Valparaiso's Central Business District revolves, according to the traditional plan, around the Plaza Victoria. The city's cathedral and main department stores adjoin the plaza. Due to the city's physical geography, however, the CBD and the spine are essentially combined into one zone. With the hills beginning immediately to the east, and the sea to the west, all commercial activity in Valparaiso spreads north and south through grid-patterned streets. Stemming from the main thouroughfare of Avenida Pedro Montt along a narrow strip of flat land, the combined zone reaces almost to the city's limits. Corporate buildings, large stores, restaurants, and a cinema all revolve around the Plaza Victoria. As the commercial district spreads out, smaller shops take over, as well as fish and produce markets. Unlike the models, Valparaiso's plan combines both the CBD and the spine, and its markets are more outlying than in the New model.

The city's residential districts are also a little different from the general models. Valparaiso has virtually no elite residential sector. In the 1960s, after Valparaiso's economic decline, the area's wealthy moved to mansions in Vina del Mar. In a filter-down process, the upper-middle and middle classes have moved into the former homes of the rich: obviously aging but brightly painted manors on Cerros Mariposa, Alegre, and Concepcion, whose greatest asset is a spectacular view of the bay. These neighborhoods constitute the city's Zone of Maturity.

The Zone of In-Situ Accretion is found further to the north of these areas, up and down the hillsides where homes are often constructed of corrugated tin and wood. This area, aside from its physical location, fits the models in that it houses the lower to middle classes and its homes are constantly under construction. Electricity is often pirated but ususally available, and water is also accessible.

Finally, the outskirts of the city are made up of Squatter Settlements. Much like Griffin and Ford's description, these are the poorest areas of Valparaiso, with the fewest amenities. They are, however, largely invisible to those near the city's center, and only upon entering or leaving does one pass through "shanty-town" areas.

Valparaiso's industrial areas are its loading docks and shipping facilities, and, unlike in Ford's New Model, they border directly on the CBD. This is not a result of city planning but rather of the city's physical geography and main function as a port.

In some ways, Valparaiso better resembles the model of South Asian colonial city structure. This model is better suited for a port city established by Europeans. In common, they contain an original port, a port extension, and administrative quarters (the old customs house and national Navy headquarters). The models differ, however, in that Valparaiso does not have the ethnic divisions found in the South Asian model.

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