Resumen

CELIS H, José  y  MORALES P, José. Estudio de la contaminación del aire urbano en una ciudad intermedia: El caso de Chillán (Chile). Atenea (Concepc.) [online]. 2007, n.495, pp. 165-182. ISSN 0718-0462.  doi: 10.4067/S0718-04622007000100010.

Few studies have been carried out in middle-sized Latin American cities in order to determine their levels of atmospheric contamination. Through an analysis of the urban contamination of the city of Chillán (Chile), it has been demonstrated that the breathable atmosphere in the city of Chillán must be considered as a problem of anthropathogenic origin during autumn and winter. This is explained mainly due to the massive use of firewood for residential heating in urban areas of the city. The reduction in use of wood heating can be achieved, along with public regulation of transport and industry. The latter can be accomplished by defining new ways of avoiding cross town traffic as well as restricting the use of contaminant buses that have been retired from circulation in Santiago. Only in this way will the sustainable development of medium-sized Latin-American cities such as Chillán be assured, without necessarily repeating the serious problems of the large polluted metropolitan cities

Palabras clave : Air contamination; environment; urban growth; urban transport.