This article presents some results of an investigation aimed at reviewing the spatial manifestations of the weakening of urban areas in Santiago de Chile. To this end, the starting point is the Lefebvre theory on the social production of space, emphasising its subjective dimension. This framework makes it possible to order the information relating to Santiago and to establish that it is a city in which there are major social distances concomitant with the hierarchical order of its municipalities. In order to deepen the subjective aspects of this spatial production, a multidisciplinary theoretical framework is used, with the development of concepts developed by Heller, Lechner, Soja and Eddy. It is concluded that the subjective dimension of space production manifests itself in the creation of counter-spaces and counter-behaviour on the part of those living on the periphery, resulting in the creation of a set of rules, which allow them to operate with a certain degree of freedom in an unequal city.