Aprendiendo de La Vega: vitalidad e identidad como detonante proyectual

Abstract

Currently the romantic image of food marketplaces is being used, in many cases, as a catalyst for gentrifying neighborhoods, rather than improving them in an inclusive way, benefiting vulnerable groups in the city. In order to present an inclusive and sustainable urban development to Barrio La Vega, network of places related to the Vega Central marketplace, in Santiago de Chile. The three major networks responsible for the neighborhood’s vitality and identity are analyzed: Marketplace nertwork, Inmigrants network and Charity network. The relevance of the study is that nowadays the area’s regulation replaces an essential use for marketing activity such as wholesale trade for housing, encouraging unregulated housing boom, allowing the gentrification of the neighborhood. This situation could allow losing the neighborhood’s qualities as a generator of vital public spaces in the city and expelling vulnerable groups, workers from Barrio La Vega and responsible of it identity.