Abstract

In this article the main regulatory framework milestones (between 1874 and1954) on urban policy are examined in order to contribute to the understanding of the current legal framework regulating the public space in Chile. After presenting an overview of said milestones, the article focuses on studying the penalties for loitering set forth in the Penal Code of 1874 and the prohibition to drink alcohol in the 1902 Act. The next two sections address the regulatory attempts of the informal economy of street trading, especially that involving women. The health measures and the penalties for sex street work are revised. The Antisocial States Act, based on publications of Chilean historians, emphasizing the rulers' concerns to adopt measures of urban control, such as the discipline of the work force, health control, the maintenance of a certain public and moral order or the supervision of individuals who were considered dangerous, is the last milestone analyzed. In the last section, statistical data on police arrests in 1910, 1930 and 1960 are included to illustrate the impact of the studied provisions and the main legal reforms undergone by this framework since the decade of the 90s is described. The article concludes with an invitation to problematize the present rules by considering their historical burden.