Lo Barnechea

Lo Barnechea is a commune located in the northeastern sector of the province of Santiago (Chile), covering 48% of the surface of this province. Its urban limits are: to the north with Los Andes of the Valparaíso region, to the west with Colina, to the southwest with Vitacura and Huechuraba, to the south with Las Condes and to the east with San José de Maipo. It developed around the old rural town of Lo Barnechea. Its population is heterogeneous, since it is inhabited by high and medium-high income families in sectors such as La Dehesa, Los Trapenses and El Arrayán, and also by low-middle and low income families, mainly in the Town of Lo Barnechea, Population La Ermita and Cerro Dieciocho.

History

Lo Barnechea has had a long human occupation for thousands of years. Before the Incas, the Llolleo Culture and the Bato tradition occupied it. And after them, the Aconcagua culture, the Promaucaes, the Incas appeared successively, and later it was the Spanish occupation.

Its pre-Hispanic inhabitants were called huaicoches (from Mapudungún: waykoche 'people who live in the huaicos area') due to the huaicos or huaycos of the region (from Quechua: wayqu 'quebrada'). Also called lloclla (from Quechua: lluqlla 'aluvión'), they are violent alluvial floods where A large amount of material from the terrain on the slopes is dislodged and carried by the downstream water to the bottom of the valleys, causing enormous burial sites in its wake. In modern scientific terms, according to the Multinational Andean Project, a huayco is known as a debris flow, or debris flow. A huaico is caused by the violent fall of water, which drags mud, stones, trees and whatever is in its path. Its origin may be due to intense rain or the overflowing of a river or lagoon in the heights.

The Pueblo Lo Barnechea was created in the 19th century. Until now it has resisted the conurbation with Greater Santiago.

Francisco Solano Asta-Buruaga y Cienfuegos wrote in 1867 in his Geographical Dictionary of the Republic of Chile about the place:

Bonechea.-—Fundo del departamento de Santiago, que se encuentra a 18 o 20 kilometers al E. de su capital. It is on the north or right bank of the Mapocho River and adjacent to the NE of the foundry of the Dehesa. It contains a farm of 480 inhabitants. The name comes from a surname that some give it as in the title, and others say Barnechea and Barrenechea.

For his part, the Chilean geographer, Luis Risopatrón, describes it as a 'place' in his book Diccionario Jeográfico de Chile in 1924:

Barnechea (Lugarejo Lo) 33° 20' 70° 30'. Short house, with post office service, is located at the bottom of the same name, located on the shore N of the Mapocho river, adjacent to the NE of the foundry of La Dehesa, towards the NE of the city of Santiago.

DFL 1-3260, of March 9, 1981, established the new commune of Lo Barnechea, from a subdivision of the commune of Las Condes, however until 1991 it was part of the communal group managed by the Municipality of Las Condes. By Decree with Force of Law No. 32-18,992 of May 20, 1991, the Municipality of Lo Barnechea was officially established, the same day as its neighbor Vitacura.

Geography

Orography

Rivers

• Mapocho River
• San Francisco
• Rio Molina

Estuaries

• Estero El Arrayán (Sanctuary of Nature)
• Estero El Carrizo
• Estero El Gabino
• Estero El Guindo
• Estero El Manzano
• Estero The Hualtatas
• Estero Las Rosas

Ravines

• The Guild
• Quebrada El Ají
• Quebrada El Guindo
• The Peumo
• Quebrada Huallalolén
• Quebrada La Carbonera
• The Ñipas
• The Zorras
• Quebrada Los Chanchos

Urban landscape

The urban center of Lo Barnechea is located in the areas, below the thousandth level, in the Mapocho River basin and the La Dehesa valley. Its neighborhoods are made up of affluent sectors such as Los Trapenses, La Dehesa and El Huinganal (Molle Schinus polygamus in Mapudungún Huingan), El Tranque, and middle class sectors such as the traditional Pueblo of Lo Barnechea, Cerro 18, San Enrique and El Arrayán.

