Public Transport as a Public Place: Urban Insertion Strategies of the Coquimbo – La Serena Light Rail Project

Abstract The public transport systems, as much for its infrastructure magnitude as for the importance of its services, have been addressed from the urban design theory and practice as potential structure elements of the contemporary urban experience. They are presented as privileged meeting points, and as possible protagonists of the form, culture and identity of a city. The Coquimbo-La Serena light rail project arises as an alternative to improve the connectivity through public transportation of this conurbation, a new metropolitan area of almost half million inhabitants, which has undergone far-reaching changes in its mobility habits in the last decades. The use of private cars has doubled in detriment of the use of public transport and walking, which consequently produces congestion and pollution problems. This project proposes a new longitudinal connection, a clean, efficient and interconnected backbone of public transport, which links isolated residential sectors with the city town areas and the main public infrastructure of both cities. It is presented as a “complete street” project that unites important elements of history, geography and city life, being a new urban landmark that conveys the will of diverse actors accomplished as a public-private project through the MOP (Acronym for Ministry of Public Works) concession system. This article, which is the first academic work about the project, highlights the role of the public transport infrastructure as a central element of the sustainable construction and development of the city, and it discusses the light rail suitability in this sense, particularly compared to the BRT option. Through the presentation of the urban insertion strategies of the Coquimbo–La Serena light rail project, it is stated that a public transportation infrastructure constitutes “place” when it is integrated to the structure, landscape and urban public spaces in a sustainable way.