idea of social integration through subsidised housing.