In contrast, the Continuous Linear Front (CLF) alternative proposes a different layout: a straight, fully sheltered axis that rests on the existing breakwater and extends toward San Mateo. This linear design meets contemporary operational criteria for large ships, optimizes maneuvering, and makes use of existing access points, facilities, and cranes. As seen on the site plan, the CLF concentrates the heavy infrastruc- ture along a single axis, creating greater visual and functional continuity along the urban edge. By relocating the storage area toward San Mateo, it reduces the barrier effect in the center of the amphitheater, keeping the waterfront unobstructed and achieving an orderly opening of the waterfront toward Barón Park to the east. The analysis must also take future growth into account. A continuous 1,250-meter linear front, extendable to 1,400 meters, offers greater contractual flexibility in light of the 2029 re-tender, especially under a single-operator model. Only contractual and design flexibility will allow for adjustments without creating new fragmentation, considering that, like the EPV proposal, both options double transport capacity but differ in cost, environmental impact, and potential for urban economic revitalization. Below is a summary comparison table of three scenarios: the current situation (no expansion), the current EPV proposal, and the Continuous Linear Front alternative. The planimetric analysis shows that the difference lies not only in the scale of the investment but also in the geometry adopted. The EPV proposal follows a paradigm inherited from the dual-operator model; the CLF, on the other hand, aligns with the new contractual terms under discussion and with a regional logic complementary to San Antonio, which, with its expansion to include the Outer Port, will quadruple its current capacity with two new terminals 1,700 meters long, in addition to the two existing ones, each 900 meters long. In short, the comparison shows that the Continuous Linear Front does not mean “a smaller port,” but rather a better spatial layout for the port. By reducing fragmentation and conflicts, it improves technical efficiency and minimizes the urban impact. IV. THE NEW 2029 TENDER PROCESS AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE MARITIME FRONT As noted, the new tender of the central macro-zone’s berthing areas presents an opportunity to redefine the waterfront in alignment with the regional port system and urban regeneration. Given the potential to establish a single-operator model, this approach allows for continuity and the consolidation of infrastructure, thereby freeing up the waterfront for complementary urban uses. Consequently, rigid designs associated with long-term concessions hinder future adjustments. A continuous, adaptable waterfront allows for gradual expansions, technological improvements, and climate-re- lated adaptations without the need for disruptive interventions in the amphitheater. Furthermore, coordination with other urban projects such as Barón Park and the revitalization of the Simón Bolívar Winery reinforces this op- portunity. If the new contract explicitly incorporates city-port integration criteria within the port area, the waterfront can be transformed into an active transitional space rather than an incompatible closed boundary, providing continuity to a unified urban profile within the multiscalarity of a territorial structure that is organized from the horizontal plane to the inclined plane. Thus, the debate is not between the port and heritage, nor between development and conservation. The debate is about design. And in that sense, the port expansion could be—if its final adjustments are made, it is managed in a participatory and intersectoral manner, and the original criteria that shaped the La Pólvora access and the UNESCO designa- tion are reinstated—the best public policy for urban revitalization that Valparaíso could have in decades. !
Valparaíso: Asset Management for the Port City
By: Bárbara Ossa & Mauricio Sánchez Photos : Undersecretariat of Cultural Heritage
Without a doubt, Valparaíso has a unique urban layout and shares the origins of other port cities—linked to sheltered bays, spontaneous construction, and limited planning. However, its development also stems from government policies implemented after Chile’s indepen- dence, a period in which the concept of the “port city” began to take shape and during which Valparaíso established itself as the leading example. Today, it faces a series of challenges, but at the same time, it is in a promising situation where its heritage can become the driving force behind its development. Valparaíso’s unique geography and the way in which the relationship between the territory and its inhabitants has taken shape there have given it a distinct character. The designation of the Historic Area of the Port City of Valparaíso as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003 introduced new ways of naming and understanding it, as well as estab- lishing categories of value, attributes, and boundaries that the Chilean government has had a duty to protect and manage. This condition is expressed through interrelated attributes. The first of these is the urban layout, whose amphitheater-like shape facing the ocean—with inhabited hills and a narrow plain gradually reclaimed from the sea—gives rise to a fabric in which formality and informality coexist. This configuration is the result of a historical process marked by the growth of maritime trade, which revealed urban shortcomings in the hills and in the port infrastructure, prompting interventions beginning in the late 19th century that sought to reorganize the city’s urban structure¹. Among them were the railroad embankment across the bay, the opening of streets such as Blanco and Errázuriz, the Transformation Act of 1876, and Brasil and España avenues, which strengthened the connection
1 Pablo Millán-Millán, “Implementation and Impact of the 1906 Workers' Housing Act: The Valparaíso Case (Chile)”, EURE 42, N°125 (2016): 279. 3.
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