Barrio Puerto

[5] There have been plans over the years to improve the crime-ridden area and restore the community, but as of 2014[update] there has not been much success and many of its residents and businesses have moved to other parts of the city.

[6] In 2015, Valparaíso Ciudad Creativa, innovadora y Sustentable (English: Valparaíso City Creative, Innovative and Sustainable) was implemented in 2016 as part of the Programa de Apoyo al Entorno Emprendedor de Corfo (English: Support Program for Entrepreneurial Environment of Corfo) to restore the historic patrimonial neighborhoods and encourage tourism.

A fender of about a kilometer long is seen projected towards the sea at one side of the pier, which serves as an anchorage point for big draft boats.

Muelle Prat is a great place for tourism since boat trips are offered in order to tour the port as well as craftwork shops and restaurants.

The work was designed and directed by the architect Ernesto Urquieta, who was inspired by the Paris city hall, applying forms and elements of the French Renaissance from the period of Louis XVI; the forms being noticed in the organization of the central body and in the accused stonework of the Zocalo, and the elements in the serene elegance of the lateral bodies.

Its façade presents a varied ornamentation of plaster and artificial stone characteristic of the Art Nouveau, highlighting a set of incoming and outgoing volumes and numerous bays that generate movement in the plane.