How Close is the City? – Column by Marcela Martínez

Do you know how long it takes for a person living in the La Mochita area to walk to Cerro Chepe? More than an hour, if they manage to navigate all the complications in the Costanera Sector, such as the railway line, poorly maintained sidewalks, and 17 kilometers of unpaved sections.

The three neighborhoods in this sector studied by City Lab Biobío lack both pedestrian facilities to achieve adequate connectivity and the environmental safety conditions that facilitate walking. This is critical from two urban perspectives: proximity to services and walkability.

Proximity is the spatial closeness of the population to services and basic needs, crucial for efficient and sustainable urban life, no more than 15 minutes on foot or by bicycle. Walkability, meanwhile, is determined by safety, comfort, and connectivity, which allow us to define how pedestrian-friendly a neighborhood is. Analyses conducted by City Lab Biobío have shown that the commune of Concepción is generally a territory with high proximity to activities, where more than 60% of the city has access to health, education, and nearly 80% to commerce and services within less than 15 minutes of walking. However, it has critical points in the pedestrian infrastructure.

In the Costanera Sector, gaps are evident in relation to the rest of the city, as there is an unbalanced distribution and a lack of places where one can attend cultural activities, carry out procedures, or undergo medical examinations. Thus, for daily trips to downtown Concepción, an elderly person could take about 50 minutes to attend a medical check-up at the Regional Hospital, while a trip between the La Mochita sector and Cerro Chepe, which involves a longitudinal crossing of the neighborhoods, could exceed an hour of walking.

If we incorporate the walkability of the neighborhoods, the analysis of the pedestrian sidewalks in the Costanera reveals that it is crucial to improve their composition, as the absence of paved routes creates physical barriers that prevent equitable access to public spaces and compromise universal accessibility.

Using the technology developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, we analyzed the impact of 75 planned public projects in this sector. We concluded that there will be progress in its urban regeneration, although an unequal distribution of public and basic services will prevail. We pay special attention to what will happen in the outskirts of the Pedro del Río and Pedro de Valdivia neighborhoods, where proximity to equipment and services will remain low. Therefore, it is essential that future projects include comfortable, safe pedestrian routes and crossings that guarantee universal accessibility, so that daily trips are not only accessible but also inclusive.