increasing green areas in a low socioeconomic neighborhood
TRANSCRIPT
Increasing green areas in a low socioeconomic neighborhood
using the concept of Biophilic City
(Case study: Temuco, Región de la Araucanía, Chile)
Supervision:
Dr. AJJ (Arnold) van der Valk; Land Use Planning Group, Wageningen University
Second reviewer:
Dr.ir.WGM (Wim) van der Knaap; Land Use Planning Group, Wageningen University
Author:
Ruth Sepúlveda Márquez
Reg. No. 881116758210
Study Program: Urban Environmental Management, Land Use Planning Group
Course code: LUP-80436 (36 ECTS)
Wageningen, April 2015
Droevedaalsesteeg 3
6708 HB Wageningen
The Netherlands
II
III
Abstract
Chilean cities have low percentage of green areas, especially in the lower socioeconomic
neighborhoods that produce an alienation of the residents with the nature. I aimed to determine
activities to increase the green areas in Villa Cautín 2, Chile. In order to reach this goal, I
analyzed and compared Villa Cautín 2 and Sunnyside (Portland, United States) using the
indicators mentioned in the Biophilic Cities. As a result, the study showed that the Chilean’
neighborhood presents lower amount of vegetation in public and private areas than Sunnyside,
caused by the disinterest of the citizens and lack of municipal involvement. Furthermore, the
available space calculated in the neighborhood is insufficient to achieve a similar amount as in
Portland’s neighborhood. This is caused by the residents’ constructions patterns, where they
build horizontally and no vertically. However, near 2.384m2 of green areas can be planted in the
public spaces to create networks in the neighborhood using native trees, shrubs and plants; and,
in this way, increase the overall amount of vegetation.
Keywords: biophilic, green areas, Temuco, planning, neighborhood.
IV
Acknowledgement
I would like to show my appreciation to everyone that directly or indirectly were part of my
research.
I feel especially thankful to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Arnold van der Valk, who gave me the
essential clue that generated this investigation and that opened a new window for my future.
I appreciate all his comments and advices about my weakness and strengths.
I also want to thank all the people in Temuco that willingly accepted to cooperate in this study
and opened their city to me, a stranger. Their insight was particularly helpful for my
understanding of their situation.
A special thank is reserved for my family, for their constant support, and God, for everything.
Finally, I want to recognize the importance of Nature, which is the main reason for this research.
It has been my base, my knowledge, and my continual source of inspiration.
To you, my deepest gratitude.
V
Table of Content
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... III Acknowledgement ..................................................................................................................... IV Table of Figures ....................................................................................................................... VII Table of Tables ........................................................................................................................ VII Acronyms ................................................................................................................................ VIII 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Problem description ........................................................................................................ 4 1.2. Research objective and questions .................................................................................. 5 1.3. Research design and methodology ................................................................................. 5
1.3.1. Working Methods .................................................................................................. 5 1.3.2. Comparative Design .............................................................................................. 5 1.3.3. Case study ............................................................................................................. 6
1.4. Relevance of the study ..................................................................................................... 6 1.5. Structure of the report .................................................................................................... 7
2. Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................................... 8 2.1. Biophilic Cities ................................................................................................................. 8 2.2. Benefits of green areas .................................................................................................... 9
2.2.1. Environment .......................................................................................................... 9 2.2.2. Health .................................................................................................................. 10 2.2.3. Economic ............................................................................................................. 10
2.3. Relevance of Biophilia in planning .............................................................................. 11 2.4. Definition of concepts .................................................................................................... 11
3. Characteristics of Study Areas ......................................................................................... 13 3.1. Historical and geographical aspect of Temuco ........................................................... 13 3.2. Socioeconomic background .......................................................................................... 14 3.3. Green areas of Temuco ................................................................................................. 14 3.4. Chilean planning system ............................................................................................... 15 3.5. Local level of planning .................................................................................................. 17 3.6. National and municipal concept of green areas .......................................................... 21 3.7. Portland planning system ............................................................................................. 23 3.8. Local concept of green areas ........................................................................................ 25
4. Methods .............................................................................................................................. 26 4.1. Area of study .................................................................................................................. 26 4.2. Exploratory investigation ............................................................................................. 27 4.3. Data collection ............................................................................................................... 28
4.3.1. Interviews ............................................................................................................ 28 4.3.2. Observation ......................................................................................................... 29
4.4. Data Analysis ................................................................................................................. 29 4.4.1. Green Areas ......................................................................................................... 29 4.4.2. Biophilic Indicators ............................................................................................. 29 4.4.3. Plan of Activities and Mapping ........................................................................... 30
5. Results ................................................................................................................................ 31 5.1. Analysis of Interviews ................................................................................................... 31 5.2. Physical information about the areas .......................................................................... 33 5.3. Analysis of Patch, Corridors and Networks ............................................................... 38
5.3.1. Patch .................................................................................................................... 38 5.3.2. Corridors.............................................................................................................. 39 5.3.3. Networks structure .............................................................................................. 40
5.4. Biophilic Conditions and Infrastructures ................................................................... 42 5.4.1. Quantity of green spaces ..................................................................................... 42 5.4.2. Quality of green spaces ....................................................................................... 43
VI
5.5. Biophilic Activities......................................................................................................... 44 5.6. Biophilic Attitude and Knowledge ............................................................................... 45
5.6.1. People’s perception of green areas ...................................................................... 45 5.7. Biophilic Institutions and Governance ........................................................................ 46
6. Design ................................................................................................................................. 47 6.1. Activities to increase green areas ................................................................................. 47 6.2. Plan at Street level ......................................................................................................... 48
6.2.1. Group N°1 ........................................................................................................... 48 6.2.2. Group N°2 ........................................................................................................... 49 6.2.3. Group N°3 ........................................................................................................... 51 6.2.4. Group N°4 ........................................................................................................... 52
6.3. Plan for Neighborhood.................................................................................................. 53 6.3.1. Future scenario: Public Areas.............................................................................. 54
7. Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 55 7.1. Physical information ..................................................................................................... 55 7.2. Qualitative and quantitative information ................................................................... 57 7.3. Plan for green areas ...................................................................................................... 59 7.4. People’ perception ......................................................................................................... 60 7.5. Planning system in Chile ............................................................................................... 61 7.6. Changes in planning ...................................................................................................... 63
8. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 65 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 67 Annex .......................................................................................................................................... 70
I. Observation Framework (Street Level) ...................................................................... 70 II. Observation Framework (House Level) ...................................................................... 70 III. Interviews ....................................................................................................................... 71 IV. Tables ............................................................................................................................. 72 V. Pictures ........................................................................................................................... 74
VII
Table of Figures
Figure 1. Map of Temuco. Square shows the sample area (Source: Google Earth). ................... 13 Figure 2. Green areas in Temuco (Mena, et al., 2011) ................................................................ 15 Figure 3. Organization of legal documents in Chile (Adapted from Villagrán and Qiu Sun, 2013)
..................................................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 4. Steps for instruments approval in Chile. ...................................................................... 20 Figure 5. Sector Amanecer, Villa Cautín 2 Neighborhood (Source: Google Map). ................... 26 Figure 6. Portland, Sunnyside Neighborhood (Source: Google Map) ........................................ 27 Figure 7. Plots and houses in Villa Cautín 2. (Group N°1, red. Group N°2, green. Group N°3,
blue. Group N°4, purple) ............................................................................................................. 33 Figure 8. Avenida Manuel Recabarren. Group N°1 .................................................................... 34 Figure 9. Los Sauces (Left) and Capri (Right). Group N°2 ........................................................ 34 Figure 10. Asinara. Group N°3 ................................................................................................... 34 Figure 11. Perusa (Top left), Vicencia 1 (Top right) (Source: Google Map), Vicencia 2 (Bottom
left) and Falcone (Bottom right) (Source: Google Map). ............................................................ 35 Figure 12. Block E. View to Vicencia 1 and Asinara ................................................................ 36 Figure 13. Plots and houses in Sunnyside ................................................................................... 36 Figure 14. Sunnyside. SE 36th Ave (left), SE Salmon (right) (Source: Google Map)................ 37 Figure 15. Public green areas in Villa Cautín 2 .......................................................................... 38 Figure 16. Public green areas in Sunnyside ................................................................................ 39 Figure 17. Private green areas in Villa Cautín 2 ......................................................................... 39 Figure 18. Private green areas in Sunnyside ............................................................................... 40 Figure 19. Green areas in Villa Cautín 2 ..................................................................................... 41 Figure 20. Green areas in Sunnyside ........................................................................................... 41 Figure 21. Cycle path near university, Temuco .......................................................................... 45 Figure 22. Current State of the streets on Group N°1 ................................................................. 48 Figure 23. Potential state of the streets on Group N°1 ................................................................ 49 Figure 24. Current state of Los Sauces street on Groups N°2 ..................................................... 49 Figure 25. Potential state of the Los Sauces street on Group N°2 .............................................. 50 Figure 26. Current state of Capri Street on Groups N°2 ............................................................. 50 Figure 27. Potential state of Capri Street on Groups N°2 ........................................................... 51 Figure 28. Current state of Asinara Street on Groups N°3 .......................................................... 51 Figure 29. Potential state of Asinara Street on Groups N°3 ........................................................ 52 Figure 30. Current state of the streets on Group N°4 .................................................................. 52 Figure 31. Future state of the streets on Group N°4 .................................................................... 53 Figure 32. Future state of the green areas in Villa Cautín 2 ........................................................ 54 Figure 33. Future scenario, Vicencia 1 and Falcone ................................................................... 54
Table of Tables
Table 1. Political Organization in Chile ...................................................................................... 16 Table 2. Physical information of Villa Cautín 2 and Sunnyside ................................................. 37 Table 3. Indicators of green areas and housing ........................................................................... 42 Table 4. People’s perception of green spaces and neighborhood in Temuco ............................. 46 Table 5. Green spaces in the blocks in Temuco .......................................................................... 47
VIII
Acronyms
CONAMA National Environmental Commision (Corporación Nacional del
Medioambiente)
DCO Direction of Cleanliness and Ornament (Dirección de Aseo y Ornato)
DFL Decree with Force of Law (Decreto con Fuerza de Ley)
DOM Direction of Municipal Works (Dirección de Obras Municipales)
DS Supreme Decree (Decreto Supremo)
DTO Decree (Decreto)
GORE Regional Government (Gobierno regional)
MINVU Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (Ministerio de Vivienda y
Urbanismo)
SEREMI Ministerial Regional Secretary (Secretaría Regional Ministerial)
CRP Communal Regulatory Plan (Plan Regulatorio Comunal)
IRP Intercommunal Regulatory Plan (Plan Regulatorio Intercomunal)
MRP Metropolitan Regulatory Plan (Plan Regulatorio Metropolitano)
General Law of Urbanism and Construction (Ley General de Urbanismo y Construcción)
General Ordinance of Urbanism and Construction (Ordenanza General de Urbanismo y
Construcción)
Regional Development Plans (Planes de Desarrollo Regional)
IX
Summary
In many cities, green areas are being built upon, or displaced to less favorable locations that are
not within the reach of the population. The increase of green areas and nature within cities
directly affects the citizens’ quality of life and the environment, along with improvements in
community health and interaction. In order to identify actions to increase the green areas in a
low socioeconomic neighborhood, this research analyzes the quality and quantity of its current
green space.
The concept of Biophilic Cities was used to analyze two neighborhoods, stating that people
have a biological need for nature in their daily lives. The case study corresponds to the Villa
Cautín 2 located in the city of Temuco, Chile. Furthermore, the Sunnyside neighborhood in
Portland, a Biophilic city, served as a comparison to measure the situation in Villa Cautín 2.
Thus, this study analyzed information regarding the number and condition of green public and
private areas, the amount of available space in city plots and blocks, the interest and
participation of citizens, and the planning system in Chile and Portland.
The research shows that the amount of green areas in the Temuco neighborhood is lower than
the one presented in the Biophilic city of Portland. Public and private green areas are fewer and
with poor connections between them, appearing as scattered patches around the blocks. A
similar situation is presented with trees, shrubs and plants that are not connected, forming
separated visual layers instead of a unified structure. In addition, the available space with
potential to increase the amount of vegetation is insufficient to reach the same number as in the
Biophilic city neighborhood.
Moreover, the interest of the population is focused on having an attractive and comfortable area
that is provided by the municipality, in which they do not participate or care for the
infrastructure. The responsibility of the local municipality is to provide and maintain the green
spaces; residents are not allowed to intervene due to the national legislation. Regarding the
planning system, the production and approval of normative instruments requires much time, a
process in which residents are absent from the discussions or the overall development process.
Conclusively, in order to increase the green areas in Villa Cautín 2, public space is necessary as
well as private available areas inside the studied plots. The public space can be improved by the
municipality or through private funding. Consequently, leading to an increase in the amount of
trees in road verges, shrubs or small vegetation in wide spaces or at the bottom of the trees, and
flowers in pots hanging from fences or among the other vegetative structures. Residents need to
be encouraged to use their available space with trees or plants, as well as to participate in the
maintenance of public spaces. There is a disconnection between the green areas and the
population that should be addressed in order to satisfy the need for nature in their lives. On the
other hand, the municipality should offer more opportunities for citizen participation, and for
developing projects that improve the life quality of low-income neighborhoods. This can be
achieved by using public space in the early stages, and further on with the use of private areas; a
growth in the average percentage of green areas is an issue that should be addressed in the
municipal agenda. Hence, the research demonstrates it is possible to increase the green areas,
and include the population in the development process.
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1
1. Introduction
The growing number of people moving from the countryside to the cities produces unexpected
pressures in the urban areas (Niemelä, 2014). In fact, considering that the urban population
during 2014 reached a 54% (UN, 2014); the cities’ growth to host the newcomers will produce
challenges unseen during the past decades. In specific, Latin America and the Caribbean,
despite being among the less developed regions, has a high level of urbanization with 80% of
the citizens residing in cities (UN, 2014). Considering its past, this region will maintain the
increasing tendency in urbanites rates.
Urbanization causes a change in the structure of the cities. They are no longer compact; rather
they tend to expand in sprawl fractal configurations (Picket and Cadenasso, 2001). This increase
in the mobility towards cities emphasizes the pressure for more space to host the incoming
population (Kabisch, 2015). In fact, the available space is used for roads and housing that, as a
consequence, interrupts the flow of species, fragments the habitats, and disconnects the green
area networks.
The pressure for hosting more population within the cities’ boundaries threatens many urban
green spaces (Niemelä, 2014). Slowly, buildings and roadway are covering the urban area, at the
same time as shortening and relocating the nature (forest, animals, insects, water, and others)
(Millard, 2008). As a result, urban residents are becoming more detached from wildlife, since
they live in cities that prioritize constructions and economic interests over the preservation of
green spaces (Revee, et al., 2013).
The nature inside of the cities provides diverse benefits to the urban environment. Green areas
increase the environment’ quality, since they remove atmospheric pollutants, generate oxygen,
reduce noise, mitigate urban heat island effects, recharge ground water, and sequestrate carbon
(Shanker, et al., 2010). However, the impact will vary according to the quantity, quality and
distribution of the vegetation.
The benefits involve the economy as well. Houses with trees have higher prices and are more
required by the population (Beatley, 2011). Residential areas with more nature and greener
spaces attract the interest of more citizens and increase the value of the homes (Luttik, 2000).
Even houses that are located near walkable environments are more expensive compared with
other located farther (Beatley, 2011)
Additionally, green areas generate a sense of identity in the population, creating bonds with the
place they inhabit and within the community (Picket and Cadenasso, 2001; Thaiutsa, et al.,
2008; Beatley and Newman, 2013). Parks, gardens or squares work as a gathering point to
socialize that forms new degrees of trust and cohesion between the residents (Thaiutsa, et al.,
2008; Beatley and Newman, 2013).
Also, the presence of green areas affects human beings. According to Beatley (2011) humans
have a psychological and emotional need for regular experiences with nature, manifested in
neurological and physical responses as stated by the concept Biophilic City (Revee, et al., 2013).
In fact, some researches show that the contact with nature can reduce stress, enhance positive
2
mode, improve academic performance, and help moderating autism and other childhood illness.
Indeed, contacts as simple as walks or views of nature can improve more the mood, test
performance and self-esteem than a walk in a mall (Beatley, 2011).
Green neighborhoods and more natural living environments are associated with reductions in
stress and increased levels of physical and mental health (Beatley and Newman, 2013). It is
proved that greener outdoors in hospitals helps to reduce the recovering time of the patients.
Those who had rooms with trees outside of their windows had shorter recovery time in the
hospital and needed less medicine (Beatley, 2011).
Cities with more nature encourage people to spend more time outdoors and be more physically
active. Indeed, green areas in proximity to the neighborhoods, increase recreational activities,
stimulate the interest for the nature, and generate environmental awareness (Thaiutsa, et al.,
2008). For this reason, distance and health benefits have an inversely relationship; the shorter
the distance with the neighborhoods, the higher are the benefits observed.
The size of the green areas is irrelevant for the effects in the population. The inhabitants will
benefit with areas as large as stream corridors and urban forest, or as small as gardens, roof
gardens, playgrounds, and isolated trees on private and public property (Matsuoka and Kaplan,
2008; Thaiutsa, et al., 2008). As long as they keep in connection with the nature, they will be
positively affected.
