Public use in privately owned spaces. The collective space of the New Las Condes Empresarial Center, Santiago de Chile

Abstract

The network of urban spaces for public use is also made up of privately administered spaces and properties. It is recognized that the latter acquire an important role in the daily scene, and that the presence of people and their intensive use call spaces to be part of the public domain (Lofland, 1998). The present article analyzes a representative case, the pedestrian walk of the business center Nueva Las Condes, Santiago de Chile, putting the focus of observation on the way in which its public use is developed. Considering its particular administration and management structures, research privileges the use of qualitative methodologies that analyze the physical conditions that favor accessibility and motivate the permanence of people, but also characterizes its users and the activities they develop, with the objective to determine which aspects of its design, use and operation are important in promoting a public place condition. Beyond the expected restrictions and administrative limits to public use, the results expose readings on the fabric of present relationships and their relationship with the physical and functional environment that value the public condition of the space and its contribution to the city.