The big bang of neoliberal urbanism: The Gigantomachy of Santiago’s urban development

Abstract

This study presents a spatial history of the origins of Santiago’s neoliberalisation, unveiling its urban history from the critical point of view of land at the centre of social classes’ dispute over city life. It situates the contestation and struggle over land in a genealogical progression from the origins of the disciplinary field of urbanism (1932) to the transformation of its regulatory framework, making it an exclusively profit-oriented practice complementary to processes of wealth creation through urban transformations (1979). As an allegory, we used the Gigantomachy to interpret these struggles. Special emphasis is given to the land struggles that occurred in Santiago as a part of this migratory process and how the contestation of private land became an alternative to the government’s incapacities to resolve the urban poor condition. This contestation would lead to the dominant class looking for alternative politics that ensure the defence of their property. This study presents neoliberalism as a response to such a call. Neoliberalism in Santiago was the way to transform the problem of housing scarcity in big business for the dominant class. The study historically outlines this process in what may be considered as the first neoliberal urban policy in the world, depicting the big bang of neoliberal urbanism.