Neoliberal Urbanization and Synergistic Violence in Postearthquake Concepción

• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19879147
• Author: Juan Antonio Carrasco,Rodrigo Ganter,Christian Paulo Matus Madrid,Camila Barraza Huaiquimilla
• Date: 01 May 2020
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• Subject Matter: Other Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19879147

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 232, Vol. 47 No. 3, May 2020, 221–234

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19879147

© 2019 Latin American Perspectives

221

Neoliberal Urbanization and Synergistic Violence

in Postearthquake Concepción

by

Christian Paulo Matus Madrid, Rodrigo Ganter, Juan Antonio Carrasco,

and Camila Barraza Huaiquimilla

The Chilean neoliberal state’s institutional strategy for displacing a historical popula-

tion from Aurora de Chile, a centrally located area with real estate value in the city of

Concepción, combined three types of violence: shock urbanization, which used the 2010

earthquake as an opportunity to impose the construction of major infrastructure, the con-

struction of public opinion aimed at naturalizing displacement, and the strategic use of

participation as a disciplinary socio-technical device to legitimize a solution to the conflict

that guaranteed the building of the Bicentennial Bridge. The deployment of this synergis-

tic, multifaceted violence was a sophisticated management technique associated with a

neoliberal urban rationality that contributed to the process of urban renewal.

La estrategia institucional del estado neoliberal chileno para desplazar a una

población histórica de Aurora de Chile, un barrio céntrico con valor inmobiliario en la

ciudad de Concepción, combinó tres tipos de violencia: la urbanización de choque, que

utilizó el terremoto de 2010 como una oportunidad para imponer la construcción de

infraestructura principal, la construcción de la opinión pública dirigida a naturalizar el

desplazamiento, y el uso estratégico de la participación como un dispositivo socio-téc-

nico disciplinario para legitimar una solución al conflicto que garantizó la construcción

del Puente Bicentenario. El despliegue de esta violencia sinérgica y multifacética fue

una técnica de gestión sofisticada asociada con una racionalidad urbana neoliberal que

contribuyó al proceso de renovación urbana.

Keywords: Neoliberal urbanization, Synergistic violence, Neoliberal management,

Displacement, Popular settlements

The impact of neoliberalism on urban planning in Chile intensified and

deepened after the 2010 earthquake. As established by the critical literature

(Irazábal and Marchant, 2015; Letelier and Irazábal, 2017), analysis of “recon-

struction processes” evidences the unequal effects of urban development in

the cities affected. It also calls attention to the vital need for the state to fulfill

Christian Paulo Matus Madrid is a social anthropologist, an adjunct professor in the Instituto de

Estudios Urbanos y Territoriales of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and a former

postdoctoral fellow of the Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustenable (CEDEUS). Rodrigo Ganter is

a sociologist and an associate professor at the Universidad de Concepción and formerly a research

associate with the CEDEUS. Juan Antonio Carrasco is also an associate professor at the Universidad

de Concepción and a principal researcher at the CEDEUS. Camila Barraza Huaiquimilla is an

architect and research assistant the same center. The authors appreciate the financing of CEDEUS/

FONDAP 15110020 for the development of the applied research that is the basis of this paper.

879147LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X19879147Latin American PerspectivesMatus et al. / Urbanization and Violence in Concepción

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