© 2014, Instituto de la Vivienda. All rights reserved.A growing number of public policies are defining the local scale as the privileged space for State intervention. By observing the spaces of intervention identified by different initiatives at local level, we find that there is rarely territorial commonality between them. What is happening there? In general terms, this has been diagnosed as an example of a lack of coordination in terms of State intervention.This paper holds an alternative explanation arguing that: the lack of spatial congruency is the result of a scale-based issue, in which the geographic extension of socio-spatial exclusion has reached a point where any selection of local spaces is possible but insufficient to address the true scope of social problems.Through the description of the intervention spaces for neighborhood regeneration and improvement of school achievement within the metropolitan area of Santiago (MAS), this paper aims to make progress towards a debate on the geography of social exclusion and public policies. Findings show that the scale of exclusion is based on macro-zones —a geography that is at a higher level than local geography —, which demarcate concentrating, extended and interstitial areas as recurring scenarios of social issues within the MAS.