Collective Housing in Chile: A historical reality with a possible future

A historical reality with a possible future

Abstract

Collective habitat has been part of the housing history in Chile through the poor inhabitant's incursion in the city since more than one century. First, as round rooms, ‘cites’ and ‘conventillos’, and afterwards as ‘colectivos’. Later in informal settlements that evolved into self-organised and self-built neighbourhoods. During the last decades, in social condominiums. This form of co-habitation has adopted different shapes according to their historical moment, the spatial configuration of the places that inhabitants stayed or co-produced, the social and/or political organisation, the political and institutional context in which they were subscribed. Ones better than others were simultaneously embracing and configuring a specific model of habitat in which the base of ‘the collective’ is the historical memory, the tradition of organisation, and the parental and neighbours’ networks. Today, these collective ways of living remain in our cities opening paths for their consideration in programmes and projects of collective inhabit in the country.