Nevertheless, the growth of the urban density has formed a spatial homogeneity in the urban
landscape (Picket and Cadenasso, 2001). The similarity of structures generates regular patterns
that are repeatedly found in the cities. But this uniformity is not exclusive of buildings and
streets; it is found in the limited variety of vegetal species, park designs and playgrounds
configuration.
The increase of urbanization, along with planning policies of spatial densification, alienates
nature of the cities. As a result, people face the prospect of living in residential environments
with fewer green spaces in their daily lives (Maas, et al., 2009).
Many cities do not clarify their understanding about the green areas in their planning regulation
or the relevance that could have in both, the residents and the environment. Thereby, they are
demoted to simple urban decoration to beautify the landscape, and ignored as a tool to improve
the life of the inhabitants and the environment in the urban area.
The green areas are still excluded from the city planning or municipality agenda; indeed, few
cities integrate goals about urban green cover, number of trees, recovering or creation of green
spaces. Notwithstanding, cities are starting to recognize the importance of nature, either by
governmental plans, or by population’s pressure. Slowly, vegetation is spread on the ground,
building exteriors, roofs, or road verges, generating more opportunities to green the city in
innovative ways (Beatley, 2011).
In order to address the topics stated above, I studied the green areas in a neighborhood using the
concept of Biophilic Cities, which states that people have a physical and psychological need for
green areas in their daily life (Beatley, 2011).
3
For this study, I focused on the green areas in Villa Cautín 2, Temuco, Chile. The city, where
the neighborhood belongs, is the capital of the province and region of La Araucanía. It is
characterized by its lack of green areas, socioeconomic inequality and high level of air
contamination. The case study is a medium-low neighborhood, located near to the city center,
and without future plans of development.
In order to decide the alternatives to increase the green areas in the neighborhood, I compared
the situation of Villa Cautín 2 with a case in Portland. This city is recognized as Biophilic
(SBEnrc, 2012) due to its highly comprehensive urban greening program aimed to the
conservation and recovering of nature. For this study, Sunnyside neighborhood (Portland) is
used as a reference of the aspects to achieve in Temuco, especially in relation to the quality and
quantity of the green areas. As a result, I developed plans at block and street level to show the
potential of using the available public space in Villa Cautín 2.
On another aspect, I analyzed the planning system in both cities and their approach to the green
areas. With this information I made comparisons, emphasizing in the aspects that the Chilean
legislation needs to change or improve.
I selected these cities by their characteristics. Portland is, within the Biophilic cities, the location
more similar to the Chilean case in the city blocks and plots, but it differs in the green areas and
the size of the homes. These differences allow comparisons between the two cases in relation
with the structure of the private properties, the amount of green areas, and the planning system.
Furthermore, I argued that the lack of green areas is a shared responsibility between both, the
municipality and the residents, as they are considered as city decoration underestimating their
societal and environmental benefits.
In order to explore the current situation in Villa Cautín 2 and the public’ perception of the green
areas, I developed an Experimental Research using Case Study and Comparative design to
obtain data. I conducted expert interviews with representatives of the government, sciences and
community. I did semi-structured interviews, following a guideline, but also with space for
additional questions. Farther on, I coded the information to identify the main concepts.
Additional to the interviews, I used Observation Frameworks to collect data about the
conditions of the green areas and the neighborhood in Temuco. Together with this, I used
Google Earth to identify the green coverage in the neighborhoods, and other qualitative and
quantitative information required. The data collected in the field gave a close picture of the
current situation of the neighborhood, and potential activities to increase the green areas.
This study consists of eight chapters. Biophilic cities and its benefits are explained in Chapter II.
The theoretical concepts are in Chapter III. The concepts explained in these two chapters are
used as tools to analyzed finding in Chapter IV, V, VI and VII, and used to wrap up everything
in the Chapter VIII.
4
1.1. Problem description
Chile is one the most urbanized countries in South America with 89% of people living in the
cities (UN, 2014). As a consequence, its population has lower access to green spaces. According
to the World Health Organization (WHO), a minimum of 9m2 (OECD, 2013) of green areas is
recommended to mitigate a number of undesirable environmental effects, and provide many
benefits (Thaiutsa, et al., 2008). In the case of Chile, the municipality maintained green area
averages 4,15m2 per person, which is below the international standard.
Residents living in low level own-source revenue municipalities have less access to green areas
(OECD, 2013). Mostly, they rely on them for their public green areas, due to the lack of space
in their properties, high density neighborhoods, limited income, and harsh social conditions on
where they live (Escobedo, et al., 2006; Reyes and Figueroa, 2010). Indeed, this situation
generates unequal access to green areas, with rich segments that can afford the maintenance of
its private areas, instead of depending in the public space as happens with the lower stratum.
In this aspect, the increase of public green areas could generate connections between the poorer
population and the nature that were nonexistent before; the interaction with the green areas
could enhance their bonds with the neighborhood and neighbors, improving their life quality.
Temuco is a city with an area of 464km2, with 245.437 inhabitants, where 93,5% of them live
in the urban areas. It presents a 21,2% of poor population, superior to the 15,1% registered for
the whole country (UFRO and IDER, 2012). The city presents different advantageous situations.
In one aspect, the municipality is willing to promote activities to increase the green areas and
create corridors. On the other hand, it has seven universities, and many of them have bachelor
degrees related to the environment, as well as research studies and academic contacts. And
lately, it has parks and protected areas that are well evaluated by the community, but are
disconnected between each other.
Although, as many other cities in Chile, the amount of green areas is lower than international
standards, with 6,5m2 per inhabitant. This lack of vegetation affects directly the environment by
decreasing the ecological services so important in a city that is one of the most polluted of South
America (Días-Robles, et al., 2008)
In another aspect, the national regulation in Chile disregards the green areas as functional
components of planning, and just mentions them as an isolated space for city decoration. In
specific, Temuco lacks documents and norms that regulate the green areas. The only two local
documents that refer to green areas is the Ordenanza 002, which indicates the responsibilities of
the Direction of Cleanliness and Ornament Plan, and the Communal Regulatory Plan (2009).
This absence of information generates an opportunity to demonstrate that if green areas are
considered as a part of urban planning, it is possible to increase their quantity, and altogether,
establish associations with and between the citizens.
5
1.2. Research objective and questions
The central aim of this study is to draw conclusions for the main research problem, how to
increase the green areas in a dense and low income neighborhood using the concept of Biophilic
cities. The overall objective of this investigation is to determine actions to increase the green
areas in a low socioeconomic neighborhood in Temuco, Chile, according to its available public
space. To achieve this it is necessary to know: How the quality and quantity of green areas in
the study cases is and how the interest of the population in the green areas is.
Within the main research question, there are many sub-questions:
- Which is the amount of green and available areas in the low socioeconomic
neighborhood?
- Which is the amount of green areas needed to reach a similar quantity as the biophilic
neighborhood?
- What types of green areas are in the neighborhoods and in what conditions they are?
- Which is the difference in the type of green areas between neighborhoods?
- What type of vegetation is going to be planted?
- What actions need to be taken to increase the green areas, according to the available
public space?
- What is the attitude of the population towards green areas in their neighborhood?
- How is the interest of the people to have green spaces in their neighborhood?
1.3. Research design and methodology
1.3.1. Working Methods
This investigation followed the Experimental Research. This type of research permits to
establish causal relationships among variables and incorporates a high degree of control over the
variables of the study (Borderns and Abbott, 2008).
The study focused on two aspects. Firstly, in an overview of both neighborhoods; and secondly,
in activities to use the public available space with vegetation in Villa Cautín 2. This was done
through different modalities based on the physical structure available in the blocks and streets
within the study area.
There are many types of experimental design. This study was designed following comparative
design and case study, which is a qualitative design.
1.3.2. Comparative Design
This design is “a mode of scientific analysis that sets out to investigate systematically two or
more entities with respect to their similarities and differences, in order to arrive at an
understanding, explanation and further conclusions” (Azarian, 2011).
6
In this case, the comparison was between two cases: ‘Villa Cautín 2’ Temuco, Chile, and
‘Sunnyday’ Portland, United States. The former is the case to study, and the latter is a Biophilic
city used as reference for the analysis. The selection of these cases was made considering that
both share similarities in size and shape of city blocks and plots, but differ in green spaces and
housing area. The parameters selected for the analysis were quantity of public and private green
area; house, private property and plot area; as well as the quality of the green structures, and
diversity of species.
1.3.3. Case study
This design is defined as an in-depth description and analysis of a single entity or phenomenon
(the case) (Schoenborn, 2012). It is based on the assumption that the case is atypical of cases of
a certain type (Kumar, 2011).
It can be either descriptive or explanatory, using any manner of data collection procedures to
obtain information of the phenomenon, such as interviews, secondary records, observations, or
focus groups (Kumar, 2011; Schoenborn, 2012).
In this study, the case study is the neighborhood in Temuco. The focus is to analyze the current
situation of Villa Cautín 2, identifying the characteristics –quantity and quality– of the green
areas, national and local legislation, as well as the public perception. Interviews and observation
were the methods used to collect data.
1.4. Relevance of the study
This investigation is a contribution to a field that needs studies in Chile. Indeed, the topic of
urban green areas, especially connected with planning, is absent in the public conversations or
in published documents. Planning in general is perceived as a political issue, where people
ignore the strategies, and most of the times are uninformed of the changes. On the other hand,
the study provides information in a city located outside the Region Metropolitana –where the
country’s capital is located–, which generates most of the thesis, journal and investigations
reviewed during the study.
In addition, it contributes with practical information about Biophilic Cities developed by
Timothy Beatley that is still unknown in Chile and other countries. This because I used different
indicators and parameters mentioned by the author.
Furthermore, by examining the situation in the city, the relation to the green areas, and its
planning system, I show a future scenario in where the available public spaces are used with
green elements; an alternative for dense neighborhoods, common in the Chilean cities nowadays.
And finally, I generated an overview of the planning system in Chile, especially in the part of
green areas and how these are not well covered in the legislation.
7
1.5. Structure of the report
The study is organized as follows:
The Chapter 1 – Introduction
Offers an overview of the situation; it describes the problem to be analyzed in this study, the
main objective, research questions, as well as the research design and methodology used during
the investigation.
Chapter 2 – Theoretical Framework
This chapter describes the main concepts related to the investigation. It presents a description of
Biophilia, its benefits to the environment, health and economy, and its relevance in planning.
Chapter 3 – Characteristic of the Study Areas
In order to understand the situation in the study areas, general aspects of history, societal, and
economic are presented in this chapter. It describes the main documents related to the current
Chilean legislation in relation to the planning of green areas. It presents an explanation of the
planning system in Temuco and Portland.
Chapter 4 – Methods
It describes the methods used during the investigation, the sequence of work, and the material
used during the study.
Chapter 5 – Results
This chapter shows the results obtained with the interviews, observation, and maps.
Chapter 6 – Design Planning
It shows the activities to be implemented in the neighborhood by street and in the neighborhood.
Chapter 7 – Discussion
It explains the results obtained in the previous chapter, connected with other works or
investigations to answer the research questions of the investigation.
Chapter 8 – Conclusions
This chapter concludes the study. The conclusions of this study are commented separated by the
main topics mentioned in the study.
8
2. Theoretical Framework
2.1. Biophilic Cities
‘Biophilia’ is a concept popularized by Edward O. Wilson in 1984 in his book Biophilia. In this,
Wilson suggested that humans have ‘an urge to affiliate with other forms of life’ that can be
explained through evolutionary processes of survival and natural selection (Reeve, et al., 2013).
Timothy Beatley applied this idea to the cities. According to him, Biophilic City is a city
abundant with nature, an outdoor and physically active city; in which residents spend time
enjoying outside, care about nature, and work on behalf locally and globally (Beatley, 2011).
This investigation uses the term Biphilic Cities to explain the need to integrate nature inside the
cities. As Beatley (2011) explains, human beings need nature in their lives. They coevolve with
nature and for that, they need it daily, even in small doses (Newman, 2013), in the form of
gardens, trees on streets or the sound of birds singing; because nature includes animal, insects,
colors, smells and even sounds.
Biophilic urbanism can provide social, psychological and wellbeing benefits to residents, as
well as functional and economic benefits to the city as a whole (Revee, et al., 2013). Biophilic
cities seek to make nature equally accessible and equally enjoyable to all residents, especially to
new generations that are more disconnected with the nature than the older, due to the
technologies (Beatley, 2011).
Biophilic city, therefore, brings landscaping both into and onto buildings, walls, roads and
concrete watercourses, and every element of the built environment (Newman, 2013). The idea is
to integrate it in every level as in the nature itself, where people have the opportunity to find a
little of wildlife in every corner, and satisfy their internal needs by seeing, listening or smelling.
A Biophilic design must include the nature and natural elements at different scales (Beatley and
Newman, 2013). In this case, the study is focused on the neighborhood scale. This level
includes elements such as urban forest, ecology parks, community gardens, neighborhood
parks/pocket parks, greening greyfields, and brownfields (Beatley, 2011). The interest in
neighborhoods is due to the internal differences that occur between locations in the city, either
by available space or by socioeconomic background. Even though, focusing at city scale offers a
complete vision of the situation, because it integrates all the green elements of the urban areas,
this could ignore the particularities that occur on a small scale.
Neighborhoods can integrate green elements such as green verges and green islands. The former
can be in the form of street trees, rain gardens, and green permeable sidewalks, which reduce
traffic and building cooling, produce windbreak, and control water management. The latter can
be in the form of urban parks and gardens, community farms close to home, waterways, and
streams uncovered; that encourage walking and cycling, reduce reflection, generate a
community sense, and promote education (SBEnrc, 2012).
9
Biophilic design lacks a concrete definition about its appearance, but Beatley (2011) gives some
criteria to define and identify characteristics of the biophilia dimension in the city:
Biophilic Conditions and Infrastructure
It identifies the conditions or circumstances that the city aspires to have. In the Biophilic cities,
the access to the nature is easy and abound nature at different scale and places. In these cities,
people can enjoy a multisensory environment nature that satisfies their needs, not just by seeing
a green area, but by finding animal or insects, listening to birds or smelling flowers. As well, the
city structures and buildings are inspired and mimics nature to integrate it in a harmonic way.
Biophilic Activities
It is referring to the active ways in which the biophilic sensibilities are exercised and
experienced, as well as the many ways in which its citizens connect with and enjoy nature. The
city celebrates their unique nature and biodiversity by adopting emblems or promoting some
exclusive elements. The citizens are actively involved in the nature around them by participating
in education programs for adults and kids, involving citizens in science, going to museums or
expositions, birdwatching, hiking or even eating outside enjoying the weather.
Biophilic Attitude and Knowledge
It characterized the knowledge about the nature of the residents. It recognized the importance of
the contact with them and the value residents see in natural contact. Citizens recognize the value
of their local nature, environment and history.
Biophilic Institutions and Governance
It describes the presence of the government, their funding and priorities. Biophilic cities are
recognized by the investment in educating the citizens about nature, policies related to the
environment in where the city is located, and actions to protect the environment whether legally
or integrating new proposals.
2.2. Benefits of green areas
As it was mentioned, green areas produce many benefits to the population and the environment
in the urban areas.
2.2.1. Environment
Green areas are able to improve the urban environment. Cities with extensive tree canopy
coverage provide many ecological benefits that will make them more resilient. In particular, the
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benefits include moderation of air pollutants by the capture of CO2, decrease of the hot island
throughout evapotranspiration and shading, and the reduction of urban flooding and runoff
when imitating the situation that occurs in the forest (Mena, et al., 2011; Beatley and Newman,
2013; Newman, 2013).
Moreover, cities with more extensive networks of parks and green spaces are also likely to face
better climate change. Trees and natural vegetation in cities and urban neighborhoods can help
protect property and reduce damage from wind, rain and flooding. Also, they reduce the
temperature inside the buildings, due to the increase of shadows, and offer protection during
winter, avoiding external sources of warming that affect the environment (Beatley and Newman,
2013).
2.2.2. Health
Green spaces can affect the physical and psychological health of people. These urban green
spaces can reduce the stress, depression, and mental fatigue, as well as to improve the
perception of physical health, immunity, healing from illness, mood, creativity, productivity,
concentration and self-discipline independent of sex, age or socioeconomic background (Maas
et al., 2009; Madrid, 2010; Shanker, et al., 2010; Reeve, et al., 2013).
Additional, time and distance are relevant in those benefits. Longer visits can decrease the blood
pressure in older people, improve headaches in general, increase of the wellbeing and produce
peace and calmness sensation (Madrid, 2010). On the other hand, shorter distance to green areas
from the residences shows a low likelihood of obesity and stress. In this context, closer green
spaces appear to be more important than green spaces located further away (Maas, et al., 2009).
The benefits extend to small scale areas as well. Research at the building scale shows strong
positive relationships between the presence of natural daylight, fresh air and greenery, with
increases in worker happiness and productivity. Similar studies show the positive power of
natural daylight and other green elements in schools, to raise test score of the students (Beatley
and Newman, 2013).
Furthermore, tree planting and management activities also cause a strengthening of community
bonds and keep the crime rate low (Shanker, et al., 2010). As Timothy Beatley (2009) highlights,
even small doses of nature, such as a window view of trees and parkland, pot plants in buildings,
a short walk in a park, or rooftop gardens can produce benefits.
