Patrones de crecimiento urbano en la Patagonia chilena: el caso de la ciudad de Coyhaique

Abstract

State policies and real estate market destined to people with more economic power, have orientated the recent development of many Chilean cities, reinforcing old urban patterns and creating new ones. Even though these processes have been described and analyzed for many cities and metropolitan areas of Central Chile, there hasn't been enough evidence about the urban development in Southern Chilean cities; such is the case of Coyhaique, located in Chilean Patagonia. From this perspective this work aims to identify and analyze the urban growth patterns in the city, in a territorial context characterized, besides other aspects, for geographical fragmentation, isolation, dispersion of towns and concentration of population, services and facilities inside the regional capital. The urban growth pattern was analyzed using historical reviews about the evolution since the foundation in 1929. The methods used were GIS and photo interpretation of satellite images of different periods. Finally, urban growth estimation was made based on technical studies