Many of its streets recall the old alleys owned by the 7 founding families. El León Street commemorates the old inn and Inn of El León that received the miners after their long days of work. The Salfate sisters lived on that street, now deceased, who knew the history of the town and its inhabitants: Blanca and Irene Griselda. His stories about the mythical walks to the Laguna del Viento in the mountain foothills and local mythology enlivened the town's afternoon gatherings.

Towards the northwest there are neighborhoods with Spanish names: el Chin street that remembers the owner of the plot named Echeñique. In the area of the Trappists, many of the milestones of said Congregation are remembered, which was in this commune for many years before selling its land for the capital gain. Currently, at the end of the Trappists there is a road that connects La Dehesa with the Chicureo sector and at the end of the road El Golf de Manquehue connects it with the unpopulated area of Huechuraba.

Economy

In 2018, the number of companies registered in Lo Barnechea was 10,072. The Economic Complexity Index (ECI) in the same year was 1.01, while the economic activities with the highest Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index were Retail Sale of Underwear and Garments for Personal Use (42.14), Dance Instructors (27.49) and Activities of Amusement Parks and Similar Centers (18.79).

Administration

Municipality

The Illustrious Municipality of Lo Barnechea is directed in the period 2021-2024 by Mayor Juan Cristóbal Lira Ibáñez (UDI), who is advised by the councilors:

• Juana Mir Balmaceda (Evopoli)
• Cristian Daly Dagorret (RN)
• Michael Comber Vial (RN)
• María Teresa Urrutia Greve (UDI)
• Paulette Guiloff Hes (Evopoli)
• Benjamin Errazuriz Palacios (PLR)
• Rodrigo Arellano Falcon (UDI)
• Francisco Madrid Vera (Independent)

Parliamentary representation

Lo Barnechea belongs to Electoral District No. 11 along with the communes of Las Condes, Vitacura, La Reina and Peñalolén and to the VII Senatorial Circumscription (Metropolitan Region of Santiago).

It is represented in the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress for the period 2018-2022 by the following deputies:

• Catalina Del Real Mihovilovic (RN).
• Gonzalo Fuenzalida Figueroa (RN).
• Karin Luck Urban (RN).
• Guillermo Ramírez Diez (UDI).
• Francisco Undurraga Gazitúa (Evopoli).
• Thomas Hirsch Goldschmidt (AH).

Architecture

The architecture in the area of buildings is very scarce, some late colonial style houses stand out, preferably located in the so-called Town of Lo Barnechea. Regarding the commercial area, there are the Portal La Dehesa shopping centers, Espacio Urbano La Dehesa, Paseo Los Trapenses and Mall Vivo Los Trapenses. It is also worth highlighting the large number of mansions and luxury houses that are established in this commune, especially in the sectors of Arrayán, Los Trapenses and La Dehesa, these being of various styles built mainly during the last twenty years and belonging to the so-called « “upper class” of the country, making up one of the areas with the highest average housing prices in Chile.

In parallel to the construction of residential houses and luxury apartments, social housing constructions were developed in Lo Barnechea, in addition to the self-construction processes of the founding tenants of the town, along with their generations. For this reason, in the commune of Lo Barnechea we can see a series of contrasts, not only architectural, but also of a social nature, given that in a few square meters, or crossing a street (Padre Alfredo Arteaga Barros with Comandante Malbec), We can see neighborhoods of high socioeconomic strata, as opposed to sectors of low social strata, clearly delimited from each other.

Transportation

The commune has a low connection to the city's interconnected public transport, consequently and being at one end of the metropolitan area, together with Vitacura it leads the motorization rate per capita (motorized vehicles per inhabitant) in Greater Santiago. It was expected that by 2020, Lo Barnechea will have 3 stations of the Las Condes Tram, which would give it a historic connection to the Santiago Metro, currently being one of the three communes of Greater Santiago (along with La Pintana and Lo Espejo) which does not have metropolitan railway stations. However, the project was canceled by the authorities for not having the necessary subsidies for its execution.