2.2.3. Economic
The benefits in the economic area are related to the location of the residences. Residential areas
near or surrounded by nature attract more interest and increase the value of the houses (Luttik,
2000). According to Shanker et al. (2010) houses with a view onto forest are, on average, 4,9%
more expensive than homes with otherwise similar characteristics. Also, views of green spaces
and proximity to water bodies raised housing price in China, contributing in 7,1% and 13,2%
respectively. Even the distance to forested areas has an influence on the prices, just one
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kilometer increase in the distance leads to a decrease of, on average, 5,9% in the market price of
the dwelling (Shanker, et al., 2010).
In relation to the residents itself, Biophilic urbanism generates many instances to save money:
when reducing energy demand for heating and cooling, encouraging walking and cycling and
avoiding the use of cars, rejuvenating the urban areas and stimulating the economic
development, and enabling urban food production (Reeve et al., 2011).
2.3. Relevance of Biophilia in planning
Beatley (2011) recognizes that natural and biophilic elements need to be central in everything
and anything we design and build, from schools and hospitals, to neighborhoods and urban
blocks. He states that the best biophilic cities are places where different scales overlap, and
reinforce biophilic behaviors and lifestyles. They are places where children or adults are able to
leave their front door and move through a series of green features and biophilic elements,
moving from garden and courtyard, to green street and municipal forest, and then to larger
expanses of a regional nature.
Including green areas in planning, means to look for innovative ideas where nature could be
integrated. For this reason, spaces around or between buildings and street in a city, represent
new opportunities to insert natural wildness; in other cases side yards, backyards and urban
strips of lands could be a place for creative urban nature interventions. Also streets could be
places to harbor native plants and biodiversity that collect and treat storm water, and in where
pedestrian can experience intimate contact with nature as part of their daily routine. And finally,
food and edible species in city parks, municipal property or streets could offer the opportunity to
connect citizens with plants, to be outside and eat healthy food.
There are many opportunities in both, large and small scales. Old structures can be adapted to
maintain vegetation in them, while new can be built considering biophilic elements since the
beginning. Additionally, no conventional places for inserting and growing nature could be
rooftops, building façade, alleys, balconies, and sidewalks. Even vertical parks and forest,
located inside and outside new high-rise structures in cities, are likely in the future.
The planning of the cities should include the green spaces as a relevant aspect and not just like
decoration. The idea is to visualize the vegetation as a part of the city and the population. It
needs to be explained, defined and organized within the planning instruments.
2.4. Definition of concepts
In this study, the concepts are defined as it is stated next.
Green Areas
There is not a clear definition of green areas in the Chilean legislation. The DTO N°47 (1992)
gives a general explanation defining it as a land intended for pedestrian circulation and formed
12
by vegetable species. In this study, I will take the definition proposed by Mena et al. (2011),
who says that is the ‘space with predominance of tree vegetation, including squares, public
gardens and urban parks. It includes the meadows and gardens in the center of public pathways’,
as well as private areas.
Available space
It is the space free of obstacles or planted vegetation. It corresponds to those spaces free of
buildings that are able to transform into green areas (Mena, et al., 2011).
Public green areas
Correspond to all those green areas that are outside of the city plots, and that are not owned by
the population, because they are municipally owned.
Private green areas
Green areas that are inside of the properties, even when part of tree canopy overstep the city plot
and cover part of the public area.
Front Garden
The area between the official line and the edification line, it is part of the property plot and it is
privately owned.
Road Verges
The place between the sidewalk and the street; its position and size are restricted to the number
of trees to plant (Donoso, 2006). It could be as well the space between the sidewalk and the
official line of the plot.
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3. Characteristics of Study Areas
3.1. Historical and geographical aspect of Temuco
Temuco is located in the Región de la Araucanía, Chile (Fig.1) (Latitude 38°45’S; Longitude
72°40’W; 100 m.a.s.l) (Díaz-Robles, et al., 2008). It has an area of 464km2. The region has a
temperate rainy climate with Mediterranean influence (Díaz-Robles, et al., 2008). The higher
temperatures are concentrated in spring and summer, with 31°C in October and increase until
February, the hottest month. The lower temperatures are found during the winter, with -5°C. It
has around 1.000 mm of precipitations distributed along the year, with higher amounts in winter
in the months of May and August, with over 100 mm. (Municipalidad de Temuco, 2012).
Figure 1. Map of Temuco. Square shows the sample area (Source: Google Earth).
The native vegetation is located in the outside of the city. Most of the urban species corresponds
to exotic trees, with individual native trees planted in parks and streets, such as Araucaria
araucana (Molina) K. Koch, Peumus boldus Molina., Quillaja saponaria Molina., Maytenus
boaria Molina, Nothofagus obliqua (Mirb.) Oerst., Nothofagus dombeyi (Mirb.) Oerst., and
Nothofagus alpina (Poepp. & Endl.) Oest. Near the city is located the Cerro Ñielol, which is a
protected native habitat for flora and fauna.
The city was founded in 1881, and previously it was a military fort beside Río Cautín. At the
beginning, the city had characteristics of a camp. The first planning ideas started in 1900. In
those days, wide pieces of land were given to colonos to inhabit the unused areas that caused an
asymmetric expansion of the city without control or administration. In the ‘40s the city became
a provincial capital of the region, and the State assumed the control of the urban economy
development. In the ‘90s the city still had an unplanned growth, with some areas expanded
without restrictions (Municipalidad de Temuco, 2012).
14
3.2. Socioeconomic background
According to the CENSO 2002, the population in Temuco was 245.437 people, with
528,8hab/km2, superior to the national average. The level of poverty reached 21,2%, higher than
the 15,5% at the national level. In Chile, the level of poverty is defined by the monthly income
per person. The line that defines poverty is established in $72.098 Chilean pesos per person or
€111,03 (EUR/CLP=0,00154) for urban areas, and $48.612 Chilean pesos or €74,86 for rural
areas (Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, 2012).
The main industrial activities in Temuco are the elaboration of drinks (malta, beer, and non-
alcoholic drinks) and manufacture of furniture. The secondary activities are cattle raising,
agriculture (cereals, legumes, and tubers), and forest plantations (Pinus radiata D.Don and
Eucalyptus spp.) (Municipalidad de Temuco, 2012)
3.3. Green areas of Temuco
Temuco has potential to be a green city, due to its climatic characteristics and precipitation
levels; however, there is a lack of trees and vegetation in the public spaces within the city
(Municipalidad de Temuco, 2010)
The main green spaces are concentrated in Ñielol Hill; Armas, Recabarren and Schmidt
Squares; and Isla del Cautín. Ñielol Hill and Cautín River are both important public areas for
the development of recreational activities with plenty of nature (Municipalidad de Temuco,
2010).
Green areas are more frequent in the west sector of the city, as a complement of the houses that
are privately owned and privately managed. To the north, it is more common as gardens and
squares, publicly owned and with the municipality in charge of all the management and
development (Municipalidad de Temuco, 2010).
In 2013 Temuco had 1.605.911m2 (Fig.2) of green areas with a maintenance service provided
by the Direction of Cleanliness and Ornament (DCO) of the Municipality (Municipalidad de
Temuco, 2014). The work is shared between DCO with 207.635m2 and Hidrosym (external
maintenance service) with 1.398.276m2 that includes parks, green areas and side roads in
avenues (Municipalidad de Temuco, 2014).
Furthermore, Temuco has 6,5m2/inhabitant, with a current population in the urban area of
245.347 inhabitants (Municipalidad de Temuco, 2014). Considering that the WHO recommends
9m2/inhabitant, it has a deficit of 602.212m
2 of green areas. Also, they are unevenly distributed
around the city, with zones, such as sector Amanecer where Villa Cautín 2 is located, that
present even less quantity (Municipalidad de Temuco, 2009b).
15
Figure 2. Green areas in Temuco (Mena, et al., 2011)
The municipality expects to add, in the incoming years, around 733.000m2 in urban parks,
560.000m2 of green networks and 500.000m2 of green areas from new urbanizations that, they
consider, it will exceed the deficit of green areas (Municipalidad de Temuco, 2010).
Additionally, the municipality has the idea of creating green corridors that will link different
hierarchies and roles of green areas, relating them with the natural resources that shape the
geographic environment of the city (TRASA, 2008). This especially occurs with Cautín River,
located in the south of Isla del Cautín. The sector has a project to recover the space and connect
it with the city, but just small activities have been implemented so far.
The DCO develops diverse actions to secure the good state of the green areas in the city, such as
watering, mowing, cleaning, pruning, planting, repositioning of plants, and construction of child
games (Municipalidad de Temuco, 2014).
During 2013, the municipality distributed 1.998 ornamental trees to the community and
neighborhood presidents in different sectors of the city, including Amanecer (Municipalidad de
Temuco, 2014).
Also, according to the municipality documents, they developed theoretical and practical
workshops of Community Gardens within the community. With the objective of encouraging
the management of gardens and recycling, as well as the recovering of urban spaces
(Municipalidad de Temuco, 2014).
3.4. Chilean planning system
Chile has incorporated recently spatial planning in the public agenda. Indeed, formal policy at
national level or explicit legislation that regulates planning and land use is absent
(FerradaNehme, 2011; Montenegro and Farías, 2012). Even when the legislation says that the
Regional Government has the function of planning to reach the objectives of social, cultural and
16
economic development of the region, in reality, this is translated to a planning of urban
character (Montenegro and Farias, 2012).
The planning system in Chile is normative, with around 30 documents that directly or indirectly
rule the urban development, and shape the urban landscape (Ortúzar, 2010). Most of the current
laws, norms and decrees were created to satisfy momentary needs, and mainly due to a specific
situation (Wood and Valenzuela, 2013). As a consequence, there are diverse normative bodies
that regulate the use of certain administrative units or territorial components, but not a spatial
planning (FerradaNehme, 2011).
Furthermore, it is characterized for its fragmented, reactive, and centralized decisions. The
planning in Chile involves the participation of a number of public institutions that intervene in
the approval of the plans, due to the sectorial concept of governmental planning that the country
has adopted lately (FerradaNehme, 2011). As a result, this causes more segregation, and lack of
coordination or connection between institutions, instruments, investment and planning (Wood
and Valenzuela, 2013).
There are two main levels of democratic institutions in Chile (Table 1): National and Local level.
In the case of the Country and Commune, the members are elected by the population every four
years, with the exception of the Judicial power that works differently. The Region and Province
are separated bodies, where the members are appointed directly by the President of the Republic,
becoming its direct representative in the territory. The regional level is the geographic and
politic space in where the country is administrated; each region in Chile has a Regional
Government administrated by the Indendente, and each Province Government has a Gobernador,
which is territorially decentralized of the Indendente (Zegras and Gakenheimer, 2000).
Table 1. Political Organization in Chile
Level Government
level
Power Representative
National Country Executive President
Legislative Bi-Cameral
Judicial Judicial branches
Intermedium Region Executive Intendente
Legislative Regional Council
Local Province Executive Gobernador
Legislative Regional Council
Commune Executive Mayor
Legislative Municipal Council
The current planning system works under two different responsibilities, in one side, the
initiatives of the central government and, on the other side, the one initiatives of the provincial
government (Fig. 3).
The administrative structure of the central government is vertical. It begins with the President of
the Republic at the top, and goes to the Provincial level (Table 1). At the National level are all
17
the laws and decrees that reflect the national vision for the development of the country, which
includes the DFL 458 and DS N°47 as main documents for the planning in Chile.
However, the municipal planning level is horizontal, depending totally on the commune for the
development of the planning instruments, with exceptions in the last steps of approval, when
other organisms intervene (Ortúzar, 2010). The commune develops the planning instruments,
but needs the endorsement of Ministries and other national organizations before use the
documents. This situation takes time; because the superior authorities make continuous
observations and corrections. The Regional Development Plan and Intercommunal Regulatory
Plan are planning instruments at Regional and Intercommunal level respectively, with the aim to
generate a harmonic growth within the different geographic divisions.
Even when there is a separation in the responsibilities of the central and commune government
in relation to land planning, this partition is absent in reality, because the former is subordinate
to the latter for the approval of the instrument of land planning (Ortúzar, 2010). Nevertheless,
the commune has some authority that allows it to create local Ordinances to adapt the national
legislation to its particular circumstances, or to specify some actions to its reality.
3.5. Local level of planning
Municipality
The local level of government in Chile is the Municipality. It consists of a locally elected Mayor
and Communal Council. The Municipality is responsible for local land planning (through the
development of a Communal Regulatory Plan), and the regulation of land use, primarily through
the issuance of building permits (Zegras and Gakenheimer, 2000). The main function is to
develop, approve and modify the plan of the commune according to the current regional and
national plans.
When the Central government is responsible of the modifications of the Laws and Ordinances,
the Communal governments are responsible for the actual application of the Law, the General
Ordinance, Technical Norms and other regulations (Zegras and Gakenheimer, 2000).
Instrument of Planning
The Land Planning Instruments in Chile are normative, and they are not accompanied by public
investment. Every instrument of urban planning has its own scope of action, in relation to the
area of territory and the dispositions. Also, they are highly hierarchized, where documents of
higher level have priority and are mandatory for the lower levels.
The most relevant documents, at national level, are the General Law of Urbanism and
Construction DFL 458 and the General Ordinance of Urbanism and Construction DS N°47 (Fig.
3). The former is an instrument that contains the principles, attributes, sanctions, and other
norms that govern the organizations and professionals involved in urban planning, urbanization,
and construction. Meanwhile, the latter has the regulations regarding to the administrative
18
procedures, planning processes, and relevant technical design standards (Zegras and
Gakenheimer, 2000; Villagrán and Qiu Sun, 2013).
Figure 3. Organization of legal documents in Chile (Adapted from Villagrán and Qiu Sun, 2013)
The current legislation identifies, as structure of urban planning, four levels of actions that
corresponds to four types of areas: national, regional, inter-communal and communal (Fig. 3
(Wood and Valenzuela, 2013).
At the national level, the absence of a plan that covers the whole territory affect the coordination
between institutions that regulate the urban and rural soil and that control the road structure,
sanitary works, transport, among others (Oyarzún, 2010).
At lower levels, the regional level orients the development of regional urban centers. The
intercommunal regulates the physical development of the urban and rural areas of diverse
communes that integrate an urban unit. And finally, the communal promotes the harmonic
development of the territory, in relation to the regional goals of socioeconomic development
(Wood and Valenzuela, 2013).
In the case of Temuco, this only depends on the Communal Regulatory Plan to make decisions
about the development of the commune, since there are no plans at the regional and
intercommunal level approved so far. Indeed, just three metropolitan plans (Santiago,
Valparaíso and Concepción) and near 18 intercommunal plans have been created (Wood and
Valenzuela, 2013). It is frequently that new communes use the plan from their former structure,
even if it is useless, or they work without plans. This occurs because just 68% of the communes
have a local instrument and it takes on average 6 years for their approval. According to
Cen
tral
Go
ver
nm
ent
Inte
rco
mm
un
al
Reg
ion
al
Nat
ion
al
Constitution
General Law of Urbanism and constructions DFL 458
General Ordinance of Urbanism and Construction DS N°47
Regional Development Plan
Intercommunal Regulatory Plan
Co
mm
un
al
Pro
vin
cial
Go
ver
nm
ent
Communal Regulatory Plan
19
Gimenez and Ugarte (2014), many decisions on housing and infrastructure are taken outside the
planning.
Communal Regulatory Plan
The commune is responsible for the Communal Regulatory Plan (CRP), Sectional Plans and
Urban Limit. Each commune, by developing these instruments, has an overview of the urban
portion of its territory. However, the legislation is indifferent between a plan for the whole
territory or for just a part of this, which means that small modifications in the plans have to pass
for the same process as a whole new plan.
The CRP aims to regulate municipal growth through: zoning, land use, establishment of
roadway hierarchies, specification of the municipal facilities, parking requirements, densities,
and growth limits (Zegras and Gakenheimer, 2000).
The approval process of a local instrument is structured and involves many actors from the local
and central government. In fact, it is the central government the responsible for the endorsement
of the plans proposed by the communal government.
The decision to create a new CRP or modify an existing depends solely in the Mayor and the
Communal Council (Fig. 4). The responsible for the study is the Work Director (Director de
Obras) or an external planner. It is common that the municipalities hire planners for this study,
because the municipal’ functionaries that works in the area of Urbanism lack preparation or
university formation (Ortúzar, 2010).
The first phase of study finishes with proposal of potential boundaries of the urban communal
area. The CRP includes four documents that, together, form one legal document. This requires
the approval of the Mayor and the Communal Council. Simultaneously, CONAMA receives a
copy and evaluates aspects related to flora, fauna, air, water, soil and pathways (Ortúzar, 2010).
When the proposal is approved, the Communal Council is responsible for consulting the opinion
of the Economic and Social Council, inform the neighbors and organizations about the main
characteristics of the CRP, and summon them to public audiences to expose the project.
After the public audiences, the plan should be exposed for 30 days. In case that one of the
documents of the CRP is absent, the phase is invalid, and is repeated. In this stage, everyone has
the right to visit the exhibition and make comments, even if they are residents of other cities.
Thereafter, people have 15 days to send a letter with the observations directly to the Major.
Later, this phase is repeated anew; but the second time, the project and the observation report
are presented for approval (Ortúzar, 2010).
