Through the dense city: Daily Life and accessibility barriers of the inhabitants of the urban periphery of Santiago de Chile Atravesando la espesura de la ciudad: Vida cotidiana y barreras de accesibilidad de los habitantes de la periferia urbana de Santi

Abstract

This paper presents an approximation of social exclusion from the point of view a daily mobility and through the study of accessibility. This theoreticalmethodological approach permits the documentation of multiple accessibility barriers that commuters confront daily on their commutes through the city. These barriers generate a sort of "weight" to the time-space experience. The document first contrasts traditional conceptualizations of accessibility and then proposes a way to analyse this in daily life using ethnographic methods, and provides two case studies of female commuters living in the Northern part of Santiago, one who is middle-low income and the other who is high income. The results identify the way in which accessibility barriers can be compounded resulting in difficulty in accessing opportunities in the city, the strategies they employ and the diverse forms of social exclusion that can emerge.