Ritorni a Roissy. Sguardi su Parigi dalla RER B

The social outbreak that started in Santiago and Chile in October 2019 has deep urban roots. Born as a high school student movement against a rise in public transport fares, the mobilisation gained momentum, becoming the biggest social movement in the country since the return of democracy in 1990: «it’s not the 30 pesos, it’s the 30 years», the protesters chanted, switching the focus of their discontent to the unequal socioeconomic system that survived the end of the military regime. This outbreak has much to say to those interested in understanding and planning cities. Santiago provided the breeding ground for a mobilisation against the structural inequality of Chile, which for decades had been produced and reproduced in the capital city. Although the social outbreak came as a surprise, in the last years different research works have spotlighted the urban imbalances of Santiago. This article provides a transversal reading of three books that have considered Santiago and its inequalities from different disciplinary angles and at different scales. Through these works, the analysis of an explicitly unequal city will offer the opportunity to reflect both on how inequalities become visible in cities, and on the wider set of socio-political concerns they can affect.