Globalization and functional changes recently in the cities of the urban system chilean

The Chilean economy has shown increasing links with the world-wide system since mid-1970. This opening-up has modified the general frame of urban interactions, and has brought about deep changes in the model of organization of the urban system. One of the most important transformations involves a reduction of the imbalance of the distribution of the city distribution by size (of population, economic.), brought about by the growth of the intermediate nuclei, particular those associated with local economic bases whose production has been put in the world-wide market. Within this framework, the present study deals with the way in which the world economy influences the national urban system, with the analysis of the urban economic functions, and with evaluating the recent changes in the urban hierarchy, whose tendencies show a decline of urban primacy. The methodological approach is based on the recognition of the "city" as a significant economic and functional unit, in the outlined background of globalization. The results show that part of the functional diversification is associated with the insertion of the Chilean economy into the global economy, and that the cities, in which these activities are located, have advanced their rank in the urban hierarchy, whose height is occupied by Santiago.