area 133 | chile

architect: Elemental

location: Santiago, Chile

year: 2012

Chile has had an incredible economic growth in the last decade, but the urban standards have not increased proportionally. Santiago for example, has no single place where to go for a long walk. These spaces tend to be associated to the geographical features of cities: rivers, seastrands, hills, but in Santiago, the river has already been used for a highway. The only place left is an old agricultural canal running at the base of the Metropolitan Park, the San Cristobal Hill. It is a ten-kilometer horizontal, continuous path that could be transformed into a pedestrian Promenade. A four-hectare Children’s Park on the hillside, besides being a program to celebrate the bicentennial of Chile, can be considered as the initial phase of a promenade that will be completed in the coming years.