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Abstract:
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The formation process of modern highway systems and transport concepts in Chile, between
1929 and 1959 are described and interpreted in relation to the new needs of a territorial
arrangement derived from the country’s industrialization process, after the 1929 world crisis. It
includes the conceptual framework of Chilean professionals dedicated to urban planning and
territorial arrangement. They were architects with a broad knowledge of European and North
American contributions. They were occasionally reflective, creative and also critical whenever
that contribution wasn’t coherent with the Chilean geographic, social and economic reality, as is
the case of Modern Movement in urbanism. It highlights their early understanding of
infrastructure as a principle of territorial arrangement, rather than as the effect of the
implementation of technological innovations. The conceptual body they supported had a rather
cultural focus, in relation to conceptual transference, that they themselves carried out mainly
from Germany (W. Hegemann, K. Brüning, S. Prager), from Austria (K. Brunner), in the 1930’s,
and from France (R. Auzelle y G. Bardet), in the 1950’s. Being ahead of their time they
understood that the circulation network would have to fulfill a strategic performance in the
required new territorial arrangement, where nodes would be considered more important than
zones, connections much more important than administrative borders and where time would be
considered much more relevant than space. |