Tensiones vecinales por el barrio patrimonial: la construcción de imaginarios sobre zonas típicas en Santiago de Chile: Un estudio de caso

During the last decades the civil Chilean society has shown a trend to use the Declaration of Heritage in different neighborhoods as a way of preserving some residential sectors subject to urban renovation processes in the context of a neoliberalized urban development. This work presents the results from an ethnographic research dealing with the case of an upper-middle class residential sector where two neighbor’s organizations were created and contended during 2017 and 2018 about to become or not become a heritage neighborhood —a group in favor and the other against the measure. Regarding this contention, I examine the way how divergent imaginaries are shaped about the heritage neighborhoods. These imaginarie are an invitation to reflect on the different ways how the citizens construct representations about heritage, in particular when these ones overlap with the residential dimension.