Leisure, pleasure and (auto)mobility in the symbolic construction of "SantiagoÍ€™s surrounding areas"

Abstract

Based on the understanding that urban life can be extended to non-urban areas before they are constructed and incorporated into the urban fabric, this paper studies leisure trips to the outskirts of Santiago that became recurrent thanks to motorized transportation during the first three decades of the twentieth century. It is proposed that the new destinations for leisure practices played a crucial role in the symbolic construction of the landscape of the outskirts of the city. As a prelude to some of the values that would drive the process of suburbanization, this landscape was built under the logic of the opposition between city and country, where the former represented the routine, work, agitation, nervousness and ultimately corruption; while the later, the possibility of escaping, a breath or a break from the evils of the city.