Abstract

Over the last decades, in the main Chilean cities the development of residential quarters with restricted access increased remarkably. This trend has occurred parallel to the construction of various features that significantly modified the organization of urban space: privatised highways, large retail centers and enclaves of advanced services. This article analyses these elements on the basis of geographical information systems. This makes it possible to demonstrate different kinds of urban fabric and their impact in a comparison of the two largest metropolitan areas of Chile. As similar structures and processes are reported from other Latin American countries, it seems that urban development has reached a new structural phase: after the compact colonial city, sectoral pattern and bi-polar city fragmentation are the key words to explain the internal pattern of Latin American cities. Thus, the findings of the study present a new model of the development of Latin American cities. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.