At this stage, the project, with all its antecedents, is sent to the SEREMI-MINVU. This
organism has 60 days to review and emit a report about the technical aspect, inspecting that the
project meets the disposition of the national Law and Ordinance, as well as the regional and
intercommunal plan. However, in the case of the absence of these two documents, the plan is
sent directly to the Regional Government, with a copy to the municipality. If the government
20
makes no comments, the plan becomes a decree; otherwise, it needs corrections, and then
returns to the SEREMI to a new approval (Ortúzar, 2010).
Finally, when the project is approved by all the organisms, it will be published in the Official
Newspaper as an Ordinance. However, the General Comptroller of the Republic can still make
some observation before the publication. In some cases, the corrections of this organism make
the municipality to adjust the plan again. The CRP just can be used when is published in the
Official Newspaper (Ortúzar, 2010).
Figure 4. Steps for instruments approval in Chile.
published on
sends for revision to
sends for revision to
no accepted
Observation send to
organizes
contact
produces
send to
copy to
summons communicates plan
Work Director
Major and Communal Council
decide to start the plan
Ante Project and Communal
Regulatory Plan (4 documents)
Communal Council
CONAMA
Mayor
Economic-Social Council
Public exhibition of plan (30
days)
Period for comments (15 days)
SEREMI-MINVU (60 days)
Regional Government
General Comptroller of
the Republic
Municipality
Official Newspaper
Communal Council
Public Audience (Neighbors and
Organizations)
then
accepted correction send to
observations to
Mayor
21
3.6. National and municipal concept of green areas
General Perception
The Chilean legislation lack of a clear definition of the urban green areas, and many documents
refer to them as national goods of public use. The legislation associates vegetation with
ornamental aims to beautify the landscape, underestimating their environmental benefits.
Also, other types of vegetation, such as vegetables, herbs, eatable flowers, and fruit trees are
omitted in the legislation. Indeed, the normative instruments disregard the agriculture
production as an urban activity in the regulatory plans, since it is excluded of the strategies of
urban development in the superior legislative documents (Law and Ordinance), which see that
agriculture as an activity exclusively rural (Villagrán and Qiu Sun, 2013).
The General Ordinance mentions that free areas of land have to be established during the
housing projects. This space will become municipality property to satisfy the needs of green
areas, sport, and movement of the residents. The calculus of these areas is mentioned in the law,
using as reference the density of inhabitants per hectare, independent of the value of the houses.
Even though, this Ordinance omits the definition of green areas, it has definitions for parks,
squares, even cycle paths (León, 1998).
Municipal ordinances lack of a list that identifies and defines the green area. In fact, the local
level ordinances designate uses for the green areas, without regulating the access, functions and
entailments with the rest of the urban areas (Leon, 1998).
Municipality ordinance
The Ordinance 002 (1991) developed by the municipality of Temuco establishes in its art.2 that
all the trees and plants located in the public roads are considered of municipal property. Also, in
its art.5 says that owners or occupants will water and care of trees and green areas existing in
the sidewalk or spaces in front of a house, building, commercial store or vacant lot.
Additionally, this Ordinance expresses that the sowing, plantation or replacement of vegetable
species in the public roads could be made for particulars with the written authorization of the
Municipality, with all the expenses of the work of the requesting person.
On the other hand, in the art.13 states that the municipality will encourage the construction of
meadows or green areas between the neighbors, explaining that is the obligation of the
neighbors to build green areas in the front gardens in where they live and keep them in good
condition.
The Communal Regulatory Plan recognizes the role of green areas as urban parks, urban
squares, small squares, and spaces for support. As well, it recognized them as places where is
allowed the development of recreational activities, with cycle paths, playgrounds and urban
furniture. However, any of the descriptions mention agriculture or productive activities
(Municipalidad, 2010). The ordinance, as many other documents, does not mention or prohibit
the use of the agriculture as an activity allowed or compatible with the green areas.
22
3.6.1. Responsibilities of the organism with the green areas
Community
According to the legislation, the community has the responsibility, among other, of conserving
trees and plantations in the spaces of public use (DFL N°458, 1976, art 80).
The Community is divided into ‘neighborhood units’. In each of these units, there are a
Neighborhood Council and a Mother Center (centro de madres). As the Law N° 18.893 of 1989
mentions, these groups would form ‘communal units of neighborhood council’ (unión comunal
de juntas de vecinos). The community, through these institutions, has the right to request to the
municipality the creation of green areas (parks, squares, others) within their neighborhood. If
the petition is approved, the municipality will cover the expenses with the annual budget for the
execution of works (Ceballos, 1997).
In another aspect, the community has a non-written responsibility of maintaining urban trees,
care about vegetation and avoid vandalism in the green areas (Donoso, 2006).
Direction of Cleanliness and Ornament
In Chile, the Organic Constitutional Law of the municipalities N° 18.695, in its art.20, letter c of
1976 says that corresponds to the unity of Cleanliness and Ornament supervise the construction,
conservation and administration of green areas of the commune. This maintains the
responsibility of the municipality in monitoring the conservation of the approved green areas in
the subdivision and urbanization of private sites projects (Donoso, 2006).
Also, this unit cares about the cleanliness of the public roads, parks, squares, gardens and, in
general, of the national goods of public use in the commune (DFL N° 1, 2006, art.25, a, c)
Developers
The developer is responsible of giving to the municipality a part of the land that is urbanized,
along with pavement the streets and alleyway, plant and ornament the area, among other
activities. When the Direction of Municipal Works receives and approves the works done by the
developer, the land is immediately considered integrated into the national goods of public use,
together with all streets, avenues, green areas and public spaces in general (DFL N° 458, 1976,
art 134 and 135).
Municipality
The municipality is responsible for the development, approval and modifications of the
Communal Development Plan, according to the current legal norms, and also to plan the land
use, create parks and gardens, and plant trees in the green areas of public use (DFL N° 458,
1976, art 80; Donoso, 2006).
23
3.7. Portland planning system
Planning, in the American tradition, involves the delegation of powers from senior levels of
government -the nation and the states- directly to local communities. In fact, regions, states, and
occasionally, the nation have regularly sought ways to affect local planning goals, planning
processes, and implementing actions. As a result, the statewide growth management planning
emerged in the United States (Seltzer, 2013).
Consequently, Oregon created a statewide program for land use planning with a set of 19
Statewide Planning Goals. The goals express the state’s policies on land use, citizen
involvement, housing, and natural resources. Also, most of the goals are accompanied by
guidelines, which are suggestions about how a goal may be applied, even though they are not
mandatory (Oregon DLCD, 2010).
Oregon uses the Local Comprehensive Planning to achieve the statewide goals. The state
requires each city and county to adopt a comprehensive plan, resulting in a mosaic of local plans
that cover the entire state. In this context, the planning system functions as a partnership
between state and local government (Oregon DLCD, 2010).
However, just the cities and counties are allowed to create legally recognized comprehensive
land use plans, zone the land or administer permits for local planning actions (Seltzer, 2013).
They have flexibility to address any issue in their comprehensive plans, as long as they
addressed all applicable statewide planning goals, and demonstrated with facts that the plan
would further the state’s purposes (Seltzer, 2013).
The hallmark of the state’s planning program from the outset was the extensive citizen
participation. As a result, every city and county has a Committee for Citizen Involvement to
monitor and encourage active citizen participation (Oregon DLCD, 2010).
Urban growth boundaries are a central tenet of the Oregon Land Use Planning Program adopted
in 1973. By creating the boundaries, legislators sought to ensure the preservation and viability
of farmland by limiting city growth and preventing “leap-frogging” suburbs (Trimet, 2010).
METRO
Metro is Portland’s metropolitan planning organization. It guides regional growth through the
coordination of land use and transportation plans. Metro serves the Portland metropolitan region,
which is formed by 3 counties (Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington), 25 cities, and near
1,5million people. It is integrated by a council president elected by the citizens of the region,
and six councilors that are elected by district.
Metro’s capability to guide growth derives from Oregon’s state planning law that requires
comprehensive plans with housing and land-use goals as well as urban growth boundaries (APA,
2006; Montgomery, 2011). Metro assumed the responsibility of supervising the goals of the
Statewide Planning Goals. It can take decisions in land use planning beyond the responsibility
of the Urban Growth Boundaries, becoming Metro the primary planning responsible
(Montgomery, 2011).
24
Additionally, Metro is responsible for the management of the urban growth, transportation and
land use planning, as well as management of waste, the Oregon Zoo, regional parks and green
area programs.
The Local Comprehensive Plan
The Comprehensive Plan is the current adopted land use plan for the City of Portland. This plan
guides the future growth and development of the city.
This plan has two main parts, a body of data and a background report, and a policy document.
The first part describes the community’s resources and features, and must address all the topics
specified in the applicable Statewide Planning Goals. The second part is a set of the
community’s long-range objectives and the policies by which it intends to achieve them
(American Planning Association, 2006).
The purpose of the Comprehensive Plan is to provide a coordinated set of guidelines for
decision making to guide the future growth and development of Portland. The legislative Land
Use Project must be in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan or, at least, recommend
changes to the plan, by proposing new policies or by changing the existents (Bureau of Planning
and Sustainability, 2009).
Portland is currently updating its Comprehensive Plan that sets the framework for the physical
development of the city for the next 20 years (American Planning Association, 2006; Oregon
DLCD, 2010).
Planning Process in Portland
Metro is the organism that reviews the proposed plans. It identifies conflicts between adjacent
Comprehensive Plans, and tries to reconcile the differences of the documents. In case of the
Plans from cities and counties under Metro jurisdiction, they are inspected to prove that support
the assumptions and objectives associated with the urban growth boundary (Seltzer, 2013).
Once a community adopts a Comprehensive Plan, including implementing tools and ordinances,
the entire package is submitted to the Department of Land Conservation and Development
(DLCD) for an initial review. Later, the documents are sent to the Land Conservation and
Development Commission (LCDC) for the final state of approval. In this process of revision,
LCDC determines if the plan (on the whole) is consistent with the Statewide Planning Goals,
even when most of the time the decision-making is made by applying the local plan and code.
Once the Plan is endorsed by the state, it becomes the controlling document for land use in the
area covered (Oregon DLCD, 2010; Seltzer, 2013).
Subsequent amendments to the local plans or their implementing tools are, however, required to
return to LCDC for “post-acknowledgement” review for consistency with the statewide
planning goals (Seltzer, 2013).
25
3.8. Local concept of green areas
Portland has many initiatives and plans that integrate green areas, and envision connecting the
residents with nature, making their lives healthier.
In 1995, the city developed the Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) with the purpose of
providing direction and coordination for the management and administration of Portland’s urban
forest. This organism maintains and manages the publicly owned trees in Portland’s parks,
along streets, and around public buildings, as well as offers tree care and maintenance training
to citizens (BPS, 2009).
While the urban forest has been identified as a priority in multiples city initiatives in Portland,
the Comprehensive Plan misses the goals and canopy target determined by UFMP. Also, the
document omits trees or the urban forest as an important resource (BPS, 2009).
In the other hand, Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman proposed in 2004 inventorying all city-
managed lands to determine whether they would be suitable for community gardens. The city
recognized the importance that these gardens have to gather people to support neighborhood
livability, support self-sufficiency and access to healthy food. However, the council refrained to
provide budget funds or commit staff to carry out the resolution (Mendes, et al., 2008).
The Portland Watershed Management Plan (2005) and the City’s Climate Action Plan (2009)
call for protecting and expanding the urban forest to improve watershed health and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. The Portland’s Parks 2020 Vision sets the goal of providing all
residents with the opportunity to develop park or access to a natural area within approximately
15 minutes (BPS, 2013).
The Portland Parks and Recreation 2007 report notes that tree canopy currently covers about
26% of Portland. Within the city, 54% of the total area is privately owned, and 46% is publicly
owned. Similarly, 53% of the tree canopy shades privately owned land, and 47% of the canopy
shades public land and streets. The report estimates, as well, that Portland’s street tree
population consists of approximately 236.000 trees, with 247 parks and recreational sites,
including 196 neighborhood parks (BPS, 2009).
Lastly, Portland has four guidelines that refer to nature and green areas. Creating Livable Streets
describes how communities can design streets to better serve walking, biking and transit while
also preserving the region’s mobility needs of existing and new streets, including elements such
as street trees and landscape buffers. Green Streets describes basic storm water strategies and
illustrate green street design with features such as street trees. Also, Trees for Green Streets
describes the role of street trees in managing storm water, illustrating species. It is used with the
guidelines mentioned above. And Livable Streets provides practical guidelines for designing
safe and healthy streets in the region (Trimet, 2010).
26
4. Methods
This chapter describes the methods used in the study. It starts with the methods for data
collection and finishes with the process of the data.
4.1. Area of study
The study area corresponds to two neighborhoods located in Chile and United Stated. The first
neighborhood is called Villa Cautín 2 located in Temuco, capital of Region de la Araucanía,
Chile. It has 245.347 inhabitants (UFRO and IDER, 2012), and 4,0m2 of municipal green areas
per habitant (www.observatoriourbano.cl). And the second neighborhood is Sunnyside, located
in Portland, United States. It has 583.776 inhabitants (PRC, 2010).
Villa Cautín 2
The neighborhood is located in the macrosector of Amanecer, (Fig. 5), which is a low income
sector and it has one of the least amounts of green areas per inhabitants of the city (UFRO and
IDER, 2012). It is placed near to the city center, a university and beside a busy avenue. It has 4
residential blocks and a block in the middle that is for recreational purpose. It is surrounded by
Manuel Recabarren Street on the south, Los Sauces Street on the east, Perusa Street on the north
and Capri Street on the west.
Figure 5. Sector Amanecer, Villa Cautín 2 Neighborhood (Source: Google Map).
27
Sunnyside
The study area is located in Portland that is denominated as a Biophilic City by Beatley, due to
its highly comprehensive urban greening program largely driven by stormwater management
concern. By 2011, it had added 8.500 trees planted in private yards, 9.000 street trees, and 546
new garden street projects (SBEnrc, 2012). It is considered as a “longstanding leader in growth
management, green building, public transit and bicycle planning, among other topics”[1].
Portland has of the highest parks per-capita in the nation. The selection of this neighborhood for
the study is because of the similar street and the city block structure, along with its proximity to
the center and its green cover. It is surrounded by SE Main St, SE 37th Ave, SE Taylor St, SE
35th Ave.
Figure 6. Portland, Sunnyside Neighborhood (Source: Google Map)
4.2. Exploratory investigation
The data were collected by secondary data using the Internet, and primary data with field work
in the case of Villa Cautín 2.
In the first phase of the work I collected qualitative and quantitative information using
secondary data such as journals, thesis or legal documents to have an overview of the planning
system of the neighborhoods and the green areas approach. During this period I used Google
Earth and Google Map to collect the quantitative data. I delimited the areas of houses, trees and
blocks in Google Earth and I transferred this information to ArcGIs 10.2 to generate GIS maps
of the areas, because digital data were not found on the Internet or delivered by the municipality.
With the GIS maps I calculated the amount of green areas in both neighborhoods and the area of
the houses. At the same time, I used Google Earth to collect qualitative data, information about
28
the condition of the green areas, trees, bushes and plants in Portland, because I did not plan a
fieldwork to the area.
From those sources, it was generated preliminary information about the quantity and condition
of green areas, as well as the biodiversity presented in both cases. Some data were missing
during this state, but was later updated during the fieldwork in Temuco.
During this period, I create Observation Frameworks to obtain qualitative information in the
information, set up appointment with experts related to planning and green areas, and defined
questions to be addressed during the interviews.
4.3. Data collection
The fieldwork in Temuco was undertaken from 13th October to 7th of November 2014. During
the fieldwork, two types of primary sources were used to collect data: Observation and
Interviewing, to ensure the participation of the population in the investigation.
4.3.1. Interviews
The method of data collection used was a semi-structured interview. This type of interview has
a set of prepared questions that acts as a guide for the researcher. This format allows and
encourages the researcher to interject with additional questions as appropriate (Deibel, 2011).
This type of interview requires little more than an objective (Schoenborn, 2012). The
appointments for the interviews were set up by email before the fieldwork. The interviews were
in face-to-face mode. In total, 6 people and 1 group were interviewed, the low number is due to
the difficulty to find experts related to the topic prior and during the fieldwork. The list of the
interviewees is in the Annexes.
The interviewees are experts and non-experts in the area. One group is part of the municipality
and university staff; and the other group is people involved in sustainable activities and
neighbors. The election was done according to their relation to the topics of the study, while the
experts have an overview of the planning system and green areas; the non-experts have a vision
of the green areas and the management of them by the municipality.
The interviews were opened with an introduction of the study case, so the context and meaning
of the interview were understood. Predefined questions were asked during the conversation
when seen as relevant to the discussion. There were no directions on the structure, and all the
key questions were asked regardless of the order. During each interview notes were taken.
Due to limited information about the area prior to the fieldwork, the first interview
(municipality planer) worked to clarify the situation of the neighborhood and the general
approach of the municipality towards green areas.
The conversation transcripts were later coded. The data were sorted by theme for direct
comparisons. The key words worked as a guide to identify the topics. The number of predefine
questions varied to adjust to the experience of the interviewee with the theme in discussion.
