From metropolization to agropolis. The new urban settlement in Chile today

Abstract

The agrarian change in Chile has created new settlement patterns andpopulation mobility in local and regional level, as well as in national level. The classic model of metropolitan urbanization has been replaced by an agropolitan development model, which is supported by the growth of a wide range of agricultural towns. This article analyzes the population dynamics of these agricultural cities. We propose the concept of agropolis, which we define as those spaces in which the predominant economic activity is directly linked to agriculture, either as a primary activity (agriculture), as a secondary activity (agribusiness) or tertiary (trade and service-oriented agriculture and/or agrobusiness). This concept allows us to overcome the gaps in rural-urban dichotomy, proposing a conceptual opposition broader and more complex, between what would be the agropolis and the metropolis.