Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Chile Underground: The Santiago Metro and the Struggle for a Rational City

Chile Underground: The Santiago Metro and the Struggle for a Rational City

Chastain, Andra B.

Hardcover

TrainsGeneral World HistorySouth American History

ISBN10: 0300253559
ISBN13: 9780300253559
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: Nov 12 2024
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.23
Height: 1.20 Width: 6.10 Depth: 9.30
Language: English
A fascinating historical examination of the Santiago Metro system as a microcosm of Chilean national identity during the twentieth century

The Santiago Metro, the largest urban infrastructure project in Chile's history, was designed in the 1960s in response to rapid urban growth. Despite the upheavals of Salvador Allende's democratic socialism (1970-1973) and Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship (1973-1990), the project survived and is now the largest metro system in South America. What explains its success? How did its meaning shift under democracy and dictatorship? What does its history reveal about struggles for a more just city?

Drawing on Chilean and French archives, Andra B. Chastain demonstrates that Chilean-French relations and French financing were crucial to the project's survival during the Cold War. The Metro's history also illuminates the contested process of implementing neoliberalism and the unexpected continuities of state planning and visions for a rational city that persisted despite free-market reforms. Most important, this story shows that the Metro came to symbolize the nation and became a critical site where planners, workers, and urban residents contested Chile's path to modernity.

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South American History

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