Providencia (municipality, Chile)
Encyclopedia
Providencia is a commune of Chile
located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region
. Part of Greater Santiago
, it is bordered by the communes of Santiago to the west, Recoleta to the northwest, Las Condes
and Vitacura
to the northeast, La Reina
to the east, and Ñuñoa
to the south.
In 2006 the municipality received the ISO 9001 and 14001 certifications for its management system. It is considered the community with better quality of life of the country, along with Las Condes, is cleaner and safer borough of Chile.
In 2001 and in 2009 it received the OHSAS 18001.2
Its current mayor is Christian Labbé (UDI).
Providencia is home to a large upper-class population and it holds the region's highest percentage of population over 60 (21.51%). It contains many high-rise apartment buildings as well as a significant portion of Santiago's commerce. It is notable for its large, old and elegant houses inhabited in the past by the Santiago elite and now mostly used as offices. It is served by the Santiago Metro
's Lines 1, 4 and 5.
Providencia includes Barrio Suecia
, an area filled with pubs and nightclubs, and Barrio Bellavista
, a bohemian area populated with artists and performers. The latter lies in the shadow of Cerro San Cristóbal
, a prominent hill in the city topped by a 22 m statue of The Virgin Mary. The north of Providencia is its financial and commercial district (centered on Providencia Ave., a major shopping street), while the remainder of it contains high-priced residential development.
Other notable areas of interest in Providencia include the Metropolitan Zoo, the Teleférico (an aerial gondola that transports people from the foot of Pedro de Valdivia
Avenue to the top of San Cristóbal Hill), several television networks and Radio Cooperativa
. The municipality is also home to many embassies
, including those of Italy
, France
, Russia
, China
, and Uruguay
.
of the National Statistics Institute
, Providencia spans an area of 14.4 sqkm and has 120,874 inhabitants (53,082 men and 67,792 women), making the commune an entirely urban area
. The population grew by 8.7% (9,692 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.
, headed by an alcalde
who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Cristián Labbé Galilea (UDI).
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Providencia is represented in the Chamber of Deputies
by Jorge Burgos (PDC
) and Marcela Sabat (RN
) as part of the 21st electoral district, (together with Ñuñoa
). The commune is represented in the Senate
by Soledad Alvear
(PDC) and Pablo Longueira
(UDI) as part of the 8th senatorial constituency (Santiago-East).
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region
Santiago Metropolitan Region
Santiago Metropolitan Region or simply Metropolitan Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. It is the country's only landlocked administrative region and contains the nation's capital, Santiago...
. Part of Greater Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, it is bordered by the communes of Santiago to the west, Recoleta to the northwest, Las Condes
Las Condes
Las Condes is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. The area is inhabited primarily by upper-mid to high income families...
and Vitacura
Vitacura
Vitacura is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It is one of the most expensive and fashionable areas of Santiago...
to the northeast, La Reina
La Reina
La Reina is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It was created in 1963 from an eastern portion of the Ñuñoa commune...
to the east, and Ñuñoa
Ñuñoa
Ñuñoa is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. Its inhabitants are primarily a middle and upper-middle class....
to the south.
In 2006 the municipality received the ISO 9001 and 14001 certifications for its management system. It is considered the community with better quality of life of the country, along with Las Condes, is cleaner and safer borough of Chile.
In 2001 and in 2009 it received the OHSAS 18001.2
Its current mayor is Christian Labbé (UDI).
Providencia is home to a large upper-class population and it holds the region's highest percentage of population over 60 (21.51%). It contains many high-rise apartment buildings as well as a significant portion of Santiago's commerce. It is notable for its large, old and elegant houses inhabited in the past by the Santiago elite and now mostly used as offices. It is served by the Santiago Metro
Santiago Metro
Metro de Santiago is South America's most extensive metro system with 5 lines, 108 stations and 103 kilometres of track making it the second longest in Latin America after that of Mexico City. The metro system serves the city of Santiago, Chile. Three of the lines are rubber-tyred...
's Lines 1, 4 and 5.
Providencia includes Barrio Suecia
Barrio Suecia
Barrio Suecia is a section of Santiago, Chile, centered around Calle Suecia , in the upscale Providencia municipality, which includes many pubs, discos and restaurants...
, an area filled with pubs and nightclubs, and Barrio Bellavista
Barrio Bellavista
Barrio Bellavista is an area that lies between the Mapocho River and San Cristóbal Hill in Santiago, Chile. It is known as Santiago's bohemian quarter, with new hip restaurants, boutiques, and avant-garde galleries occupying loft spaces and lordly mansions that punctuate tree-lined streets awash...
