Cachureando por Santiago. Reconociendo la inteligencia urbana situada

Over the last decade, the Smart Cities model has achieved increasing relevance and prominence in urban development in Chile, through four major trends: the formation of an important network of public and private actors that promote smart interventions in urban centers; the increasing use of new communication and information technologies for data production; constant training and specialization of human resources operating in urban centers; and the proliferation of urban interventions replicated in the country´s main cities. However, this model poses limited territorial relevance, insufficient connection with local actors and agents, and insufficient recognition and visibility of citizen initiatives based on  daily practices and knowledges, which can perfectly be considered as part of a situated type of “urban intelligence". The former opens the question: How to understand urban intelligence today? Based on ethnographic work carried out at a street market in the San Joaquin district in Santiago, this paper identifies and describes knowledges, practices, and strategies that allow inhabitants to solve daily problems through various forms of informality, self-management and associative networks. These knowledges, practices and strategies express "situated urban intelligences" that emerge from territorial use and appropriation of local public spaces and are observed through collection, reuse, and recycling practices.