The geographical diversity of Chile’s rural territories: bases for a rural atlas

Like much of Latin America, Chile’s urban and rural areas present marked contrasts in population, production, and environment. The contribution of this article is to define rural typologies based on the census districts of Chile and to use 35 spatial variables for cluster analysis by Affinity Propagation (AP). AP is a clustering technique that works through the transmission of ‘messages’ between data points, seeking to represent the similarity between these points and find clusters adaptively, thus contributing to the generation of information on common patterns and characteristics in rural territories, which facilitates decision making for territorial planning and development. The results made it possible to identify 95 clusters, which were subsequently reclassified into 34 macroclusters and six macrozones. This analysis contributes to identify the particularities of rural territories with a spatial connotation, providing information for the elaboration of future detailed diagnoses that will serve as a basis for the design of new rural policies.