Abstract

This article analyses the different, yet similar, processes of identity-building used by poor and middle-income inhabitants of Santiago, Chile. It is suggested that these identity-building processes express the current type of urban segregation in this city and point to a weakening of the previously predominant model, which was based on the acceptance of social differences and daily exchanges between these sectors. Additionally, it is contended that the notion of 'public space' and values, such as (political) citizenship and social integration, have weakened. Paradoxically, this 'new' urban segregation has paved the way for a practice of neo-communitarian lifestyles, which supposedly reinforce the value of 'us' and protect this 'us' from the danger posed by 'them'. © 2008 Urban Studies Journal Limited.