Abstract

In the last decade, Chile has experienced a significant increase in international migration, that has impacted differently in individual cities of the country. Within this framework, the objective of the article is to analyze the relationship between urban sustainability and migrant population's habitability conditions and their uses of urban space in an intermediate city in southern Chile (Temuco), seeking to identify the critical urban aspects that should be addressed in order to promote sustainable development. Identifying two urban zones of the city, data from a survey on habitability and public space directed at migrants, along with some urban sustainability indicators collected in four neighborhoods of both areas, are compared. The results show clear differences between zones, both in migrant population's housing conditions and their uses of the public space, as well as in land occupation and accessibility to green areas in their neighborhoods, showing the existence of urban unsustainability features that affect the quality of life of immigrants. It is concluded about the need to collect empirical evidence limited to specific neighborhoods to establish correlations between sustainability and mi-gration variables that allow the development of appropriate and sustainable urban planning.