El hábitat sustentable de los mercados urbanos históricos. Aplicación del concepto al Mercado Central de Concepción, Chile

Abstract

The history of the markets halls has always been linked to its role as a provider of fresh urban food. However, during the second part of the twentieth century, these commercial spaces have ceased to possess this symbolic value globally, entering a process of multidimensional obsolescence. It is proposed to analyze the historical process of the Central Market of Concepción (Chile) through the concept of sustainable habitat, in order to analyze the operation of the market as a built environment and as a socio-economic space both at the building and urban level, with the objective of visualizing the causes of the loss of the sustainable habitat of this historical market. The results show that the neoliberal policies of the 1980s broke the symbiotic relationship that the built, intangible and living heritage of the market maintained with its environment. The results suggest that various social and economic factors linked to the building itself as well as its urban context, allowed or even contributed to the loss of key qualities for the sustainability of the market’s habitat.