Peripheral expansion and centrality processes in Valdivia between 1900-2015: analysis from the perspective of the space syntaxes

Abstract

This article explores the transformation processes of central quarters in the city of Valdivia. The hypothesis is that peripheral growth and expansion result in the morphological deterioration and the physical transformation of a city's downtown. Thus the Space Syntax approach is used to explore global integration patterns existing in a city, using Depthmap in the space syntax analysis. The findings show that the global integration pattern of the city of Valdivia has changed dramatically in the past 40 years due its expansive growth, displacing the topological center to the city's southeast and failing to match the historical downtown quarter. This proves the hypothesis that there is a relationship between centrality processes and the city's expansion.