, a bohemian area populated with artists and performers. The latter lies in the shadow of Cerro San Cristóbal
Cerro San Cristóbal
Cerro San Cristóbal is a hill in northern Santiago, Chile. It rises 880 m AMSL and about 300 m above the rest of Santiago; the peak is the second highest point in the city, after Cerro Renca. Its original indigenous name was Tupahue...
, a prominent hill in the city topped by a 22 m statue of The Virgin Mary. The north of Providencia is its financial and commercial district (centered on Providencia Ave., a major shopping street), while the remainder of it contains high-priced residential development.
Other notable areas of interest in Providencia include the Metropolitan Zoo, the Teleférico (an aerial gondola that transports people from the foot of Pedro de Valdivia
Pedro de Valdivia
Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, where he served as lieutenant under Francisco Pizarro in Peru, acting as his second in command...
Avenue to the top of San Cristóbal Hill), several television networks and Radio Cooperativa
Radio Cooperativa
Radio Cooperativa is a radio station in Chile, based in Providencia. It is operated by Compañía Chilena de Comunicaciones S.A.. The station is notable for opposing the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship and denouncing its human rights violations....
. The municipality is also home to many embassies
Diplomatic mission
A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one state or an international inter-governmental organisation present in another state to represent the sending state/organisation in the receiving state...
, including those of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
.
Demographics
According to the 2002 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of the National Statistics Institute
National Statistics Institute (Chile)
The National Statistics Institute of Chile is a state-run organization of the Government of Chile, created in the second half of the 19th century and tasked with performing a general census of population and housing, then collecting, producing and publishing official demographic statistics of...
, Providencia spans an area of 14.4 sqkm and has 120,874 inhabitants (53,082 men and 67,792 women), making the commune an entirely urban area
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
. The population grew by 8.7% (9,692 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.
Stats
- Area: 14.4 km²
- Population: 126,436 (2009 projection)
- Average annual household income: US$53,767 (PPPPurchasing power parityIn economics, purchasing power parity is a condition between countries where an amount of money has the same purchasing power in different countries. The prices of the goods between the countries would only reflect the exchange rates...
, 2006) - Population below poverty line: 3.5% (2006)
- Regional quality of life index: 83.01, high, 5 out of 52 (2005)
- Human Development IndexHuman Development IndexThe Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries...
: 0.911, 4 out of 341 (2003)
Notable residents
- Patricio AylwinPatricio AylwinPatricio Aylwin Azócar was the first president of Chile after its return to democratic rule in 1990, following the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.- Early life :...
, former president - Ricardo LagosRicardo LagosRicardo Froilán Lagos Escobar is a lawyer, economist and social democrat politician, who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. He won the 1999-2000 presidential election by a narrow margin in a runoff over Independent Democrat Union candidate Joaquín Lavín...
, former president - Pablo NerudaPablo NerudaPablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, poet
Administration
As a commune, Providencia is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal councilMunicipal council
A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...
, headed by an alcalde
Alcalde
Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...
who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Cristián Labbé Galilea (UDI).
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Providencia is represented in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Chile
The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....
by Jorge Burgos (PDC
Christian Democratic Party
Christian democratic parties are those political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social teaching, and it continues to be influential in Europe and...
) and Marcela Sabat (RN
National Renewal (Chile)
National Renewal , is a liberal conservative political party belonging to the Chilean right-wing political coalition Coalition for Change in conjunction with the Independent Democratic Union and the Chile First movement...
) as part of the 21st electoral district, (together with Ñuñoa
Ñuñoa
Ñuñoa is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. Its inhabitants are primarily a middle and upper-middle class....
). The commune is represented in the Senate
Senate of Chile
The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...
by Soledad Alvear
Soledad Alvear
María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela , is a Chilean lawyer and Christian Democrat politician, who was a cabinet member of the Aylwin, Frei and Lagos administrations. She was president of the Christian Democrat Party from 2006-2008...
(PDC) and Pablo Longueira
Pablo Longueira
Juan Pablo Longueira Montes in a Chilean right-wing politician, industrial civil engineer and Independent Democrat Union senator . He was previously a deputy . He launched his candidacy for president of Chile on March 30, 2007, but canceled it on May 3, 2007.-External links:* *...
(UDI) as part of the 8th senatorial constituency (Santiago-East).