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The Ford Foundation and the Community Facilities Program in Chile: a proposal between local needs and foreign technical assistance (1964–1969)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2024

Alejandra Monti  and
Ursula Exss Open the ORCID record for Ursula Exss [Opens in a new window]
Alejandra Monti
Affiliation:
CURDIUR, FAPyD, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, CONICET, Rosario, Argentina
Ursula Exss*
Affiliation:
Escuela de Arquitectura y Diseño, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile
*
Corresponding author: Ursula Exss; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Between 1964 and 1969, the Ford Foundation developed the Community Facilities Program in Chile, which articulated technical and financial assistance in the field of architecture and the training of local experts, in addition to its action in the renovation of state structures related to housing and urban planning. In this context, the design strategy introduced innovations based on architectural research that were a pedagogical novelty, which contributed to the discussion on the role of technical assistance in the Southern Cone, redefining the relationship between philanthropy, state and University.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 51 , Issue 4: Twinned cities: reconciliation and reconstruction in Europe after 1945 , November 2024 , pp. 879 - 898
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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8 The FF opened a total of four branches in Latin America: Buenos Aires and Bogota in 1962, Santiago in 1963 and Lima in 1964.

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16 The Ministry of Finance DFL 150 (1953) established the organization and set the attributions of the Ministry of Public Works and Dependent Services, www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=4819.

17 CORVI was created through the merger of Caja de la Habitación and Corporación de Reconstrucción; Ministerio de Hacienda, ‘Sobre organización y atribuciones de la Corporación de la Vivienda’, Pub. L. No. 285, 12 (1953), http://bcn.cl/2hskl.

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23 Ibid., Art 34, 1965.

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25 RAC/FFR/CR 1–3254, Rice University and CRS, Chilean Community Facilities Program Architectural Research, 1964, 3.

26 At the time of the evaluation, William Alonso (29 Jan. 1933 – 11 Feb. 1999), Ph.D. in regional science from the University of Pennsylvania, joined the Joint Center as assistant professor of Regional Planning at Harvard University. His career as professor in the Department of Regional and Urban Planning at the Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia (1961) and his activity as visiting professor at the Universidad Central de Venezuela (1962) made him an experienced figure in the realities of ‘less developed’ countries.

27 RAC/FFR/CR 3255–6261, W. Alonso, ‘Consultant Report to the Ford Foundation’, in J. Friedmann, Urban and Regional Development in Chile: A Case Study of Innovative Planning (Santiago, 1969).

28 Ibid., 202.

29 RAC/FFR/CR 1–3254, Rice University and CRS, Chilean Community Facilities Program Architectural Research, 1964, 3.

30 ODEPLAN was designed in 1965 but became legally effective in 1967.

31 RAC/FFR/CR 3255–6261, Friedmann, Urban and regional development in Chile, 9.

32 Ibid., 1.

33 The Chilean architects who participated in the CFP include Tadashi Asahi Senda, Leopoldo Benitez, Erich Krohmer, Sergio Miranda, José Medina, Luis Gomez, Horacio Schmidt, Alfredo Solar, Hugo Saa, Jorge del Fierro, Sven Jacob and Jaime Matas. The foreign students from Rice University who participated in the programme were Andrew Belschner, Charles Redmon, Gray Henry, Clay Wellborn and Tom Daly.

34 The programme of credits for settlers to acquire land with basic urbanization and basic services (layout, access to services and basic equipment) was titled ‘Operation Site’. During the 1960s, 70,000 sites on the outskirts of Santiago were given out. For more on this policy and its criticisms, see Quintana, F., ‘Urbanizing with chalk’, ARQ (Santiago), 86 (2014), 30–43 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, https://doi.org/10.4067/S0717–69962014000100005.

35 RAC/FFR/CR 3255–6261, Friedmann, Urban and regional development in Chile, 206.

36 Juan Astica was director of MINVU’s Urban Development Planning Office; Federico Lorca received a grant to attend the UN Building and Planning Committee, in addition to touring institutions associated with community equipment programming in Europe; Gonzalo Cristi received a grant to attend the programme organized by the United Nations Department of Housing and Urban Affairs.

37 RAC/FFR/CR 1–3254, Rice University and CRS, Chilean Community Facilities Program Architectural Research, 1964.

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40 Neighbourhoods Florida, Presidente Ríos and Feria Sur in Santiago; Presidente Kenned (known today as Hospital) Paine commune; and Neighbourhood Almirante Gómez Carreño in Viña del Mar.

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44 Ibid., 16.

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46 RAC/FFR/CR 1–3254, Rice University and CRS, Chilean Community Facilities Program Architectural Research, 1964, D-84.

47 Ibid., D-84.

48 Ibid., D-84.

49 RAC/FFR/CR 1–3254, P. Kennon, ‘Corvi community facilities program 1965–1966’, in Report to the Ford Foundation: Rice University School of Architecture Activities in Chile, 1966.

50 RAC/FFR/CR 1–3254, Rice University and CRS, Chilean Community Facilities Program Architectural Research, 1964, D-7.

51 Ibid., D-6.

52 RAC/FFR/CR 1–3254, P. Kennon, ‘Corvi community facilities program 1965–1966’; ibid.

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54 In November 1964, the Catholic University proposed an agreement with Rice, Harvard and the FF to create a teaching and research programme in the sciences related to the improvement of the material living conditions of low-income Chilean communities.