29
4.3.2. Observation
Observation is a method of data collection used to collect primary data in a systematic and
selective way by watching or listening to a phenomenon as it takes place. This method is used
when the interest is more in the behavior than in the perceptions of the individuals (Kumar,
2011).
This investigation used a non-participative observation. In this type, the researcher does not get
involved in the activities of the group and remains as a passive observer, drawing conclusions
based on what watched and listened (Kumar, 2011).
The recording method used during the fieldwork was a Categorical Recording using
Observation Frameworks (Annex) with different categories to collect information about the type
and quality of the green areas in the neighborhoods in Temuco.
Two types of Frameworks were used; one was for the houses, and the other for the street, in
which each house and street had a code to facilitate the management of data. Each instrument
had options for the observer to mark with yes or no, or with a cross in case that the option is
absent in the field, with space for general observations on the final.
The information collected in the Frameworks was typed on an Excel document and analyzed,
selecting the aspect more relevant to the quality of the green areas.
In some cases the data about green areas inside the properties could not be collected because the
fences were too high to see inside.
4.4. Data Analysis
4.4.1. Green Areas
To analyze the distribution of the green areas in the neighborhoods and plots, this investigation,
separated the green areas into three main components: Patch (domestic gardens, public and
private parks, gardens), Corridor (roadside avenues and walkways), and Network structure
(layout of all the patches and the corridors connecting the patches). This separation facilitates
the description of the general structure of the green areas (Shanker, et al., 2010).
To facilitate the analysis of the data, each city block was assigned a letter from A to E, and the
streets were separated into 4 groups, according to their physical characteristics.
4.4.2. Biophilic Indicators
To determine if the neighborhood had biophilic characteristics, this investigation focused on the
indicators proposed by Beatley (2011):
The indicator Biophilic Conditions and Infrastructure focus mainly in green areas. It was
separated in Quantity and Quality of green areas. For the Quantitative data, 2 parameters from
30
the Beatley (2011) were adapted and used: number of parks or green spaces within 1000 meters
of a house (PH), and number of green urban features (trees, bushes).
Other indicators considered were: the percentage of total green areas (PTG), the percentage of
private green areas (PPG), the percentage of public green areas (PUG), the percentage of
available space (PAS), percentage of houses in the block (PHB) and percentage of houses in
plot (PHP). These indicators did not include Block E, because this has recreational function.
The indicators were obtained using ArcGis 10.2.
For the analysis of the Qualitative data, I used the indicators of the physical state of the green
areas, diversity of the species in the areas and level, and type of green areas. This information
was collected with the Observation Frameworks during the fieldwork in Temuco and by Internet
in the case of Portland.
For the indicators Biophilic Activities, Biophilic Attitude and Knowledge and Biophilic
Institutions and Governance, the data collection was obtained through literature review and
interviews with stakeholders following a set of questions according to their expertise in the
topics.
For the Biophilic neighborhood (Sunnyside), the same quantitative information about the
amount and distance of green areas was considered in the study; this information was obtained
through Google Earth and official web pages of the city. Some qualitative data were obtained
online, but the date was from months ago, so there is some variation in the results.
4.4.3. Plan of Activities and Mapping
After the analysis of the information, I created draws to show the actual and future situation per
street in Villa Cautín 2, because there are 4 different groups of streets in the neighborhood,
which needs different activities and green structures. A general plan of activities to increase
green areas was done using as a reference the available public space in the neighborhood.
The results obtained were transferred to maps that show the current situation of the green areas
in both neighborhoods. The future situation of each group was transferred to sketch to show the
green elements that can be established considering the differences of each street. The maps were
done in ArcGis 10.2, the sketch using Paint and Photoshop.
31
5. Results
5.1. Analysis of Interviews
Green Areas
A general comment on the interviews was the lack of money involved in the planning and
implementation of green areas inside the city. This refers to government funds that are given to
the municipalities for their plans; because part comes from the government, and other part from
vehicles’ permissions. This money has to be prioritized between the different needs of the
municipality, and for that reason, the increment of green areas or recovering of empty spaces are
the least priority. An example of this lack of funding is the interruption of the municipality
project that tries to incorporate the river that flows in the south of the city with a circuit of parks
by connecting them with each other.
Municipality projects are more unstable than national projects, because national projects have
the funds to cover the whole project assigned from the beginning, and the municipality just
needs to manage the progress, such is the case of the project to recover public spaces to the
people in Isla Cautín.
In another aspect, the municipality hires external services for the maintenance of the green
spaces in the city, especially for watering, pruning and cleaning the areas. This means that more
green spaces under their ownership will require more funding to cover the services, and the
municipality noticed that they lack budged to cover this situation.
On the other hand, the municipality recognizes that there is socioeconomic inequality within the
city related to public spaces. They would like to decrease this difference and make the
conditions more equal, but nothing has changed so far, and no projects have been developed to
fight this situation so far.
And finally, there is a general concern to the type of trees planted in the street. They
interviewees mentioned that the tree causes allergies during spring, and cover the streets with
seeds, especially the species Platanus orientalis L and Salix spp. The municipality, on the other
hand, stated that there is not a normative that regulates the type of trees that could be planted in
the streets, and they use the plants provided by privates.
Planning System
The municipality’s planner mentioned that the planning system in Chile is one for the whole
country. This causes a problem for the municipalities due to the local circumstances, because
the geographic and physic conditions of cities in the arid north of the country is not the same as
the dense city in the capital, or the low dense and cold south of Chile; even though, there are
some specific norms that are adapted to every city or commune, it is insufficient to reflect the
particularities of each place. This is worsened by the low independence in decisions, as the
norms and laws are superior to the municipality, either to national or regional level.
32
Another problem mentioned was the green spaces provided by the developers, which is not well
covered by the legislation. According to the experts, the developers usually start building up by
parts, and use the minimum legal percentage of green area per each part. In that way, they can
build more houses and leave small pieces in far and bad locations. Otherwise, they should leave
a big plot that represents the total percentage for the whole project. As a consequence, this
situation generates small pieces of green areas that are insufficient for the population needs, that
are really bad located, but that comply with the legislation.
Also, another common topic mentioned was the long process of approval for the planning
instruments. Both experts noted that the period is long, include many steps and the documents
could change considerably in the final.
People’s Perception
The perception of the people is divided; one part thinks that the municipality is doing activities
to increase green areas, but in other parts of the city that are not their neighborhoods. An
example, the neighbors themselves cleaned and filled in with soil a vacant lot that was being
used as a dump, when they asked for help for clean or for flowers to plant in that area, they did
not receive a reply. The other part thinks that the municipality has done some actions, but
slowly. They received around 18 native trees every year to be planted by the neighbors, but the
people, especially the kids, vandalize the public spaces.
The interviewees acknowledge that the municipality is increasing the green areas by recovering
abandoned lots and transforming them in the park or cycle paths. However, they complain that
they are far from innovative, and the same designs repeat is repeated, which makes the new
spaces less attractive and boring. They expressed their interest for new ideas and styles.
Furthermore, people recognized the need for more green areas in the form of new parks or more
trees on the streets. However, if they include Ñielol Hill -Natural Monument (Monumento
Nacional) located inside the urban area and preserves native species of flora and fauna- the
general green areas increases. Even when they visited the place that is popular for trekking and
sports.
The municipality recognizes that the neighborhood councils are more concerned about having
playgrounds in their community, than to ask for the maintenance of public spaces, whereas the
president of the neighborhood council of Amanecer notices that the responses are very slow and
takes months or years.
People’s Participation
A point of agreement between all the interviewees is the lack of education of the population.
This is reflected in that the residents expect to receive help from the authorities, but they
irresponsible with the maintenance. As an example, many trees given by the municipality died,
because residents did not irrigate them, when this was part of the agreement of the project; or, as
it happened in another neighborhood, many were vandalized and cut.
33
According to the responses, people have a disinterest in green areas. The municipality’ planner
said they received petitions for more parks and playgrounds and to clean the public areas, but
not for maintenance of green spaces.
There is no public promotion of sustainable organizations. Some interviewees know groups
because they are related to them. In the case of the urban garden located in one neighborhood, it
is a private initiative, one year old, without municipality support. The people involved in this
project have implemented educative days and other activities involving the community with
their own funding. In case of university group, they receive some support from the university;
they focus on the promotion of sustainable activities such as agriculture sessions, composting
workshop, recycle and re-use of plastic bottles, which involve mainly university student and
staff. But both of them reach a small range of people, mostly their near circles.
5.2. Physical information about the areas
Villa Cautín 2, Temuco
This neighborhood has 5 blocks (Fig. 7), 4 of them have housing purpose, and the one in the
middle has recreational function. The city blocks have 64 plots of 200m2 (10mx20m) with 68
houses that cover a 63,3% of the plot area.
Figure 7. Plots and houses in Villa Cautín 2. (Group N°1, red. Group N°2, green. Group N°3,
blue. Group N°4, purple)
The streets were separated into 4 groups of streets (Fig. 7). Group N°1 is Avenida Manuel
Recabarren (Fig. N°8), the street of the bottom, which has 4 tracks and it is a very heavy
transited avenue, with narrow sidewalk and no trees or vegetation.
B
C
D
E
A
34
Figure 8. Avenida Manuel Recabarren. Group N°1
Group N°2 includes two streets, Los Sauces and Capri (Fig. N°9). Both streets have 2 tracks and
regular transit of cars, especially the former, which support transportation vehicles. This group
has wide space on the sidewalks, with young and old trees at the sides.
Figure 9. Los Sauces (Left) and Capri (Right). Group N°2
Group N°3 corresponds to Asinara Street (Fig. N°10). It has 2 tracks, but it does not have
regular transit, the space on the sidewalks are narrower than the Group N°2 and it has one tree
and some shrubs.
Figure 10. Asinara. Group N°3
35
Group N°4 includes 4 streets (Fig. N°11), Perusa, Vicencia 1, Vicencia 2 and Falcone. These
streets are used just for the residents with just one track, there are not sidewalks, the space
between the properties and the street is covered with pavement, grass or trees.
Figure 11. Perusa (Top left), Vicencia 1 (Top right) (Source: Google Map), Vicencia 2 (Bottom
left) and Falcone (Bottom right) (Source: Google Map).
The streets have good illumination and the walking paths are in good condition. There is some
garbage on 5 of the street analyzed. During the fieldwork, 6 cars were parked in the streets or in
the front of the houses (Fig. N°8). Of the 68 houses, 4 of them do not have a front garden, and
16 have pavement covering the front space. In relation to the space in front of the plot, 11
houses covered it with pavement and 8 with stones, when the rest have natural grass.
The houses have mainly one floor, with some with 2 floors (ground floor plus additional floor).
In general the residences have other construction annexed to the main building, covering a high
percentage of the plots, with 19 cases in where the plots are full with constructions and with no
available space, except for the front garden.
The Block E is a playground which is covered with pavement and stones in the most part of the
area, and grass and flowers in the rest. During the visit there was not people using the
playground.
36
Figure 12. Block E. View to Vicencia 1 and Asinara
Sunnyday, Portland
The area has 4 blocks (Fig. N°13) all of them with housing function. The city blocks have 58
plots, which property areas are 200m2, 300m
2, 450m
2 and 600m
2. It has 57 houses that cover
43% of the plot area.
Figure 13. Plots and houses in Sunnyside
The area has just one type of street, which it characterized by 2 tracks with sidewalks on both
sides and road verges along the streets. There are cars parked on the streets and not in the walk
path as in Temuco. The streets have many big trees which canopy covers the street.
All the houses have one or two floors, additional to the ground floor, as well as basements and
attics, which decrease the amount of structures annexed to the main building, unlike what
happened in Temuco. Therefore, this causes a less percentage of building cover, and more
available space for vegetation.
A B
A
C D
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Most houses have an open front garden, without separations of the property; in some cases there
are fences delimiting the property, but that is unusual. In most of the cases there were trees,
bushes, and flowers on the exterior, either in the public or the private space, and in many houses
the vegetation was so dense in the front that covered the houses.
Figure 14. Sunnyside. SE 36th Ave (left), SE Salmon (right) (Source: Google Map)
General analysis
There are significant differences in the variables Green Areas and in Private Green cover
between Sunnyside and Villa Cautín 2. The former has around 7.986m2 green areas more than
the latter. In specific, it has 4.284m2 more green areas in private spaces than Temuco. Even
when there is not difference between the values, Portland still exceeds Temuco in around
3.702m2 in public green cover (Table N°2).
Temuco has 11 more houses than Portland on plots that are 25m2 smaller on average, with less
space available within the properties. Portland, in the other hand, has houses that cover the plots
in an average of 136m2, but with plots that vary between 200 to 600m
2, instead Temuco has
houses that cover 121m2 of plots with 200m
2.
That difference reflects the higher density of Villa Cautín 2, because it just has 4.560 m2 of
space without construction within the properties, when Portland has around 10.269 m2,
exceeding in more than the double the area without buildings.
Table 2. Physical information of Villa Cautín 2 and Sunnyside
Physical Information Villa Cautín 2 (n=4) Sunnyside (n=4)
Number of houses 68 a 57 a
Blocks (m2) 19.028 a 22.882 a
Built (m2) 8.240 a 7.731 a
Property (m2) 12.800 a 18.000 a
Pathways (m2) 981 -
Public green (m2) 785 a 4.501 a
Private green (m2) 1.470 a 5.754 b
Green cover (m2) 2.256 a 10.255 b
Available space (m2) 5.247 -
Different letters indicate significant differences (p<0,05)
38
If Block E is included in the amount of green areas, then the general and public green cover
increase just in 13m2, and the total available space sum up to 5.615m
2. In the case that Portland
had the same block area than Villa Cautín 2 (19.772m2, which includes block E) and if it keeps,
as well, the same percentage of green areas, then Temuco would need 6.592m2 to reach the
same amount of green cover in the same space than Sunnyside. But it still the available space in
Villa Cautín 2 is insufficient to cover that quantity.
5.3. Analysis of Patch, Corridors and Networks
5.3.1. Patch
Almost every house in Villa Cautín 2 has front gardens, with variations in the quantity and
density of them. The visible gardens are characterized for having flowers and small size plants
with some trees of low height. There are not public gardens, with the exception of the vegetation
presents in Block E, but still that is insufficient. Gardens in the back yard are hidden from the
outside, due to the fences and construction. The visible vegetation corresponds to trees and
some small gardens with plants and vegetables. There are 2 cases where the public space in
front of the houses is highly used with vegetation, in Block C and D, creating small patches. In
the other cases, the patches are small and scarce (Fig.15).
Figure 15. Public green areas in Villa Cautín 2
On the other hand, Portland presents visible front and back gardens with many species in
different sizes. Some front yards are covered by trees and bushes which canopies cover the
streets and the pathways. The patches are big, numerous, and correspond to not just trees, but
shrubs as well (Fig.16).
39
Figure 16. Public green areas in Sunnyside
5.3.2. Corridors
Villa Cautín 2 lacks green areas in the roadside or walkways (Fig. 17). It has green areas on the
ground level, with natural grass that is maintained cut in some houses. In other cases, these
spaces are covered with stone or paved to avoid dust in summer and mud in winter. It has few
shrubs in some areas of the neighborhood. And they are scattered around the neighborhood
without connection between each other. Most of them are native species planted by the
population.
Figure 17. Private green areas in Villa Cautín 2
40
In the case of Sunnyside, it has a clear division of the levels (Fig. 18). Natural grass covers the
ground level, with short and long grass in the public area beside the roadside and walkways,
together with small plants and flowers. Bushes complete the second level, with low and medium
size vegetation in front of the houses as well as young trees. The last level, the aerial, is fulfilled
by the trees that grows in different height and sizes alongside the roads, with some even
covering the streets and residential areas. It is unknown if the trees are privately or publicly
owned.
Figure 18. Private green areas in Sunnyside
5.3.3. Networks structure
The network structure in Villa Cautín 2 is scattered and unconnected (Fig. 19). The inside and
outside areas are almost disconnected between each other or between them, unless in some few
cases, such as Block C or D. The trees located in the properties, which are the biggest structure
with wider canopies and cover in the neighborhood, are disconnected and just cover a small part
of the plots. The public area is similar to the private, with bad connections and not transitions
between the green areas from the outside and inside.
At difference, in Sunnyside there is a connection between the green covers inside and outside of
the properties (Fig. 20). The public and private spaces are connected by green networks, mostly
by trees, which presents big canopy, but as well include shrubs of different sizes. There are less
free spaces than in Villa Cautín 2, and those areas are mostly covered by grass, which create
another type of network at the ground level.
41
Figure 19. Green areas in Villa Cautín 2
Figure 20. Green areas in Sunnyside
42
5.4. Biophilic Conditions and Infrastructures
5.4.1. Quantity of green spaces
There are 32 trees planted in the public area in Villa Cautín 2. The Block C and Block A have
the highest number of trees in the neighborhood, with 15 and 7 respectively, since Los Sauces
and Vicencia 1 streets, which are along the Blocks, have the higher presence of trees in the
public spaces. On the other hand, in Manuel Recabarren and Vicencia 2 streets trees are absent.
The amount of bushes is lower than trees, with 29 elements scattered between the areas, and the
Block D has the highest number of shrubs, due to the one of the houses that has 16 bushes in the
front.
