Increased Real Estate Development Overshadowing Urban Planning: Architects’ Guild Critiques Poduje Proposal

Original article: Más negocio inmobiliario y menos planificación: Colegio de Arquitectos hace bolsa propuesta de Poduje Increased Real Estate Development Overshadowing Urban Planning: Architects’ Guild Critiques Poduje Proposal The Chilean Architects’ Guild has vehemently criticized the proposed changes to the General Urbanism and Construction Ordinance (OGUC), driven by Housing Minister Iván Poduje, warning that the modifications focus on boosting real estate construction at the expense of planning. This package is currently under public consultation until April 22, and according to the José Kast government, it aims to «reduce or eliminate regulatory restrictions that drive up housing costs,» as well as «facilitate reconstruction» in the wake of natural disasters. However, upon detailed evaluation of the points and adjustments to the ordinance, the guild published a report expressing its concern that the changes go beyond mere «administrative or technical adjustments» and represent significant alterations that could disrupt the balance between public regulation, land market dynamics, communal planning capacity, and urban safety and livability conditions.

Furthermore, the report raised several observations regarding issues they believe will lead to substantial effects on the urban development model. Land Profitability Firstly, the Architects’ Guild addressed the change from “outer facade” to “inner facade” of the perimeter wall for measuring built surface area, which «increases the computable usable surface area within the same envelope, thereby raising the effective buildability of the projects without formally changing other parameters. » They noted that this measure «contributes to an incremental liberalization of capacity, especially when combined with density, height, and harmonious sets.

» Regarding the proposal to reduce the density coefficient from 4 to 2 inhabitants per housing unit, and to one inhabitant in specific low-cost housing projects, it would lead to a dramatic increase in the number of units per hectare «without formally modifying the density set by the Municipal Regulatory Plan (PRC). » Concerning the increase in buildability for harmonious sets, both in dimensions and uses, with a bonus of up to 75% for low-cost housing located near expressways or public transport, they argued this creates an “extraordinary building bonus,” which they believe is one of the clearest cores of profitability increase due to regulatory deregulation. Weakening of Regulatory Plans The report refers to the proposal to extend the expiration of permits from 3 to 6 years and to suspend this period while other institution authorizations are processed, stating that this measure «freezes urban rights for a longer period,” especially in a context where territorial instruments may be under review or update.

«If a project is well-formulated, it shouldn’t take more than 3 years to start or restart its execution,» they argued. Concerning the repeal of the PRC’s authority to reduce height and buildability increases for harmonious sets by up to 50%, they cautioned that this is the «most serious change» as it eliminates an explicit communal defense against regulatory bonuses. They recalled that the mayor of La Cisterna, Joel Olmos, specifically questioned that this measure affects the local sovereignty over the type of community to be built and threatens «ongoing regulatory update processes that are already financed and underway.

» “Today, we are in the midst of updating our Municipal Regulatory Plan at a cost of 455 million pesos. (…) the announced deregulation of urban land is a threat to this democratic process,” he warned in statements collected by El Mostradoror. The Architects’ Guild also classified one of the «most severe points of Poduje’s package» as the stipulation that «housing must meet safety, stability, and habitability standards, without regard to urban regulations.

» They warned that this opens the door to establishing or consolidating projects that do not meet key urban regulations such as land use, heights, density, or roadways, creating a strong precedent for total exceptions to those rules. This undermines the role of the Directorate of Municipal Works (DOM) as a preventive control entity and, while it allows for rapid reconstruction, it could end up misaligned with future urban planning. Furthermore, it risks solidifying emergency solutions as permanent solutions.

Overwhelming Densification The Architects’ Guild warned that the reduction in the density coefficient bypasses local debate, affects the overstretching of networks, facilities, and public space, and promotes solutions with very low surface areas to maximize units. This in turn encourages the construction of micro-units or those responding to high-profit typologies, distorting the original intent of the density parameter defined by the regulatory plan. On this point, the report also referred to the concerns raised by the mayor of La Cisterna, who warned that the issue isn’t height per se, but densification without planning.

“We are not against the construction of high buildings in any way, but we believe that the local residents should decide the limits of real estate business impacts,” Olmos emphasized. Selective Deregulation In the document, the Architects’ Guild argued that combining the characteristics of harmonious sets, along with the location and construction of affordable housing creates an «extraordinary building bonus» which, in their view, is one of the «clearest cores of regulatory deregulation profitability increases. » The guild questioned that «it does not recognize existing legal provisions aimed at social integration that seek to provide adequately located solutions for public interest housing demands, with social integration goals.

» Adjustments to the OGUC Cannot Weaken Planning The changes proposed by the Ministry of Housing to the OGUC are set to be published definitively on June 26, and in this context, the National President of the Architects’ Guild, Rodolfo Jiménez Cavieres, stated that the issue is not the need to update the ordinance, but «how it is updated and with what urban effects. » In his opinion, the Poduje package not only accelerates processes but entails a «significant liberalization of controls with consequences that go well beyond the reconstruction» that the government argues. Through an opinion piece, he expressed his concern about the weakening of municipal authority, with a recentralization of urban decisions that has been criticized by mayors and municipal associations.

For Jiménez, modernizing the OGUC is necessary, but «it cannot be synonymous with weakening planning or transferring structural decisions to the market without checks. » He warned that current decisions will shape «not just how many homes are built, but what type of city we will be constructing for the coming decades.