Unequal Scenes

Dense neighborhoods pour down the hills of Valparaiso, Chile.

The edge of the expanding city of Santiago is a mix of working class, informality, and wealth - seen here in Padre Hurtado.

Chile is often lauded for its economic liberalization and sustained growth, positioning it as a model in Latin America. However, beneath this prosperity lies a deep-seated inequality that has persisted for decades. The roots of this disparity trace back to the 1973 military coup and the subsequent Pinochet dictatorship, during which neoliberal reforms were rapidly implemented. These policies led to the privatization of public services, weakening of labor protections, and significant urban restructuring. Thousands of low-income families were forcibly relocated from central Santiago to its peripheries, fragmenting communities and limiting access to essential services. This enduring inequality has helped to fuel social unrest, as seen in the 2019 protests sparked by a modest increase in public transit fares but rooted in broader systemic issues.

Today, Chile remains a very unequal country, with a significant concentration of wealth among the top 1% and stark disparities in access to healthcare, education, and housing. As one example indicator shows, Chile stands out within the OECD for its high income inequality. While data varies slightly from database to database (owing to the difficulty of measuring exact indicators accurately and similarly across countries in the world) the general trends are damning. By at least one measure the top 1% of Chilean society owns almost 50% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50% actually own a negative share (because of debts). The Gini coefficient is .45, amongst the highest measures within the OECD reference countries.

In Santiago the spatial segregation is evident in some affluent neighborhoods juxtaposed against underserved communities, especially in the northeast foothills of the Andes like Lo Barnechea. In other areas it is less evident from the air, such as the “Vertical Ghettoes” of Estación Central or the informal housing clearing ongoing across the city. What is clear is that broadly speaking, the affluent, leafy suburbs in the east of the city are worlds away from the sprawling communities stretching in every other direction. In Valparaiso, the historic port town just 2 hours away from Santiago the dividing lines of inequality are even more clear. To the north, the rich suburbs of Viña del Mar and Concón contrast spectacularly with the shambolic chaos of houses perched above the steep hills of Valparaiso’s main port, or the social housing atop the dramatic cliffs falling into the Pacific Ocean.

Pioneering research by neuroscientists on the effect of social and physical environmental exposures on brain health, focusing particularly on Latin America (with support from networks such as BrainLat and the Global Brain Health Institute) provide evidence that this type of inequality, not poverty, are responsible for accelerated brain aging and other negative health outcomes. Research like this provides evidence that inequality is bad for people’s health. That is to say, the conditions which arise within unequal societies lead to negative health outcomes for their populations, which are distinct from conditions which arise in communities which have lower levels of inequality, even if those communities are impoverished. Research showing that people underestimate the problems associated with inequality (because it is perceived to arise in many cases in a “fair market” or along “rules of fair play”) may represent a characteristic of human psychology that is worth addressing, especially to policy makers who see high levels of inequality as an engine of social mobility and perhaps even necessary for a dynamic, innovative economy to thrive.

The neighborhood of Lo Barnechea is one of the wealthiest parts of Santiago, but also comprises this poor suburb which takes up all of Cerro 18.

Many of these informal shacks are inhabited by non-Chileans - Haitians, Colombians, Venezuelans - who have come to South America's wealthiest country for a chance at stability and wealth.

Partitioned neighborhoods in the wealthy Peñalolén neighborhood.

The Virgin Mary overlooking Santiago in Lo Barnechea. A surveillance balloon (in the background) provides an eye in the sky protecting the wealthy community just behind this poorer neighborhood.

Most of Santiago's informal areas are quickly being formalized by the government. Every single one I found was in the process of having apartment blocks being built next to it, including this one, probably the largest in Santiago, in Cerrillos.

Tensions between Chileans and the immigrants who mainly live in these shacks are beginning to surface, as the numbers have risen precipitously in the last 10 years, especially from places like Haiti and Venezuela.

The "vertical ghettos" of Estación Central dwarf the surrounding neighborhoods.

A Valparaiso hillside.

The lush and productive farmland of the valley in which Santiago sits is steadily being cleared for neighborhoods like this one in the Padre Hurtado neighborhood. The city has grown about 60% in the last 40 years.

A massive blackout which affected the entire city happened on February 25, 2025, when i happened to be there, leading to huge traffic jams as the city's metro service and most traffic lights were affected.

The "Vertical ghettos" of Santiago.

Inequality in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Santiago, Lo Barnechea.

A golf course nestled within the poor neighborhood of Reñaca in Viña del Mar.

Housing perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Valparaiso.

Luxury developments along the coast in Concon, near Valparaiso.

This informal settlement in Santiago is in the process of being formalized as all seem to be, with soccer fields, tennis courts and basketball courts added along with bridges for access.

Cerro San Cristobal separates poorer neighborhoods like this one from the wealthy parts of downtown Santiago.

Nice houses in the hills overlook poor homes in the Huecheraba area of Santiago.

Social housing with added structures within them, Lo Barnechea.

Economic divide in Las Condes, Santiago.

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