In addition, Lo Barnechea was immersed in Feeder Zone C of Transantiago along with the Providencia, Las Condes and Vitacura communes. It is currently supplied by services from units 4 and 6 of this transportation system.

There is an elevator on Cerro 18 operated by the Municipality of Lo Barnechea and that connects said sector with Los Quincheros Street and the summit of the hill, where the Parque de la Chilenidad is located.

Climate

In general terms, Lo Barnechea participates in the semi-arid Mediterranean climate that affects the Metropolitan Region, characterized by a prolonged dry season and a winter season, which concentrates annual rains.

• Annual rainfall 360 mm
• Average temperature 14 °C
• Average temperature 22 °C
• Minimum average temperature 7 °C

These climatic patterns present, in this commune, very important variations due to its condition as a foothills area, subject to the altitude factor. It is estimated that in a mountainous environment, rainfall increases by about 22 mm every 100 m of altitude, while the temperature decreases by about 0.5 °C every 100 m. According to this, the urban area of the town of Lo Barnechea is located at 850 m above sea level. n. m., 65 mm more precipitation is received than in the commune of Santiago. This varies, according to the extent of the communal rural territory. In the annual distribution of precipitation, and considering the entire mountainous area, when it rains for several days in a row, large flows occur in the channels, which causes flooding due to accumulation and its subsequent transfer along slopes. (1982-84-87). The impact was regrettable, with even loss of life, interruption of activities, damage to infrastructure and equipment, due to the permanence of inhabitants on the banks of the Mapocho River.

Annex to the reality of the Mapocho River and its location, there is a natural climatic event that must be taken into account when planning the future of the settlement in the Commune.

1982 flood

The incursion, in 1982, of warm winter fronts, determined a rise in the lower snow limit, from 1800 to 2400 m above sea level. n. m., generating a great increase in the volumes of water runoff and sediment, as a result of the melting of snow, which causes saturation and subsequent overflow of the natural and artificial water evacuation systems.

The repetition of a similar event, in the current conditions of occupation and urban expansion that Lo Barnechea shows, could cause even more catastrophic situations, due to the high degree of intervention and modification that the natural system has been subject to, for example. the constructions that have been taking place in increasingly higher altitude terrain.

Education

Higher Education

• Universidad Andrés Bello
• University of Development
• University of Chile
  • The University of Chile is presented in the commune with its East Campus of the Faculty of Medicine, which maintains the SERJOVEN Health Center, which provides free care to more than 1000 young people with scarce resources from Lo Barnechea.
• Culinary Institute
• CPEIP
  • Centre for Development, Experimentation and Pedagogical Research of the Ministry of Education.

Municipal Schools

• Mother Earth College
• Colegio de Adultos Fermín VIvaceta
• Colegio Farellones

Lo Barnechea School with three locations:

• Headquarters Eduardo Cuevas Valdes (Infancia, pre kinder to 2° basic)
• Headquarters San José (Intermedia, 3rd to 6th basic)
• Headquarters Institute American States (from 7th to IVth Polivalente)

Subsidized Schools

• Colegio Polivalente San Rafael
• Colegio Parroquial Santa Rosa
• Centro Educacional San Esteban Mártir
• College Betterland School
• Colegio San Juan de Kronstandt

Private Schools

• Craighouse School
• Colegio Nido de Águilas
• Everest College
• Santiago College
• Colegio Monte Tabor y Nazaret
• The Southland School
• College Newland
• The Mayflower School
• Huinganal College
• College The Allerces
• Huelquén Montessori
• Hebrew Institute
• Maimonides School
• Lincoln International Academy
• Bertrait College
• Anglo American International School
• Institute of Japanese Education (......................

Football

Currently, Lo Barnechea is home to two football teams that participate in official competitions, one at a professional level and one at an amateur level.

Equipment	Creation	Competition	Stadium
AC Barnechea	1929	First B	Municipal Stadium of Lo Barnechea
Atletico Oriente	2020	Third B

Twinning cities

• Tyler, Texas, United States
• Guayaquil, Ecuador