Iván Poduje

Among the architectural works in which he has contributed are the implementation of Line 6 of the Santiago Metro –and the extension of Line 3–, the Mapocho River Park in Vitacura, the redesign of the Vitacura avenue, the remodeling of the coastal promenade on La Marina Avenue in Viña del Mar, among others.

• Name — Iván Poduje • Born — 22 April 1968 • Birthplace — Santiago, Chile • Office — Minister of Housing and Urbanism • President — José Antonio Kast • Term Start — 11 March 2026 • Predecessor — Carlos Montes • Party — Independent • Alma Mater — Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso Pontifical Catholic University of Chile • Occupation — Architect • Politician

Iván Poduje was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1968. He is the son of Dinko Poduje, of Chilean-Croatian origin, and Laura Capdeville. In 1985, he joined the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV) School of Architecture in Viña del Mar. In the early 2000s, Poduje completed his master's degree in urban development at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC), where he also served as a professor until 2020. He has also taught at Stanford University's Overseas Program.

During Sebastián Piñera's second government, Poduje advised Housing Minister Cristián Monckeberg of the National Renewal (RN) party, on a regeneration program for six historic neighborhoods, including Paseo Bulnes, the Las Cenizas neighborhood in Valparaíso or the Guacamayo Island in Valdivia. He also participated in the revitalization of Chilean vulnerable areas in Quilicura, Cerro Navia, Talca, La Pintana and Puente Alto. In addition, he participated in the management of public spaces such in Lo Barnechea, Maipú and Conchalí. In 2022, in an interview with Tomás Mosciatti on Radio Bío-Bío, he argued that a strategy for recovering vulnerable neighborhoods involves providing them with services that provide "territorial capillarity" to the surrounding areas, that is, establishing a sociability regulated by institutional functioning.

In 2016, he joined the campaign team for Ricardo Lagos's (PPD) pre-candidacy, which was ultimately rejected by the Nueva Mayoría coalition in favor of Alejandro Guillier. Years later, in 2021, then-pre-candidate Evelyn Matthei (UDI) hired Poduje to continue the regeneration of neighborhoods occupied by drug trafficking. However, Matthei was also rejected, in this case to the detriment of Joaquín Lavín. Since 2022, Poduje has been a regular panelist on the political debate show program Sin filtros. In this context, he defended the rejection to replace the current Chilean Constitution of 1980 in the 2022 and 2023 referendums. Poduje ran as an independent candidate, supported by Chile Vamos (centre-right coalition), to compete for mayor of Viña del Mar in the 2024 municipal elections, which he lost to Macarena Ripamonti.

• "Malles en Santiago. De centros comerciales a centros urbanos" (2009). Revista de Estudios Públicos.

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