Urban Tours
Chile is a strongly centralized country, with most of its population living in the capital, Santiago, and some nearby cities such as Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. The continental territory extends for more than 5,000 km facing the Pacific Ocean and has about 380 km in its widest portion between the Andes Mountain range and the sea. This determines the day-long tours that are possible, taking the Conference venue as the starting point. All visits will be guided by members of the Organization, University professors, and PhDs, with special emphasis on urban issues, in collaboration with host institutions, public and private owners.
Tour 0:
Santa Lucía Hill: Geography, Landscape, and the Formation of Santiago’s Historic Centre
This guided tour offers an urban reading of Santa Lucía Hill, one of Santiago’s foundational landmarks, understood as a privileged viewpoint from which to interpret the relationship between geography, landscape, and urban development. Throughout the visit, participants will explore how the topographical conditions of the valley have shaped the city's evolution and the configuration of its historic centre, while identifying the different stages in the transformation of Santiago’s original colonial grid.
The tour begins by approaching the hill through the traditional Lastarria neighbourhood, before ascending via its historic northern entrance (1). From Hidalgo Terrace (2), participants will examine the urban fabric of downtown Santiago, identifying the structure of the original colonial grid. This stop also provides an opportunity to discuss the transformation of Santa Lucía Hill into a public park under the leadership of Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna in 1874.
The route continues to Caupolicán Terrace (3), where participants will observe the relationship between the colonial grid, the historic Cañada (today’s Alameda), the broad valley framed by the Andes Mountains, and the city’s eastward and southward expansion. The final ascent leads to Pedro de Valdivia Terrace (4), offering a comprehensive panoramic view of Santiago’s historic centre and allowing it to be understood as a morphological unit at the territorial scale. From this vantage point, participants can recognize the successive stages in the formation, consolidation, and transformation of the colonial grid, as well as the superimposed urban layers that have shaped the contemporary city. The tour concludes by descending through Neptuno Plaza (5), a Baroque-inspired entrance constructed from Alameda Avenue as part of the celebrations marking Chile’s Centennial in 1910.
Guided by: Christian Saavedra
Date: Monday, 31 of August 15.00 - 17.00 hrs
Meeting point: Main entrance of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile's Main Campus (Casa Central)
Cost: Free
Tickets available: 30
Tour 1:
Two northeastern hills from the city centre of Santiago
Santiago is usually known by its regular colonial grid and its expansion towards a vast valley plane surrounded by two mountain ranges: the Andes and the coastal mountains. Towards the northeast of Santiago, one encounters a “city of hills”. The first hill we shall visit is the cerro Calan. It has a long pathway that surrounds the Summit overlooking the proximity of mountains. The second hill we shall visit is the cerro Lo Piques. On its notheastern side of the hill is located the first Benedictine Monastery disigned in 1953. It’s church is considered among the most outstanding buildings Chile.
Guided by: Wren Strabucci
Date: Friday, 04 of September 14.00 - 18.00 hrs.
Meeting point: Campus Lo Contador
Cost: €10
Tickets available: 20
Tour 2:
City and Church in the historic center of Santiago: Origins and transformations
Guided by: Elvira Pérez and Dafne González
Date: Friday, 04 of September 10.00 - 12.00 hrs.
Meeting point: San Francisco de la Alameda Church
Cost: Free
Tickets available: 20
Since the founding of the city churches and convents were not only places of worship but also centers of civic and religious power. Their location in strategic points of the city, such as central squares or crossroads, reflected their influence on the social and political life of the surrounding area. Often, cathedrals or large churches were erected at the center of cities, symbolizing the church's power within the community. Within this context they can be considered active actors in the configuration of cities and key elements to a proper understanding of urban history. The visit seeks to understand how the presence of religious complexes has influenced the development of the city. Santiago de Chile, as a colonial-origin city, has been characterized since its foundation by a significant relationship with the construction of churches, convents, and monasteries. These buildings, strategically located in different areas of the city, have influenced, and continue to influence urban life and its inhabitants. Although many of these churches have disappeared, a significant number of them remain, albeit with a considerable reduction in their grounds. Throughout the 19th century, religious lands became available spaces for the construction of new public buildings.
Tour 3:
Valparaíso
Located 250 km from Santiago, on the Pacific coast, the
conurbation of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar brings together an appreciable number of high-value buildings and complexes. In the heritage conservation area of Valparaíso, there are at least five important examples including the Naval School, Quebrada Márquez estate and the modern buildings around Plaza Sotomayor, along with other cases located along the limits with Viña del Mar. There, the most interesting cases are related to the coastline and programs for housing, tourism and scientific research, such as the Montemar Marine Station.
Guided by: Ximena Arizaga
Date: Friday, 04 of September - all day.
Meeting point: Campus Lo Contador
Cost: €35
Tickets available: 30
Tour 4:
Operation Sitio or Site of Operations
“What happens when residents live and adapt an urban layout planned by the state for almost six decades? In the 9x18 neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Santiago, the valuable rational layout of the 1960s has been lived and rewritten by its residents. We will walk through the grid to decipher its valious morphological puzzle, observe the mechanisms of appropriation that foster community, and discuss how future regeneration processes can enhance people’s dreams of living there.”
This tour offers two complementary layers of interpretation of the same area that emerged from the Operation Sitio policy in the 1960s: the Las Acacias neighbourhood in the municipality of El Bosque.
