Urban expansion beyond the urban limit: an analysis of Santiago de Chile from urban planning and its territorial regulatory contradictions

Urban growth in Latin American metropolises has adopted different spatial patterns and intensities, including a form of urban sprawl that is moving away from the core of the city. To address the negative consequences of such growth, states have established policies to control and guide expansive urban development, mainly through urban planning and land regulation. This study analyses the role of urban planning and regulation in the expansion of the city of Santiago de Chile between 1997 and 2013. The analysis employs coverage maps, the zoning established by the Metropolitan Regulatory Plan of Santiago and a review of applicable regulations. The main result shows that the city expands in areas declared as non-urban by the Plan, with an active role of the State in the establishment of norms that allow the expansion of the city, producing territorial normative contradictions.