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Gran Valparaiso
Greater Valparaiso (Gran Valparaiso) is the third largest conurbation in Chile, after Greater Santiago, and Greater Concepcion. It takes this name after the city of Valparaiso, the oldest city of the group and the most important harbour in Chile. Its total population was 803,683 at the 2002 census.
The aglomeration is composed of several municipalities comunas:
Valparaiso.
Vina del Mar.
Concon
Quilpue
Villa Alemana.
These comunas have the following characteristics:
Valparaiso, Vina del Mar and Concon are coastal cities. Villa Alemana and Quipue are located in inner valleys and belong to the group of cities known as El Interior (The Interior).
Valparaiso and Vina del Mar have traditionally concentrated industrial and commercial activities, while Quilpue and Villa Alemana are primarily residential, and therefore often considered ciudades dormitorio (bedroom communities).
Gran Valparaiso also has the third largest concentration of universities in Chile. Besides the Traditional Universities, it has several private institutions, including Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, Universidad Andres Bello, and Universidad del Mar.
There is a metro system which serves most of the "comunas" in the conurbation: The Gran Valparaiso Metro System
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Gran Valparaiso
