Abstract

The urban/rural binary has been the basis from which Western’s spatial thin-king has been built. This dichotomy is not only used to oppose different forms of territorial occupation, but also to organize positions in the modernizing process. If the countryside is a primitive place where the notion of the traditional, poor and restrictive dominates, the modern metropolis is a versatile, rich and tolerant locus where civilizations bloom. Trying to overcome this dichotomy, and offering a model adjusted to the complexity of our spatial arrangements, this paper proposes that each space is made of different kinds of pieces, such as urban or rural, but focuses on defining the essential characteristics of a third type of terri-tory: the non-metropolitan cities. Based on quantitative and qualitative work conducted in Chile and Argentina, it proposes four central variables that shape the territories’ way-of-life, which we have called ‘citadino’: scale, rhythm, population and hierarchies.