On the contrary, Portland has near 81 trees in the public areas, divided between a great amount
of young and few old trees. The Block A has the highest amount of trees, with 28, followed by
Block B with 22. Also, SE Main has the highest number of trees; in contrast of SE Taylor that
has the lowest amount. There is a high quantity of small bushes planted in the public areas that
were not counted, because several were blocked by cars parked on the street.
In Sunnyside all the houses have one park within 300m and 500m, meanwhile 4 parks or green
areas are within 1000km, but no parks were found within 100m (Table N°3). Villa Cautín, on
the other hand, lacks big parks, the nearest big green area corresponds to a cemetery that
provides a big forest mass. As well as Sunnyside, it has no parks within 100m, but all the houses
have 3 parks within 300m and the river is within 500m of all the residences. Even, some houses
can access to a park that is located towards the center of the city that is within 1.000m.
In Villa Cautín 2, even when the houses have access to small parks located along Caupolicán
Street, those parks are just grass, some trees and with constant noise, because it is along a
highway. The area of the river, near to the houses, is undeveloped, and the other side of the river,
which has more nature and better condition, is across the highway with access high car traffic
and lack of crosswalks. In comparison, Temuco has access to smaller parks, with fewer facilities
than Portland and located in a less advantageous area, such as along a highway. But it has the
river within 1km, even when the current condition of the river is poor and unsafe.
Table 3. Indicators of green areas and housing
Indicators Villa Cautín 2 (n=4) Sunnyside (n=4)
Number of park or green spaces within 1000
meters of a house (PH)
5 4
Number of green urban features (trees, bushes) 61 81
Percentage of green areas (PTG) 11,5 a 45,1 b
Percentage of private green areas (PPG) 7,8 a 25,9 b
Percentage of public green areas (PUG) 3,5 a 19,2 b
Percentage of available space (PAS) 26,4 -
Percentage houses in block (PHB) 43,2 a 33,5 a
Percentage houses in plot (PHP) 64,4 a 42,7 b
Different letters indicate significant differences (p<0,05)
43
There are statistic differences in almost all the indicators of green areas and housing, with the
exception of the PHB (Table N°3). The PHB is not significantly different in this case
considering that the size of block is similar in the both neighborhoods.
Sunnyside has a higher percentage of green areas than Villa Cautín 2 in all the variables,
including both, private and public. The difference, in this case, varies from 15,7% in public area
to 18,1% in the private green. A 26,4% of public space in the block is available to use with
green areas in Temuco. Although, there is not quantification of the space inside the private lands,
because that area depends on the population decisions and is going to be unplanned during this
study.
5.4.2. Quality of green spaces
Physical state of the green structures
Villa Cautín 2 and Sunnyside show old trees without apparent infections or damage in trunks,
branches or leaves. In comparison, Temuco has trees with smaller canopies, even when the
individuals look old, using as a reference the size of their trunks. In some areas of the
neighborhood, there were recently planted trees that are supported by a wood structure to keep
them straight, at difference with Portland, where the new trees are growing straight without any
support. The shrubs are pruned to give them shape and control their growth, especially the one
located in the fences of the properties. In both neighborhoods the grass was green, due to the
season; in some areas the length was longer than in others.
Diversity of the species in the area
The tree species identified in the Villa Cautín 2 were Prunus cerasifera Ehrh., Drimys winteri
J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., Acacia melanoxylon R.Br, Betula pendula Roth., Luma apiculata (DC.)
Burret, Robinia pseudoacacia L., Magnolia grandiflora L., Prunus spp., Quercus spp, Populus
spp., N. obliqua, A. araucana, Q. saponaria, and M. boaria.
The shrubs species identified were Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunb.) Ser, Ligustrum lucidum
W.T. Aiton, Ficus spp., Rhododendron spp., Camellia spp, and Rosa spp.
Some of the plants identified were Aloe vera (L.) Bum.f., Ruta graveolens L., Zantedeschia
aethiopica (L.) Spreng, and Lavandula spp.
The native species were located in public and private areas, when some fruit trees were just
located in the properties.
The species were not identified in Sunnyside, because there was not fieldwork in this
neighborhood, and the recognition of species by using Google Map or Earth is imprecise, even
though species like B. pendula, H. macrophylla, Pinus spp, Quercus spp and dry species were
observed growing in the streets.
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Levels and types of green areas
Villa Cautín 2 and Sunnyside present grass, flowers, shrubs, and trees in all the blocks, with
evergreen and deciduous species. The difference between both neighborhoods is in the size of
the vegetation and extension in lengths and width, in which case Portland is superior to Temuco.
Sunnyside has big trees with wide canopies that connect and cover other vegetation, such as
bushes and flowers. In the case where houses covered the entrance with pavement, the inside of
the properties has pots with plants, fences with shrubs or wide vegetation. In many cases the
density of the vegetation blocked the view of the inside of the properties. In addition, there are
not visual green roofs or agricultural land, with the exception of some very small gardens inside
of the properties.
5.5. Biophilic Activities
There are some sustainable initiatives developed by the municipality and by the residents. In the
case of the municipality, due to a governmental project to have a tree per resident in Chile
(around 17 million), they give native trees to the population to plant them in their neighborhood
or lands. This is done as a community activity, where trees are planted in certain days or by the
individual citizens, in where they receive the trees through the neighborhood council. This last
happened in the case of two interviewees that received trees.
Individual initiatives, without the municipality support, include university groups, private
organizations or citizens’ movements. In the case of the first, Gringo, it is a group formed by
university students that promotes sustainable ideas to the university community. It works with
ideas and proposals created by them with the intention to educate both their fellow student and
the neighbors. Their workshops and seminars gather more than 30 members every time.
In the case of the private initiative, Sociedad Amigo del Árbol was created in 1938 with the idea
of protecting Ñielol Hill. It has activities to increase tree cover in that place, as well as in other
areas of the city. The initiative has protected the natural qualities of Ñielol Hill and its native
flora and fauna.
In relation with citizens’ participation, Huerto Educativo “La Minga” (Educative Garden “La
Minga”) started as a private initiative a year ago using a small plot in the neighborhood to plant
vegetables. Since then, they have received training in organic agriculture, and now 3 people are
in charge of the garden, after most of the participants gave up at the beginning. They use their
own money to buy uncommon seeds in local free markets, and use water provided by a neighbor.
They had educative days in where they taught kids about different vegetables, incentivizing
them to keep some seedbeds until the plants were big enough to be replanted, which was
successful.
There are a few open areas for sport and recreation. One of the places commonly used is Ñielol
Hill that requires payment to ingress, but it is free for sport, running or trekking during the early
mornings during the weekdays. Even though some of the interviewees do not frequent it, but
they consider it as a tourist point for recreation.
45
According to what was seen during the fieldwork, there are cycle paths in some areas of the city
that have been implemented recently (Fig. N°20), but they are not located in the streets that
have more bike transit. Many university students were seen using bikes to travel around the city
to the universities using the roads or the walkways, due to the lack of implementation.
Figure 21. Cycle path near university, Temuco
5.6. Biophilic Attitude and Knowledge
5.6.1. People’s perception of green areas
The interviews in Temuco showed that people feel that the amount of green areas is insufficient.
They need more green spaces as trees or parks. This may not reflect the vision of all the
population, because the people interviewed are involved in planning or sustainable activities.
Observatorio Urbano resumed the perception of the inhabitants about green areas and grade of
interest in the urban attractions (Table N°4). According to this, a 74% of the population thinks
that the lack of green areas is of importance, which is consistent with the responses of the
interviewees.
In relation to the distances by foot of different installations, people feel that parks, squares, and
the social centers and places for community gathering are nearer to their home (70,2% and
67,0% respectively) than the places to practice sports (49,6%). Even when they think that the
park are near, a 58,0% do not use the parks and squares presents in the commune, which reflect
a low interest of the population in these structures easily reachable by foot.
There is low understanding and interest in topics related to the commune urban improvement,
just a 27,3% in the former and 33,5% in the latter. Even though, a 84,9% of the people feel
satisfied about the commune, and a 61,5% about the public spaces without participating in the
decision made for its improvement.
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Table 4. People’s perception of green spaces and neighborhood in Temuco
Indicators Percentage
Lack of green areas. Level of importance 74,0
Distance to parks and squares. Perception of proximity by foot from
home.
70,2
Distance to places to practice sports. Perception of proximity by foot
from home.
49,6
Distance to social centers and places for community gathering.
Perception of proximity by foot from home.
67,0
Grade of understanding about topics related to the commune urban
improvement
27,3
Grade of interest in topics related to the commune urban improvement 33,5
People that do not use parks and squares in the commune 58,0
Satisfaction about the public space in the commune 61,5
Satisfaction about the commune 84,9
Source: www.observatoriourbano.cl. Information gathered from: Instituto Nacional de
Estadísticas (INE). Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo (MINVU). Encuesta de Percepción de
Calidad de Vida Urbana. Datos disponibles para 103 comunas (2007). Adimark Gfk. Ministerio
de Vivienda y Urbanismo (MINVU). Encuesta de Percepción de Calidad de Vida Urbana 2010.
Datos disponibles para 103 comunas (2010).
5.7. Biophilic Institutions and Governance
The municipality of Temuco is interested in increasing the green areas of the city, especially the
Mayor has pointed out this as one of the objectives of his period.
The planning team has come out with some initiatives to meet this goal. The municipality has
planned a project to create an Urban Park in the city located in Isla del Cautín, with the
objective of incorporating to the city an urban area that currently is in disuse, and in this way,
satisfy the requirements of the citizens for recreational spaces with green areas. This park will
be connected to the Cautín River with pedestrian circuits and cycle paths.
Other plans are to enhance the current green areas in a green network, improve and increase the
green structures in public and private areas, improve and replace the urban forest in the streets
and parks with native vegetation, and to enhance the construction of green area with the people’
participation to improve neighborhoods and sectors.
The municipality has developed projects to recover public spaces that were being used as
landfill to transform them in green areas for the community, together with the establishment of
sport facilities in currently parks and squares.
There is a national level program called Program for Neighborhoods Recovering (Programa
Recuperación de Barrios) which intended to contribute to the improvement in the quality of life
of the inhabitants of the neighborhood that present problems with urban damage, segregation
and social vulnerability, generating processes of participation to recover the urban spaces for the
families.
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6. Design
6.1. Activities to increase green areas
Villa Cautín 2 has around 5.615m2 (Table N°5) of public space that could be used for green
areas (including Block E); this is 976m2 behind the amount that is needed to reach a level of
green areas similar to the Biophilic city, Portland (6.591m2). An option is to integrate the
available space of the private properties, but this is not part of the study.
Table 5. Green spaces in the blocks in Temuco
Indicators Blocks
A B C D E
Public green (m2) 113 101 439 132 13
Private green (m2) 280 148 519 523 0
Available space
(m2)
1297 932 1387 1631 368
In order to integrate the population in the future plans, the municipality needs to give them
space to decide about the changes in their neighborhood. The residents should be the main
designers of structures they will use constantly, for this reason, it is necessary to arrange
interviews and meetings to clarify questions and receive commentaries.
The municipality, external groups, or whoever takes the lead, needs to encourage the residents
to participate actively in these instances, making them aware that their opinion about the green
areas is important. Also, motivate them to do the same in their private properties, teaching them
about the relevance of the green areas for the environment.
In the case that the activities are part of a municipality project, the plants and tree species can be
donated by them. On the other hand, for the private area, the species could be donated or
subsidized by the municipality or external groups. It is necessary to consider that this is a
middle-low income neighborhood, where not all population is motivated to have a garden or
protect the shared green areas. If the municipality donates vegetation or fertilizers, then the
residents could recognize the motivation from the authorities, and maybe they will cooperate
easily in further activities.
The activities of planting trees will require the presence of the neighbors. These actions will
make them aware of the importance of the vegetation that was planted by them. Also, if these
activities are accompanied by workshops, after the plantation session, it will provide them the
basic maintenance rules for the vegetation. Even when this is irrelevant for some of them, it is a
form to generate bonds between the neighbors, reinforce their concern with the new areas, and
spend time outdoors interacting directly with nature.
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6.2. Plan at Street level
The plan at street level shows the possible alternative to implement according to the different
type of street in the neighborhood. The size and position of the street require the implementation
different ideas for green areas. Meanwhile, Group N°1 (Avenida Manuel Recabarren) is a big
avenue in where the big trees are not allowed, Group N°2 (Los Sauces y Capri) include main
streets with regular transit and big green areas available to use. Also, Group N°3 and N°4 have
inner streets with low transit, reduced available space, and area enough to plant bigger trees.
The natural grass should be maintained in the areas in where this growth well. In the areas
where the grass is missing, due to the intense use, Festuca rubra L. or F. arundinacea Schreb.
with Trifolium repens Walter should be used to replace the patches. These species have
excellent adaptation to the shadow, and good tolerance to the hot and droughts, especially in the
cold weather. The sowing should be done in either, autumn or spring. In autumn the grass grows
slower than spring, but it has less competitiveness with brush. In both cases, the grass must be
watered in the summer, and kept cut during the whole year. If the plantation is with seeds, 1 kg
should be used for 20 to 25 m2.
In Group N°2, where there are wide spaces without grass, the use of layers of soil with grass
could be preferred to the seeds, because requires less maintenance at the beginning and shows
immediate results.
Trees will be planted in the road verges, together with shrubs and plants. They need to be
healthy, have strong trunks, wide root system, with leaves free of illness, and present a nice
color. Pots will be used to hang plants from the fences in places where road verges are inexistent
or were covered with pavement. The pots need to be of thick plastic to support the weight, and
larger than wider.
6.2.1. Group N°1
This street lacks trees or shrubs in the public area. But some houses have gardens in the front
yard, even when the space for that is around 2m. The public space is reduced to road verges of
0,5m and 2m per side of the sidewalk, which impede the establishment of trees or big shrubs,
because this corresponds to an avenue and the vision need to be clear, without trees blocking the
view of the drivers.
Figure 22. Current State of the streets on Group N°1
49
In this case, the main actions are to plant small size shrubs or plants in the road verge nearest to
the streets, adding small plants with flowers in between. The size of the vegetation will keep the
area with open and free of visual obstacles for the drivers.
On the other hand, pots with flowers, herbs, and medicinal plants will be hanged on the fences.
Due to the size restriction of the vegetation in the public area, residents will be incentivized to
plant trees and shrubs inside their properties, using the front. In the case that the houses whose
front is built or covered, pots with plans will be preferred. These have to be narrow enough to
let the pedestrian walk without risk. Another option is to plant shrubs in the fences with the
specie more commonly used for that, L. lucidum.
Figure 23. Potential state of the streets on Group N°1
6.2.2. Group N°2
This group includes the streets with the wider spaces. Los Sauces has road verges in each side of
the sidewalk, the one on the left goes from 1,3m to 6,4m in the north; meanwhile the right side
keeps 4,2m constant along the street. This area already presents big trees, especially in the
Block C and part of the Block B, where trees and shrubs were recently planted. There are not
houses with a front yard on Block C, and those depend solely in the public areas.
Figure 24. Current state of Los Sauces street on Groups N°2
50
The idea for this street is to increase the number of trees on each side of the sidewalk. The right
side has enough space to have trees with big canopy, and small shrubs right beside the trees or
in between. On the other side, the left road verge will have small size trees and shrubs in the
areas that are not covered by pavement in the Block B. Meanwhile, in the Block C, bigger trees
and shrubs will be added to the existing vegetation. The grass should be maintained short. As
well in the other street, vegetation will be incentivized in the houses that lack of it.
Figure 25. Potential state of the Los Sauces street on Group N°2
Capri is the other street with wide space for vegetation. It is the only one recognized as a green
area by the municipality beside Block E. It keeps the same distance with around 17m of free
space between sidewalk and street. It has some trees near the sidewalk and some shrubs
scattered around. Just one of the houses uses the front space with many trees and shrubs, the rest
uses it as a parking lot for cars, for this situation, the grass disappeared in some sectors.
Figure 26. Current state of Capri Street on Groups N°2
This street gives the possibility to have big trees in the area nearest to the houses, which will
shadow the pedestrian and the houses. Small trees or higher shrubs can follow the trees to create
a network of green. At the bottom, shrubs of different sizes and flowers can be organized to
form a small park. A part of the space near the street can be used as parking lot due to the need
of the residents to keep their cars outside of their property. The canopy of both, trees and shrubs
need to be high and clean, so the parking lot can be seen from inside the houses.
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Figure 27. Potential state of Capri Street on Groups N°2
6.2.3. Group N°3
This street lacks trees or bushes on the left side and it just has one tree and one shrub on the
right side of the street. Both sides have the same lengths in road verges and sidewalks. As
opposed to the other groups, in this case, the left side of Asinara Street faces the side of the
properties, and the only house that has a front yard, it is covered with a high fence obtruding the
view. The soil is not covered by pavement in either of the sides, which increase the area of grass
in the street.
Figure 28. Current state of Asinara Street on Groups N°3
In this case, the number of trees will be increased and, because on the left side of Asinara has
not front gardens, it allows adding trees in a closer distance. Small plants will be planted in the
area surrounding the trees, and shrubs and flowers will be planted near the properties’ fences, to
facilitate the parking of cars on the sidewalk. The grass will be maintained, and because of the
absence of pavement covering the soil, there are not plants hanging on fences, unless they are
required by the residents.
