model, the case of England is particularly interesting because, despite having a strong market-oriented housing policy, it has developed various tenure options through housing associations. These offer alternatives such as affordable rent or shared ownership, which allows users to buy part of their home and pay rent on the rest. Another example is that of the Netherlands or China, where the tenure model encompasses a wider variety of alternatives, including studio apartments -solutions that have recently been stigmatized in Chile- and which, nevertheless, offer temporary solutions without being associated with overcrowded conditions or lack of adequate design standards. Overcoming the Conventional Housing Diagram: The validity of the conventional housing diagram is another fundamental problem, since it not only determines and rigidifies the organization of housing, but also makes it difficult to understand what minimum housing means in its own right, a key issue for the treatment of affordable housing as a public policy. This is even more relevant if we consider that a large part of the affordable housing supply corresponds to collective housing. With this in mind, solutions that facilitate flexibility of use are of particular interest. In the case of Spain, the “programmatic grid” strategy, which elimi- nates the functional differentiation of rooms (except for bathrooms and kitchens) to achieve greater adaptability, stands out. In Switzerland -and to a lesser extent in England- it is common to find homes that integrate a kitchen and dining room as a unit, while the living room is located as an independent space so that it can be used autonomously and can even be transformed into an additional bedroom. Furthermore, in Switzerland there are no specific standards for bedrooms, but only for living spaces, which decouples space standards from traditional housing uses. This allows a room to be used interchangeably as a living room or as a bed- room, depending on the occupants' needs. Finally, in most of the countries studied, housing solutions with two or more bedrooms do not clearly distinguish between the main and secondary bedrooms. In fact, it is common to find designs that have the common program in the center and the bedrooms at the ends, a strategy comparable to what in the Chilean real estate market is known as the “butterfly apartment”, which is especially successful because of its pro- grammatic neutrality and ability to adapt to different user requirements. Intensity and Versatility of Standards: An urgent need is to overcome the logic of absolute standards and the rigidity with which design stan- dards are applied. As the different models studied show, some coun- tries, such as Spain and Switzerland, opt for a more general regulatory framework, which leaves it up to architects to interpret the specific needs of each case. This approach gives greater design freedom to architects and challenges them to interpret the specific needs of each project, thus betting on a higher level of design innovation and general adaptability. On the other hand, countries such as England take spatial quantification to the limit, establishing specific design criteria that vary according to the number of rooms and people in the dwelling. Although this approach has been criticized for creating a strong standardization -similar to what happens in Chile-, it is crucial to develop differentiated standards that ensure enough space according to its use load, promoting solutions adapted to the size and needs of households. Returning to the case of Chile, another evident problem is the lack of storage space. On this issue, a good example is the Netherlands, where an external storage area is included, either on the second floor or in the basement. Likewise, in England, storage closets with a minimum depth of 75 cm are considered, designed to store items that take up more space than the space usually allocated to clothing. On the other hand, countries such as Switzerland and China approach this issue differently, offering shared facilities, such as laundry rooms, which free up space by taking these functions out of the home's interior.
BEYOND RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION. Mapping Residents' Vulnerability in Chile's Social Housing Projects Published in March 2024, in volume 13 of the Journal of Urban Management, and winner of the first prize “Best Article 2024” from the same journal, this text, which constitutes a summary of the original, is framed within the doctoral research "Condemned by a benefit: Study on the effects of residential segregation on the quality of life and social mobility of residents of social housing projects in Santiago, Chile", conducted between 2020 and 2024 in the Doctorate of Public Policy at Universidad Mayor, and approved with maximum honor by an interdisciplinary committee composed of Mayarí Castillo, Rodrigo Pérez, Chiara Cazzuffi, and José Rosas. Since the 1960s, almost 2.5 million households in the Santiago metropolitan area have received some type of housing subsidy from the state, representing 65% of all housing built. Public policy has been successful in providing homes to low-income families who would otherwise be unable to afford their own homes. However, it has also been responsible for increasing residential segregation by grouping them, not by choice, in social housing projects in areas on the urban periphery, far from employment opportunities and public facilities. As a result, these conditions have reinforced the reproduction of economic and social inequalities, increasing the initial vulnerability conditions of the beneficiaries of a housing subsidy, which, however, are not homogeneously distributed in the territory. Disparities in the location of social housing projects have profound implications in terms of residential segregation and access to opportunities, where those who reside in peripheral areas are at a disadvantage with respect to those who live in more accessible areas, suggesting that location is a key factor in determining citizens' vulnerability. Thus, residential segregation represents an important challenge, especially given that its consequences, in terms of quality of life and access to urban opportunities, are increasingly on the public agenda. An important factor to analyze is the level of vulnerability in residential segregation, which, although it has been studied in various ways, the tools used to measure it are based on descriptive social data for people's well-being, as it strategically integrates the conception of the housing space with the ways of life it should house. These, in turn, are conditioned by political-economic guidelines and by specific so- cio-cultural and geographical contexts. Recognizing this complexity, the project explores different ways of defining affordable housing and analyzes the diversity of existing regulatory mechanisms for its design. This project then seeks to nurture the debate on how to face the challenge of guaranteeing an implementation that ensures housing quality, capable of balancing efficiency and functionality criteria, on the one hand, and principles of flexibility, diversity, and sustainability, on the other. In the Chilean case, the urgency of overcoming a model that, although efficient in the supply of many units, presents important limitations in terms of housing quality and adaptability is evident. The lack of diversity in the forms of tenure, the rigidity of standards, and the homogenization of housing design are barriers that make it difficult to respond to current needs. The international experience offers valuable lessons to rethink the future of housing in Chile, aiming to promote housing policies and “balanced” designs that not only guarantee access but also improve the quality of life for its inhabitants. ! María Isabel Matas G.
GLOBAL RELEVANCE AND CHALLENGES TO THE CHILEAN CASE Housing design is a challenge at a global level, with direct implications
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