The rapid internationalisation of the Spanish property market has triggered debates about the main characteristics of emerging post-crisis urban dynamics. Financial and urban policy reforms have shaped a model depicted by incessant rent increases and displacements. Echoing these concerns, this article addresses two interconnected objectives about the way policy restructuring encouraged transnational investments into Spanish real estate and the concomitant socio-spatial effects this wider asset reshuffling has produced. Both queries are discussed by pinpointing the multi-scalar investment strategies of the private equity firm, Blackstone, which emerged as the predominant institutional investor during the recovery phase of the Spanish property market. The article initially sketches out the trajectory of the political economy of housing in Spain, and then it focuses on the strategies pursued by Blackstone for the acquisition of real estate and housing stock. The following sections connect the nodes of the financial chain that link this investor to former social housing tenants whose homes are by now owned by Blackstone. The spatial and social effects of this change in property ownership demonstrate the importance of in-depth research about the financial nodes that interplay with and shape the post-crisis urban condition in and beyond Southern Europe.

En la actualidad, Chile enfrenta nuevamente el incremento del número de hogares viviendo en campamentos (asentamientos informales autoconstruidos) en las periferias de las principales ciudades del país, esta vez no solo con una componente de hogares previamente allegados, sino también con hogares con aumentados costos en gastos de vivienda y una alta tasa de población migrante latinoamericana. Este artículo explora posibles factores causales, tales como una economía de suelo y vivienda socioeconómicamente excluyente, en la que prevalece el acceso por la vía del arriendo como única opción formal, pero que se hace insustentable para

Land upzoning and state investment in public infrastructure are two of the principal factors that increase the rent gap in the city; however, the scale of their impact remains unknown. This paper presents a novel method of rent gap analysis based on multiple linear regressions with controlled fixed factors, tested for Greater Santiago, Chile. Drawing on an administrative dataset of 36,911 transactions for new apartments sold between 2008 and 2011, along with data regarding the size of each apartment and its commercial sale price—but discounting imputed land and construction costs—it can be seen that state investment in the Metro rapid transit network enlarged the potential ground rent (portion of the rent gap capitalized by developers) by 25.6% over the period. Similarly, each additional floor area ratio point (dictated by district zoning guidelines) increased capitalized ground rent by an average of 6.1%. Meanwhile, the portion capitalized by small-scale private landowners through sale of un-redeveloped land increased by only 5.5% over the same period. These results show the high elasticity of the rent gap, the strong influence of land regulations and state-financed Metro infrastructure on rent gap formation, and the need for discussion of taxation of the capitalized ground rent for redistributive purposes.

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el estudio de fenómenos de homogeneidad y polarización asociados a la segregación urbana en seis ciudades intermedias chilenas: Iquique - Alto Hospicio, Antofagasta, La Serena - Coquimbo, Rancagua - Machalí, Talca y Temuco - Padre Las Casas. Metodológicamente el estudio de caso será abordado a través de la comparación entre la representación cartográfica de la segregación urbana tradicional (Grupos socioeconómicos predominantes) y una propuesta de representación de homogeneidad socioeconómica a partir de la desviación estándar entre los porcentajes de cada grupo. Entre los resultados transversales de la investigación, se destaca la presencia de: 1) heterogeneidad socioeconómica en los centros urbanos principalmente a través de grupos C2 y C3, con presencia ABC1 y D en algunos casos particulares; 2) homogeneidad social en las periferias urbanas, destacando los grupos ABC1 y C3 y; 3) emplazamiento de los grupos socio económicos bajos en zonas cuyas barreras geográficas limitan su acceso a la centralidad.

In the context of a renewed interest in new forms of municipalism, this paper seeks to contribute by critically analysing two cases of the municipal experience in Chile: Valparaíso and Recoleta. By coining the notion of ‘Peripheral Municipalisms’, our aim is to give voice to a diversity of municipal endeavours in the Global South marked by highly precarious forms of local government. In both case studies, municipalist strategies are used as tools to challenge deep-rooted neoliberal structures. Through a qualitative methodology, based mainly on document analysis and semi-structured interviews, we analyse particular forms of municipalism based on the remunicipalisation of public services and broad-based citizen platforms. These institutional reforms and participatory practices have enabled more just futures by challenging dependency on central government and building a more egalitarian urban process. The article calls for more situated studies on municipalist forces in the Global South in order to continue building this translocal movement from comparative experiences, going beyond ‘model cases’.