Streets -that Were- Roads Intensification of Street Grids South of the Alameda in Santiago de Chile Up Until the End of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract
This article analyzes the origin and transformation of three streets south of the Alameda, from when they were first roads until they became "modern" streets at the end of the nineteenth century. This process was documented in different types of sources of traditional urban historiography that have allowed the elaboration of detailed chronologies. Notwithstanding today we have access to exceptional historical cartographic registers that complement and enhances our ability to know about this process. To have an accurate account of this transformation, the streets whose origin go back to pre-existing roads have been distinguished from those that originated as streets. This distinction has led us to a deeper understanding of the problem where it's not only possible to establish the nature of each street in itself but also allows us to understand the purpose of the section of the city of which they belong to and the role that they filled in their definitive forms. This paper understands that the street, consequently the public space, is the chief configuring element of the city; first, as a "geographic accident" that adjusts to the space, and later, as an operation which requires there to be a project capable of establishing a new functional as well as environmental order.
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Keywords
Santiago de Chile, nineteenth century, urban history, streets, roads, cartographic history
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