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Figure 29. Potential state of Asinara Street on Groups N°3
6.2.4. Group N°4
This group includes 4 streets that share the same structure, but with different length of the road
verges. The sidewalks are absent, because the street is used for the transit of the pedestrian. It is
an inside street with low car transit, just for the residents. Perusa has 3m and 2m per side, some
areas are covered with pavement and the number of trees or shrubs is scarce. Vicencia 1 has 3m
and 4m, one side of the sidewalk does not have trees or shrubs, and the other has half the area
covered in pavement with few trees. Vicencia 2 has 3m and 2m, with some random places with
pavement and not trees in the public area. Meanwhile Falcone, the last street in this group, is the
wider with 5m and 6m of road edges, is not covered and has bigger trees than the others. The
front yard in all the streets varies between 2m to 3,5m, with some of them covered by pavement
or an extension of the main house.
Figure 30. Current state of the streets on Group N°4
Due to the similarity in the structures, the main objective here is to increase the number of trees
in all the streets. Wider streets can maintain bigger trees with a big tree canopy, and the contrary
happens in narrow road verges. To keep the parking of cars on the outside of the houses, it is
recommended to add small shrubs and vegetation near the fences, as well as pots with plants.
This is especially significant for the spaces where pavement is covering the soil in the public
areas. In a way to maintain the idea of greenery in the streets, small plants can be added to the
bottom of the trees, forming 2 visual layers and networks between the structures. In all the areas
where the soil is still open, they have to be maintained the grass cut.
53
Figure 31. Future state of the streets on Group N°4
6.3. Plan for Neighborhood
The planning for the neighborhood will vary according to the blocks. Blocks A, B, C and D
have more space for green areas in one of their sides. The activities are focused to improve the
existing green spaces and connect the new areas. In spite of the Block E is not a residential, but
a playground, in here the focus is in the structures already established with new green elements
in the space that is available.
In the private areas the activities are aimed to plant trees in the borders of the plots, trying to
avoid the reduction of space in the back yard, because they already have a limited free space. In
the public areas the focus is to use the public space without interfering with the residents’
behavior, like parking in the streets.
This considers the residents’ participation in increasing the amount of plants and shrubs inside
of their front yard and trees in either backyard or front yard.
It is necessary to have some criteria in the election of the species. In the case of the trees, these
need to have roots that do not lift the sidewalk, the canopy need to have a good shape and size
that grows at least at 2 m so they do not disturb the pedestrian. The trees should not overcome
the power lines in the streets or be planted in small spaces. Trees will not be planted in the space
between the line of the houses and the sidewalk, because the trees are not able to develop.
The species considered to be planted in the neighborhood are native species that are adapted to
the climate, amount of precipitation and exposition of the area. In the trees of big size are,
Podocarpus saligna D. Don, Prumnopitys andina Poepp. ex Endl., Saxogothaea conspicua Lind,
Q. saponaria, P. boldus, N. obliqua¸ N. alpina and N. dombeyi.
In the trees of lower size are Eucryphia cordifolia Cav., Embothrium coccineum J.R. Forst et G.
Forst, Laurelia sempervirens R. et P. Tul., Gevuina avellana Mol., and D. winteri.
In shrubs that are big size Luma chequen (Mol.) A. Gray, Azara serrata Ruiz & Pav, Sophora
macrocarpa J.E. Sm, and L. apiculata,
Shrubs of smaller size are not native species such as Camellia spp, Azara spp, Daphne spp, H.
macrophylla.
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6.3.1. Future scenario: Public Areas.
Using as a reference the plan for green areas at the streets, the increment is about 2.384m2 in the
public areas. The scenario considers some free space for parking on Capri Street in the west,
keeping the parking that is already there. The green patches try to show the ideas of the street
plan, but it does not consider the plants or the pots hanging on fences, due to the small size of
those elements are difficult to reflect on the map (Fig. N°23). It is possible to consider that more
green cover can be used in the area, and trees with a bigger canopy can be planted. If the private
areas are considered, then more patches and connection can be made between the outside and
inside part of the residences. At least the public areas seem connected and the patches are
following some structure, unlike the actual situation.
Figure 32. Future state of the green areas in Villa Cautín 2
Figure 33. Future scenario, Vicencia 1 and Falcone
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7. Discussion
7.1. Physical information
The neighborhood in Temuco was a land taken by the current inhabitant around 30 years ago.
They are, in general, older people that maintain gardens for recreation in the front yard or in the
backyard, but have insufficient space to develop their activities; this situation is common in
many sectors of the country, especially in low income urban areas.
As the residents received a standard size house in a plot of 200m2 that is insufficient for their
needs, they built extensions to the main structure, which in some cases, covers the whole plot
leaving a small space in the front for gardening. This is particularly relevant as the population
finds easiest to increase in size horizontally than vertically, as it is seen in Portland, where
houses have 2 or 3 floors, plus basement.
In fact, the construction pattern is motivated by two main issues. First, the main structure of the
building offers a weak support to maintain another floor, and, also, the installation of stairs take
space of the already small house. And second, due to the socioeconomic motives, it is easier to
build in parts. The annexes are added individually when the owners have the funding to finance
the material and construction. Therefore, building horizontally allows them to fully finish one
structure, before continuing with another.
Portland shows a way to keep free space in the private properties and neighborhoods. In fact,
Sunnyside reveals that the problem in here is not the amount of houses in the city blocks, rather
the use of them in the area. Therefore, more space could be released in the plots with the
inclusion of a policy that encourage building vertically. This free space could be used for both,
parking of cars and leaving the public area free to plant vegetation, or leave it to have more
space to increase the green areas inside the property. Actually, this is one of the focuses of
Biophilic cities, where people can enjoy having more green areas in their surroundings, which
refers to their properties and the public spaces. If they have no space for nature in their
properties, more difficult is to motivate them to protect and increase the nature in their lives.
The lack of space within the properties, due to constructions, makes the inhabitants to use the
public space in front of the houses as parking for their cars. This causes a limitation in the use of
the front, because not shrubs or trees can be planted if the space is constantly used by cars.
Moreover, people tend to cover the soil with pavement or stones, as it was seen in 19 cases in
the neighborhood, showing that the maintenance of green areas is less important than to have a
place to park the cars or to increase the size of the houses. In this situation, to leave space for
green areas is seen as a luxury when there are other needs.
The houses in Villa Cautín 2 have a smaller basal area than Sunnyside. It has houses that cover
more space in the plots, with just small patches without buildings that is not covered by green
either. In contrast, Portland has more than the double of the area without construction, and the
available space is covered by grass or trees.
In the situation that Portland had the same area than Temuco, and kept the same percentage of
green areas, then 6.592m2 are needed to reach a similar amount than Portland. The problem is
56
that the available space in Villa Cautín 2 is insufficient to cover that number, since it lacks
around 977m2 of space. This hinders the aim unless private space is used in the equation, but
that requires the consent of the community. Therefore, this becomes a unpredictable variable,
because private property requires the permission of the owners to use the land, and, in the case
that they give consent, it is still doubtful if they will willingly allow to have trees or plants
covering the small free space within their properties or if they will prefer different use.
Villa Cautín 2 has less green areas than Sunnyside. In the private areas, the former has near half
the amount of the latter and all of it has been planted by the residents. Even the public
vegetation has been planted by the population, although with some plants donated by the
municipality. In fact, the population lacks the interested in buying and planting trees voluntarily
without help from the authorities or organisms. They are only capable to keep plants and
flowers in the front yard, when keeping some trees in the backyard. This could be related to
Portland having more space to maintain big trees without covering the available space or
producing excessive shadows in the residences.
Even if the municipality is the one responsible to take care of the green areas, they lack the
initiative to encourage the population to have more concern about green areas, and to care about
the public vegetation. Indeed, they are giving trees to plant in the residences or public areas, but
just because they are following a national project to reach near 17 million within the following
years, and not by their initiative. Their control finishes when the trees are donated to the
population, and then, starts the responsibility of the inhabitants. It is here that another problem
arises, when people do not plant the species or cares about them, causing their death, because
the lack of water or the destruction of the trunks.
The actions mentioned before reflect that the lack of concern and participation is an issue in
both, municipality and population. It is necessary that the authorities integrate the population in
their plans or action; they need to be part of the creation of nature in the city. As Beatley (2011)
shows information and participation are just a part of to integrate nature to the population,
showing them that nature is an everyday long term activity and not just a way to have a short
term result.
Visually, there is a clear difference in the density of vegetation between the neighborhoods.
Sunnyside presents a denser and more connected green area, without fences in the properties
that limit the landscape. On the other hand, Villa Cautín 2 has fences in all the front yards and
the green areas are gardens with several types of flowers, plants and shrubs, in some cases. Also,
the space makes another clear difference; Portland offers wide and ample front gardens with
various levels of structures, plants, shrubs and trees. Instead, Villa Cautín 2, just has small
vegetation inside the properties and trees in outside. The lack of layers is enhanced due to the
missing connection between the inside and outside of the properties, and the canopy trees are
not connected as in Portland, on the contrary, they are scattered and disorganized in small
patches around the properties.
Villa Cautín 2 has the space to implement green structures, especially in Capri and Los Sauces
streets, both of them with wide berms that have been left to the community to decide for the
future. Just the side of Capri is considered as a green area by the municipality, but any work has
been done there. This shows that the municipality’s plans tend to be for bigger projects than
small scale areas that affect just a portion of the community. The only option to have green
57
structures provided by the municipality is by requirement of the neighborhood’s president, but
takes months before receiving responses.
There are inconsistencies between what is in the legislation, what is planned and what is done.
In one hand, the legislation leaves all the responsibility and management of the green areas to
the municipality, without any intervention of the community. At the same time, the municipality
lack specific ordinances or designs for the green areas around the city, or even in small spaces
like this neighborhood. Due to the lack of attention in the available spaces, two things occur;
people ignore the spaces and starts giving them other uses, such as parking or garbage lots,
becoming a bother to the community. Or, on the other hand, people appropriate these spaces,
plant vegetation, and design the space. However, their actions are contrary to what the
legislation stipulated, becoming transgressors by doing illegal practices of greening their
neighborhood, because they are managing public spaces that belong to everyone. Then, people
have to face areas that the municipality is not managing and the population is not allowed to use,
which causes insecurity and affect the general aspect of the places.
7.2. Qualitative and quantitative information
Villa Cautín 2 has a lower quantity of green spaces in both, public and private spaces when is
compared with Sunnyside. This is not just reflected in the public spaces, which are the
responsibility of the municipalities, but in the private green areas that are developed by the
residents; this has relation with the willingness of the inhabitants to live in a neighborhood with
more nature. Troy, et al. (2007) indicates that lower income residents are likely to live in older
neighborhoods characterized by smaller houses, and hence higher densities, which is the
situation of Villa Cautín 2, where the houses cover around 64% of the plots.
Many authors, and even the city of Portland, recommend parks or green areas to be within 15
minutes walking in where the population can reach easily independent of where they are living.
Sunnyside has 4 parks within 1km, when Villa Cautín 2 has 5; the main differences are in the
extension of the area and the facilities that are provided by the places. Meanwhile, Portland
parks are reachable by bike or car due to the location, Temuco presents more problems due to
the street infrastructure. Cities should have an infrastructure that facilitates the movement of the
residents to the green areas that are easily reachable by foot or bike. Especially in the case of the
river in Villa Cautín 2, this is across a highway, and the place is considered unsafe and dirty by
the population. Green areas need to be safe and well conserved to attract the residents to visit
and stay; for that reason, the municipality of Temuco is developing a project to recover the river.
The number of trees in the public areas presented in Villa Cautín 2 is lower than in Sunnyside,
and the distance between each is shorter. In both cases there are young and old trees, evidenced
by the short height and small canopy. The number of trees and bushes is still small in Temuco,
as they are planted in some houses’ fronts and not surrounded by other vegetation as is the case
of Portland. More nature in the neighborhood such as trees or shrubs increases the chances to
attract birds and insects; more flowers attract butterflies and small birds that are not seen in the
cities. More shadows in the fronts could attract the older population to spend time in the
outdoors, sitting under the shadows of trees that is a common practice in cities. As it mentioned
by Beatley (2011) more contact with nature makes healthier and productive individuals.
58
Temuco has a variety of native and exotic species in the neighborhood, although most of them
are planted in the public areas, and fruit trees are planted in the front yard of the residences.
Temuco’s climate and location allow the establishment of native trees. The preference of those
over exotic trees is because they are better adapted to the location, are more resistant to sanitary
problems and more attraction to fauna, as well as it is one of the characteristic of the biophilia of
the cities. In the case of the front yards, residents opt for exotic plants and flowers; because
these are easily found in supermarkets or traded between relatives or neighbors.
Troy, et al., (2007) mentions that there are social theories that predict vegetative coverage on
private urban lands. Within those, social stratification theory is the one that explains the lack of
infrastructures and private investment in the green areas. This theory predicts vegetative
patterns based on relative power and income differences amount neighborhoods. Villa Cautín 2
is neglected by the municipality and by its own residents. It is a lower income area with
residents that disregard green spaces as a priority, as it was mentioned by the neighborhood’
president. Wealthier neighborhoods have space and money to spend on their properties and the
motivation to require to the municipality for more green areas in their surroundings to develop
their activities.
Another aspect is related to the lifestyle behavior, where the expenditure on environmentally
relevant goods and services are motivated by group identity and perceptions of social status
associated with different lifestyles (Troy, et al., 2007). Wealthier residents try to differentiate
from other groups by having prettier and well maintained gardens, and by hiring specialists to
design and care of their gardens. In their case, they try to have a well-developed green area in
their properties and, in fewer cases, to participate actively in them. It has a relation with their
awareness of the benefits of the green areas for the environment and human beings. As they are
more educated, they are more compromise with the nature requiring more spaces in the public
areas or developing them in the private spaces.
The community’ participation is restricted to comments about the planning instruments during
the first stages of development in the communal level. Individuals or university groups are the
most interested in green and sustainable activities. In the case of the individual interest, this is
due to personal motivations to have green spaces or develop alternative activities. An example
is the agriculture garden promoted by few neighbors, which started by their own interest and
continuous without external help. Another example is the residents that planted trees and
flowers in the public areas in front of their houses and maintain them as it were their own
property either for entertainment or to cover their houses from the public view. In the case of
university groups, it is common in studies related with nature that small groups decide to show
sustainable activities to the community.
Ceballos (1997) referred to the people’ participation mentioning that people from higher
socioeconomic levels have a scarce participation; meanwhile lower levels participate strongly,
because their sector is still in development and their neighborhood lack of good urban structure.
When this happens in sectors with active neighborhood councils that use all the projects and
activities to improve their area, it is not a repeated case in all the lower socioeconomic levels.
On the other hand, higher levels have other interests where they participate strongly. As they
have a well-established urban structure, they require from the municipality more green areas,
spaces in where develop physical activities, where to spend time with the families, and a
59
surrounding that complete their new needs. The lower levels require are for illumination, street
pavement, and playgrounds as they still are trying to reach a satisfactory level of well-being
with their surroundings. In the case of green areas, the participation is stronger at higher levels
that count with the interest as well as the knowledge to require more ecologic and sustainable
alternatives.
A similar situation happens with the planning activities, where people of higher socioeconomic
levels participate more intensively than lower levels. Even if the lower levels are informed
about the days of the assemblies or the presentation of the plans, they feel unqualified to
understand what is presented to them or afraid about expressing their opinion in front of others
or write to the Mayor. At the final, these instances ended with the participation of just a part of
the society, mostly well educated people with some special interest in the topics or the projects.
The population in Temuco is satisfied with how the municipality is managing the urban
improvement and the public spaces in the commune, even when they do not participate, do not
understand and are not interested in their work. Maybe, if the municipality uses a better
approach to integrate them to the conversation about urban improvement, they would participate
with new ideas, and that percentage of satisfaction will be related to projects that they had an
involvement. In that case, the results will show more accuracy in how the municipality is
dealing with the public spaces and how their overall work has been done.
7.3. Plan for green areas
The activities to implement in the area include to add grass in the neighborhood, due to the
adaptability of the current and to keep a responsible use of the water. Temuco has regular
precipitation during the year that allows maintaining the grass for long periods of time; even in
summer, when it usually dries because of the temperature, here it remains greener if it is well
watered. This saves money on maintenance and watering, both being scare resources in poorest
municipalities.
The use of compost in the neighborhood could be incentivized in the poorest areas, because it
helps them to create their own fertilizer, maintain the garden organic, and to reduce their waste
material.
In the planning of the street, for the Group N°4 it cannot be recommended a specific structure
for each street, because of the variable length of the berms. But, small trees can be used in
spaces bigger than 2m; and in the case of space of 6m, small shrubs and bigger trees can be
planted. The trees selected should have small canopy, columnar, ovoid or conic structure, less
than 8m in height, deciduous or evergreen, and resisting to contamination. Many streets in Chile
have trees that destroy the sidewalk due to exposed roots, trees that cause problems in spring
due to the pollen, and others that drops fruits on the sidewalk which dirty the place.
In avenues, trees are not recommended because cars need to have visibility of the road; hence
the road verge should have shrubs planted along the road. In streets with wide spaces in the
sides, trees of medium length with a canopy that generate generous shadows will be used to
create a space of rest and cover the houses in summer when is more needed.