On the one hand, we will learn to interpret, from a morphological perspective, the hidden order of these almost labyrinthine grids within the logic of a neighbourhood puzzle (the 9x18 plots, the ‘L’-shaped blocks, the road hierarchies). On the other hand, we will explore, from a social perspective of appropriation, how residents have enhanced certain spaces within the original layout for their community life; these are ‘spaces of possibility’ for creating ‘moments’ of public life in keeping with their neighbourhood’s potential.
The tour will be structured as a Collective Mapping exercise, where we will work together to identify the key elements of the neighbourhood puzzle and the enclaves of appropriation. We will engage in a brief conversation with neighbourhood leaders to compare our technical interpretation with the local perspective. Finally, we will conclude with a project-based reflection on how to intervene in these neighbourhoods in the future without disrupting their social fabric or morphological memory.
Guided by: Elke Schlack and Rodrigo Tapia
Date: Saturday, 05 of September in the morning.
Meeting point: Lo Contador Campus
Cost: €15
Tickets available: 20
Others: Avoid bags or conspicuous equipment
Tour 5:
Santiago from Above: Landscape, Growth, and the Contemporary Metropolis
This panoramic visit from the Costanera Center Tower offers an exceptional opportunity to understand the evolution of Santiago and its spatial transformation. From the Sky Costanera Observation Deck, located on the 62nd floor of the Costanera Center Tower, participants will have access to a 360-degree panoramic view of Santiago, including the Andes Mountains, Cerro San Cristóbal, the Mapocho River corridor, Providencia, Las Condes, and the metropolitan valley.
The visit will allow participants to observe the historical growth of the Santiago Metropolitan Area as a living urban record, shaped by its geographical conditions and by successive processes of urban restructuring that have transformed it into a diverse and polycentric metropolitan area.
The visit will examine Santiago’s evolution from its historic core toward a more complex and polycentric metropolitan structure, shaped by successive phases of expansion, the densification of public transport corridors, the development of mobility infrastructure, and profound morphological change. Particular attention will be given to the strong relationship between the city and its geography, especially from this key urban location where the Mapocho River, the San Carlos Canal — the first large irrigation canal built in the eighteenth century — the San Cristóbal and Manquehue hill systems, and the Andes Mountains converge to define Santiago’s urban identity.
From this strategic viewpoint, participants will be able to observe the current Providencia–Las Condes business district, which has increasingly displaced the historic center as the city’s main metropolitan business core over recent decades, introducing a radically different vertical morphology. The visit will also address the outward expansion of Santiago’s peripheries and the emergence of multiple urban centralities, driven by the expansion of the Metro network, new mobility patterns, and broader demographic transformations.
Guided by: Luis Eduardo Bresciani and Paula Orta
Date: Friday, 04 of September 16.30 hrs.
Meeting point: Lo Contador Campus
Cost: €25
Tickets available: 20
Tour 6:
Victor Manuel Warehouse: Urbanisation, Material Culture, and Urban Resistance
Guided by: Neil Brenner
Date: Saturday, 05 of September 11.00 - 12.30 hrs.
Meeting point: Calle Placer 623. Galpón Víctor Manuel
Cost: Free
Tickets available: 15
The tour offers a place-based exploration of Galpón Víctor Manuel and its immediate surroundings within the Persa Biobío, one of Santiago’s most significant commercial, cultural, and urban districts.
Participants will examine the area's recent transformations through the lens of urban form, material culture, the adaptive reuse of industrial infrastructure, and the tensions associated with urban renewal, the popular economy, gentrification, and local forms of resistance.
Through a guided walking tour, Galpón Víctor Manuel will be presented as a hybrid space where commerce, neighbourhood memory, cultural production, academic activities, craftsmanship, gastronomy, public life, and new forms of urban activation coexist. The visit will also showcase the work carried out by the Faculty of Architecture, Animation, Design and Construction at Universidad de Las Américas, highlighting academic projects, place-based engagement, and collaborative initiatives developed with local stakeholders.
The tour seeks to foster a situated discussion on the urban intelligences that emerge from unconventional spaces of city-making, addressing both their potential and their inherent contradictions. In this context, Persa Biobío and Galpón Víctor Manuel provide a compelling case study for examining the relationships between urban form, local economies, everyday heritage, cultural practices, and contemporary processes of metropolitan transformation.
Discover Chile
Perhaps the members of the ISUF community want to take advantage of the long trip to South America and extend their stay to visit other places. With this in mind, we will plan a series of tours with our regional partners in Latin America. As organizers of the conference, we will
be in charge of connecting attendees with a reliable and experienced travel agency to purchase the tours.
From Santiago de Chile, it is possible to take tours to world-class national destinations, with architectural, archaeological, and gastronomic attractions, and unique parks and nature reserves in the world, some of which are World Biosphere Reserves or UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Sites:
North of Chile: Saltpeter offices and Atacama Desert
The Atacama region offers a rich architectural heritage from Inca, Hispanic, and recent times. The “company towns” built by the nitrate exploiting companies add to the landscape and nature of the desert, which is unique in the world.
Central Chile: Wine routes
At a short distance from Santiago are the wineries of the most prestigious wine producers in Chile. Newer routes such as the Limarí valley to the north, Casablanca and San Antonio towards the coast, and those of Maipo, Curicó and Maule to the south can be added to the traditional route of the Rapel valley.
Rapanui, Easter Island
Rapa Nui is an exotic and mysterious destination, inhabited by the enigmatic Moai, located in a unique landscape, halfway between the Polynesian and Western cultures. It is the most distant spot from any other place on Earth.
Chilean Patagonia: Torres del Paine and Tierra del Fuego
