Socio-spatial (In) Equality and spatial justice: key concepts for a critical reading of the city

Abstract

This article summarizes the conceptual discussion held in the framework of a research project on spatial practices of university students in social mobility processes. As part of this discussion, we built up criteria for multidimensional analisis of social space inequality that includes tangible and intangible dimensions of urban experience. We propose the notion of spatial justice both as an ethical and theoretical concept for thinking about the idea of a fair city: fair distribution of material goods, quality of social interactions and appropriateness of democratic procedures. Santiago represents a paradigmatic example of the transition from urban poverty to urban socio-spatial inequality, in which economic growth, social mobility and access to mass consumption, have hidden the great differences between districts and between spatial practices of its inhabitants.