Abstract

ASTUDILLO PIZARRO, Francisco  and  SANDOVAL DIAZ, José. Spatial Justice, Socio-Natural Disasters, and Spatial Policies: Sociopolitical Dynamics in view of the Floods and Recovery Processes in Copiapó, Chile. Cuad. Geogr. Rev. Colomb. Geogr. [online]. 2019, vol.28, n.2, pp.303-321. ISSN 0121-215X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcdg.v28n2.73520.

The article explores the sociopolitical dynamics deriving from the floods of May 2017 in the commune of Copiapó, in the Atacama region of Chile. From the perspective of processes, it examines the relations among the local organization and opposition practices, in view of the spatial policies formulated in the context of the floods and the subsequent rehabilitation processes. It carries out a theoretical study of the main conceptual discussions regarding spatial justice and links them to the field of socio-natural disasters and risks. In this context, it seeks to identify and describe the sociopolitical dynamics of the local actors in three critical points located in both the urban and peri-urban and rural areas of the commune of Copiapó. Contemporary, ethnographic strategies were used for the analysis. The empirical analysis shows that these dynamics take on differentiated configurations in terms of coping tactics; however, unlike the floods of 2015, in which explanations tended to focus on the naturalist elements of the disaster, the period studied shows a highlighted transition toward a hybrid explanation with a strong emphasis on political elements, evinced in the criticism of the role of the subsidiary State. As a result, socio-natural explanatory frameworks of the disaster take shape.

Highlights: Research article on the theoretical links between spatial justice and the risk of socio-natural disasters, on the basis of a series of empirical experiences deriving from the floods that occurred in the commune of Copiapó in 2017. It examines the forms of agency and the sociopolitical dynamics in three communities and territories during the recovery process.

Keywords : disasters; sociopolitical dynamics; spatial injustice; spatial justice; spatial policies; socio-natural risks.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )