Dreaming of “Homeownership”: Real estate advertising and housing dissonance in Santiago de Chile

Abstract

This article examines how real estate advertising in urban Chile transforms housing into a symbolic commodity. Housing shapes residential imaginaries that shape aspirations of modernity, security, and community. The analysis focuses on the San Isidro neighborhood in Santiago Centro, an increasingly densified area marked by precariousness. The study addresses housing dissonance: the gap between advertising promises and lived realities of overcrowding, noise, insecurity, and social isolation. Via an interdisciplinary approach that combines urban sociology and consumer studies, this article demonstrates how advertising functions as a cultural device. It translates structural inequalities into individual desires and reinforces spatial hierarchies within neoliberal contexts at the same time. The findings reveal that advertising imaginaries mediate urban experiences. These imaginaries heighten the tensions between aspirations and precarious conditions. Ultimately, the article contributes to a deeper understanding of symbolic consumption and the affective dynamics of dwelling in Latin American cities.