60
The private properties are excluded within the plans, as any modification needs the agreement
of the owners. Instead of demanding the use of their available space for green areas, the
activities should aim to increase their willingness to have green areas in their properties. A way
is to plant vegetation in the public areas to create a concept of greener exteriors, which should
motivate them to replicate the same in their homes.
Many interviewees showed appreciation to use the spaces for more meaningful alternatives,
with agriculture gardens, fruit trees or medicinal plants. There are initiatives that incorporate
fruit trees and agricultural in the public spaces with very good results in Los Angeles, New
York, Boston, Canada, England, among others. These started as individual ideas that attracted
more participants with similar interests. In the case of Villa Cautín 2, the Block E or Capri
Street could have agriculture gardens with an emphasis in the elder people that need to have
recreation and interactions in open spaces. But to make this possible, the municipality needs to
support the use of spaces, because they are not zoned as a productive land.
The elements to plant in Villa Cautín 2 consist in grass, plants, shrubs and trees. Most of the
streets have natural grass that is kept green during the year, there are exceptions in where the
grass has to be replanted to protect the soil and avoid the generation of mold during winter. In
the streets, flowers and medicinal plants will be planted near fences, between trees and shrubs,
and in pots hanging from fences. This is a solution in the cases of residences that have
insufficient space in the front yard, where the front is covered with pavement, and where the
road verge is so narrow that more vegetation is needed to increase the green areas. With this
alternative, residents could maintain the pots on the fences without decreasing the space in their
properties, because even a small quantity of vegetation helps people to increase their concern
with the nature and deeper their bonds with the environment, as well as generate health benefits.
Additionally, bushes will be planted near fences or beside trees. The one located near the fences
should have small size to allow the parking of cars on the front of the properties. And the one
plant at the bottom of trees should be smaller to make space in those road verges that are narrow
or street that are highly covered by pavement. In this way, the connection between different
elements is reinforced, creating more networks in the neighborhood.
Finally, the trees to plant in the neighborhood correspond to native species of south of the
country that are familiar with the city’ conditions. Those should be planted in the public areas,
at short distance of each other in those streets without parking and in more separated where the
residents use the outside for parking. The size of the trees will vary according to the location,
preferring trees with wider and bigger canopies in more spacious road verges, and smaller trees
in smaller spaces. Trees in the backyard of the houses should be incentivized; because those
create a connection with the outside areas.
7.4. People’ perception
People’ perception of the green areas in Temuco has similar results with Donoso (2006) study in
in the commune of La Reina, Chile. The interviewees considered important 2 aspects, the
attractiveness and easiness of maintenance (effort in clean the vegetal residues such as seeds,
fruits or leaves) and the shadows. In La Reina, people indicated that fruit trees are a problem,
because stains in the sidewalk, and the trees destroyed by the walkers when trying to reach the
61
fruits. On the contrary, people in Temuco showed interest in having fruit trees and medicinal
plants in the neighborhood. In both cases, any problem could be mitigated if people care about
the vegetation, as Donoso (2006) pointed out. In both studies, indicated that people prefer to
have species that do not produce allergies.
All the interviewees showed concern about the amount of green areas in the city, but this could
be considered as biased answers, because most of them have some relation to sustainable topics.
However, people in Temuco consider that the lack of green areas is an important issue in
general. In the most central areas of the city, there are some trees along the streets and in front
gardens, but not shrubs or plants forming connections between the different elements.
In another aspect, the inhabitants are more satisfied with the proximity of parks and squares,
than with the distance of places to do sports or social centers. Even when Temuco has many
parks of small size easily reachable by foot, either because they are located in, or near to the
neighborhoods, their size and lack of connection make them inadequate for sports. Activities
such as running or cycling are done on the sidewalk or in the street, because there are not cycle
path on the main streets that can be used by the population. The better alternative to do sport is
Ñielol Hill, but it is still located far from the city center, and requires paying entrance during the
day. The advantage is that during the morning is free for people to enter and sport there.
7.5. Planning system in Chile
The presidents of the neighborhood councils are the main connection with the authorities, as
they transmit the needs and requirements of the community. As Mendes, et al. (2008) says, they
are the one in charge of taking the most appropriate decision for the community, when the
community is disinterested in expressing their opinion or participating. Particularly in Villa
Cautín 2, the president is unrelated with the planning of the area; in some cases, they are
informed of activities affecting the neighborhood, but infrequent. Her only direct intervention in
the planning was through the requirement to have children’s games in the available space in the
middle of the neighborhood that was a garbage lot.
In a more general aspect, Chile lacks specific legislation that defines green areas. The local
ordinances tend to clarify the uses of the green spaces and the elements, without specifying the
functions or the way to integrate them to the urban area.
In specific, the commune of Chillán has an Ordinance for green areas in where specifies that it
is prohibited building green areas in the road verges in front of the properties without a design
approved by the DCO. The city, as well, prohibits certain trees that cause allergic reactions and
health problems in the community, such as P. orientalis, Populus alba L., Populus deltoids
W.Bartram ex Marshall, and Populus nigra Mill. Of all the Ordinances reviewed during this
study, this is one that specifies clearly the scopes.
In Chile, the developers are taking the decisions related to urban planning. They are the main
force that moves the planning, because they are responsible for the housing, the amount and
location of green areas in the projects, and the location of the constructions. This happens
because the politics of land development are created at the national level, and they miss the
particularities of the lower levels, where the market forces work. In this case, as Villagrán and
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Qiu Sun (2013) mentioned, planning works as a regulatory instrument, and not as a land
management instrument that regulates when the projects are in development, or when they are
finished, but rarely before they start.
According to Wood and Valenzuela (2013), the design and adaptation of the planning
instruments are done with the needs and demands emerged by singular cases. The cities need to
set goals and establish visions before the implementation of the instrument, and the projects
should follow those directions, not the other way like it is now happening, where the
instruments are adapted to fix the projects to the law.
On the other hand, the use of old instruments of planning, along with a development oriented in
subsidies for the purchase of houses, has generated vulnerable neighborhoods, with high levels
of overcrowding, lack of access to public services and connectivity.
Other deficiencies of the planning system are in the exposition of the documents. During this
process, people have difficulties to understand the information exposed, especially with the
technical language, needing further explanation to understand the terminology and the future
vision of the commune. For this reason, an expert that could explain the information in simple
words to the visitors should be present during the period of exposition. On the other hand, the
requirement that the observation of the instrument have to be written and sent to the Mayor, it is
an inhibitor for many that would like to participate, but lack technical knowledge, or have
troubles to give a solid argument that could modify a disposition or propose a new alternative in
the design.
The process of approval of the instruments involves many organisms. At the regional level, the
members of different departments must review and comment the instruments, but as Ortuzar
(2010) says, they lack knowledge in planning and urbanism, and are not familiar with the
situation of the local levels. The problem arises, because they are obligated to express their
opinion even when they belong to other areas of expertise, do not understand the bigger picture
of the plans or comprehend the activities that are planned for the commune.
There are two aspects of the CRP that causes problems: firstly, the increasing costs and time of
development, and secondly, the bureaucratic process regarding approval. In terms of costs,
Zegras and Gakenheimer (2000) mention that they have escalated due to requirements that each
CRP has to be accompanied by an environmental impact study, a roadway impact study, and an
urban impact study. This new documentation added to the CRP causes an increase in the money
designated for the development of the project that could be used for other projects; in the case of
the poorer communes, they have to adapt their budget, and use more time for the preparation,
because they cannot hire external professionals.
The process of approval is complex and with the inclusion of many authorities that have
different point of views about the documents. The development of the instrument takes 12 to 18
months; the approval, on the other hand, could take, in average, 6 years. During that period, the
plan could be obsolete, and many of the development projects could occur in a state of
uncertainty (Zegras and Gakenheimer, 2000; Ortúzar, 2010). The approval of the CRP involves
organisms at different levels, such as commune’s Council, SEREMI-MINVU, the Regional
Government, and Comptroller. However, the role of some of them should be reduced or
63
eliminated to expedite the process. The revision of the SEREMI-MINVU or CONAMA could
be skipped and the CRP could be sent directly to the Regional Government to reduce the time.
Portland shows a more efficient system. The definition of the objectives on the development of
the cities is defined at State level and every county or city defines specific activities following
the general guide. And the approval of the documents stops at the state and never at national
level as in Chile. In this case, the instruments of planning should be sent to the Regional
Government as the last organism for the approval, avoiding higher levels, because the
documents will integrate already the national goals.
On another aspect, Portland incentivizes public participation; it has a Committee for Citizens
Involvement, which main objective is to make people participate in the plans, and METRO’s
members are publicly elected. A similar situation could happen in Temuco, as Ortúzar (2010)
mentions, the public should have the option of participating in the formulation of Objectives and
Goals to orientate the plan.
The great dynamism of the cities, together with lack of public participation in politics and the
time for the approval of the planning instruments, generates strong obstacles in the development
of the cities. It is difficult for them to work on documents that will be used in 6 years, when they
are finally approved. The difference between what was planned and the situation after the
approval makes the document inaccurate and almost useless.
7.6. Changes in planning
This study just considers a part of a neighborhood in a whole city, and it is probably that other
sectors of the city have more green areas that Villa Cautín 2. However, it is still the
responsibility of the municipality to provide access and spaces to enjoy green areas. At least, in
Temuco, the municipality considers them important, which it is demonstrated in their work for
recovering abandoned areas and transform them in spaces where families could visit.
Nonetheless, the neighborhoods and the gardens, where families reside should be considered in
the plans. Elements such as banks, grass, shadows, even silence can change a space and
transform it into something special for the people.
At the national level, the government should redesign process of approval of planning
instruments, and to write concrete documents about the urban green areas. There are many
documents that are related to planning, but more specific norms and laws could facilitate the
regulation of the planning in the country. Also, this could benefit those municipalities that have
insufficient expertise, lack professional or the budget to hire external services.
Urban green areas, in particular, need to have more legal documents, and specific normative that
guide the local municipalities in their plans for these areas focused in their particular geographic
and climatic conditions.
For Temuco to become a Biophilic City requires starting to think with nature in mind, and to
include the city in the nature. It is not just increase the amount of green area, even when is one
of the more evident consequences, but involves a change in the habits. It requires cooperation
64
from the government, through legislation and funding; from the municipality, with projects,
regulations and organizations; and from people, with more participation.
Temuco has potential to be a Biophilic city, but need more participation and involvement from
different areas. It has a river surrounding by native forest, it has a Natural Monument within the
urban area, it has several parks spread around the city, it has 7 universities where more
organizations can be created, it is already creating cycle paths and urban parks, and lately, there
is interest in sustainable areas.
This study shows an alternative in how the situation could be improved, how small changes can
be a form to start something different, and could be transformed into something at a bigger scale
in another neighborhood, but it requires the participation of all the actors.
65
8. Conclusion
The amount of public and private green areas, in Temuco is lower than in Portland. Villa Cautín
2 has 2.256m2 of green areas when Sunnyside has 10.255m
2. Specially, in regards of the private
areas, Portland has more available space in the plots, where people plant trees and other
vegetation. Meanwhile, in Temuco, people prefer the construction of rooms on available spaces.
In the public areas in Villa Cautín2, the residents plant trees and use the space for parking their
cars.
In specific, Villa Cautín 2 has 5.247m2 available in public areas and 5.615m
2 considering Block
E. In the situation Sunnyside has the same as size than Villa Cautín 2, then 6.592m2
could be
needed to reach an amount similar to Portland neighborhood. The available space is not enough
to cover that value.
Both neighborhoods present trees, shrubs and plants in different sizes and heights. The quality
of the green areas is good, the species are well preserved, and there is a preference for native
species trees in Villa Cautín 2. But the size of the canopy is smaller than in Portland, because
the trees are younger and some are pruned, to keep the canopy small and in control.
The green areas in both neighborhoods differentiate by the quantity and density of the elements.
When Villa Cautín 2 has more scattered and unconnected green areas, Portland has different
layers of green connected with each other inside and outside the properties.
Moreover, the planning instruments in Chile have many steps for the approval of the documents
and to pass through many government organisms that are unaware of the local situation, and
lack expertise in understanding planning instrument. Also, it takes around 6 years until the
documents are finally approved.
Green areas are still considered as a decorative part of the city, at least in the legislation, even
when other organisms recognize their ecological and environmental value. The municipality of
Temuco is trying to increase the green areas, and is developing green corridors to connect parks
and the Cautín River.
In addition, the population should be more involved in the planning of the city, through
information and meetings that explain the objectives and vision in understandable words.
Currently, people lack of motivation to participate in planning and are they feel detached from
any responsibility with the maintenance of green areas.
And finally, residents are interested in the having green areas, but most of them do not plant
vegetation in their properties. And they would appreciate to have spaces with more original
designs, in where fruit trees, medicinal herbs and flowers could be planted.
66
Recommendations for further studies
Additional to this study, it could be interesting to determine the differences between the green
areas between a high and low income neighborhood to see how the planning could differ in
those cases. This could complement the information about this study, which makes a relation
between a medium-low with a biophilic neighborhood, to see how a high income relates to a
low income could expand the general view.
Following the same idea, to establish a comparison between a high socioeconomic and a
biophilic neighborhood could show how similar or different are their situations, considering that
the higher stratums have more green public and private areas. This could show if rich
neighborhoods could be considered biophilic neighborhoods.
67
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Annex
I. Observation Framework (Street Level)
Street:________
Are there trees on the street?
Yes. Number:_______
No
How old they look?
Yong (recently planted)
Old
Are bushes on the street?
Yes
No
Does the street have space on the sides to
plant?
Yes. Where (right or
left)
No
Are there cars parking on the street?
Yes
No
Is there any school, kinder garden, sport
center?
Yes. ____________
No
Is there cycle path?
Yes
No
Is there good illumination?
Yes
No
Is it a clean street? (garbage)
Yes
No
How many different species of vegetation
are on the street?
__________
The street looks
Secure
Attractive
Clean
Other
Insecure
Unattractive
Dirty
II. Observation Framework (House Level)
House: _______. Street:____
House has space on the front
Yes
No
The space is used for
Trees
Plants
Vegetables
Car
Pavement
Grass
Other________
The house has space on the street
Yes
No
The space is used for
Trees
Plants
Vegetables
Car
Nothing
Pavement
Other________
Is there people working on the
garden? Yes.
No
Is there garbage on front of the
house?
Yes
No
How many different species of
vegetation has the house?
______
71
III. Interviews
Interviewees Position Date
Leticia Leal Direction of Planning. Planner.
Municipality of Temuco
14 October 2014
Dr. Nelson Ojeda Assistant Professor. Forest Engineer.
Universidad de la Frontera
14 October 2014
Carlos Oñate Professor. Environmental Engineer.
Huerto Educativo La Minga
16 October 2014
Dr. Fernando Peña Professor. Laboratory of Territorial
Planning. Universidad Católica
16 October 2014
Association “Gringo” Student Association. Universidad de la
Frontera
24 October 2014
Resident Store Owner 24 October 2014
Cecilia Roa Barrientos President of Neighborhood Council
“Villa Cautín 2”
4 November 2014
72
IV. Tables
Temuco
Blocks A B C D E TOTAL
N° Houses 21 13 20 14 0 68
Area (m2) 5742 3599 5566 4121 744 19772
Private green cover (m2) 280 148 519 523 0 1470
Public green cover (m2) 113 101 439 132 13 798
Green cover (m2) 393 249 958 655 13 2269
Area built (m2) 2500 1546 2652 1542 376 8616
Pathways (m2) 445 267 179 89 0 981
Private property (m2) 4000 2400 4000 2400 0 12800
Available area (m2) 1297 932 1387 1631 368 5615
PTG (%) 6,8 6,9 17,2 15,9 1,8 11,5
PPG (%) 4,9 4,1 9,3 12,7 - 7,8
PUG (%) 2,0 2,8 7,9 3,2 1,8 3,5
PAS (%) 22,6 25,9 24,9 39,6 18,9 26,4
PHB (%) 43,5 43,0 47,6 37,4 44,6 43,2
PHP (%) 62,5 64,4 66,3 64,2 - 64,4
73
Portland
Blocks A B C D TOTAL
N° Houses 18 13 8 18 57
Area (m2) 6.807 4.717 4.647 6.710 22.882
Private green cover (m2) 1.465 1.450 1.352 1.487 5.754
Public green cover (m2) 1.855 957 608 1.081 4.501
Green cover (m2) 3.320 2.407 1.960 2.568 10.255
Area built (m2) 2.367 1.772 1.211 2.381 7.731
Private property (m2) 5.400 3.600 3.600 5.400 18.000
PTG (%) 48,8 51,0 42,2 38,3 45,1
PPG (%) 21,5 30,7 29,1 22,2 25,9
PUG (%) 27,3 20,3 13,1 16,1 19,2
PHB (%) 34,8 37,6 26,1 35,5 33,5
PHP (%) 43,8 49,2 33,6 44,1 42,7
PTG = Percentage of total green areas
PPG = Percentage of private green areas
PUG = Percentage of public green areas
PAS = Percentage of available space
PH = Percentage of houses in blocks
PHP = Percentage of houses in plots
74
V. Pictures
Picture N°1. Avenida Manuel Recabarren. Group N°1.
Picture N°2. Capri. Group N°3
75
Picture N°3. Block E. Villa Cautín 2.