Reconstruction or Recurrence? The dilemma of resilience in a country facing multiple threats
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22320/07183607.2026.29.53.00Keywords:
-Abstract
Chile is currently at a critical crossroads, where mega fires, flash floods, and recurrent seismic activity have exposed the profound limitations of territorial planning that has historically prioritized profitability and expansion over mitigating localized risks (Camus, Arenas, Lagos, & Romero, 2016). This persistent gap between operational emergency management and urban planning regulations reveals a culture of reactive resistance that, far from being effective, perpetuates the vulnerability of the most exposed communities (Rinaldi & Bergamini, 2020). Despite our extensive experience in reconstruction processes, urban planning instruments continue to operate under traditional recurrence studies that often ignore the analysis of multiple criteria, thus consolidating public policies that are fragmented or, in the worst case, absolutely absent in the most critical territories (González González, Baeriswyl Rada & Zazo Moratalla, 2020). This institutional disconnect not only results in an overlap of competences among the different levels of government but also encourages planning that privileges mass, standardized housing production over the comprehensive recovery of the territory and its morphological memory (Jaque-Castillo, Ojeda-Leal & Muñoz-Berríos, 2025).
Downloads
References
BALERIOLA, E., REYES ESPEJO, M. I., ESPINOZA IBACACHE, J., y YÁÑEZ-URBINA, C. (2024). Aprender a (con)vivir desde los desastres y desafíos contemporáneos. Psicoperspectivas, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-vol23-issue1-fulltext-3174
CAMUS, P., ARENAS, F., LAGOS, M. y ROMERO, A. (2016). Visión histórica de la respuesta a las amenazas naturales en Chile y oportunidades de gestión del riesgo de desastre. Revista de Geografía Norte Grande, (64), 9-20. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-34022016000200002
CASTAÑEDA-MENESES, P. L. (2025). Megafire February 2024 in the Conurbation of the Province of Valparaíso, and Wildland-Urban Interface Zones, Chile. Revista Kawsaypacha: Sociedad y Medio Ambiente, (16). https://doi.org/10.18800/kawsaypacha.202502.D012
GARAY MOENA, R., CASTILLO, M., TAPIA, R. y VERGARA, J. (2019). Territorio, viviendas y áreas de incendios forestales de interfaz: localidades periurbanas en torno al Gran Santiago, Chile. Seminario Internacional de Investigación en Urbanismo [SIIU] XI. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. https://doi.org/10.5821/siiu.6972
GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ, L. E., BAERISWYL RADA, S. y ZAZO MORATALLA, A. Z. (2020). Urban flood resilience in Chile: San Fernando and Los Ángeles experiences. Revista de Urbanismo, (43), 131–150. https://doi.org/10.5354/0717-5051.2020.57868
GONZÁLEZ-MATHIESEN, C., MARCH, A. y YUNIS-RICHTER, F. (2023). Integrando la gestión del riesgo de los incendios forestales y la planificación territorial. Revista de Estudios Latinoamericanos sobre Reducción del Riesgo de Desastres [REDER], 8(2), 68–82. https://doi.org/10.55467/reder.v8i2.158
INZULZA CONTARDO, J., CURIHUINCA CURIHUINCA, M., EASTON VARGAS, G., y PÉREZ TELLO, S. (2022). Revelando el riesgo sísmico en el piedemonte de Santiago, Chile. Análisis multicriterio para la determinación de vulnerabilidad en la Falla San Ramón (FSR). Revista de Geografía Norte Grande, (81), 305–330. https://revistanortegrande.uc.cl/index.php/RGNG/article/view/22431
JAQUE-CASTILLO, E., OJEDA-LEAL, C., y MUÑOZ-BERRÍOS, C. (2025). La interfaz urbano-forestal como tierra de nadie en la construcción del riesgo de incendio forestal en ciudades costeras chilenas. Urbano, 28(52), 52–63. https://doi.org/10.22320/07183607.2025.28.52.04
LEAL FILHO, W., MODESTO, F., NAGY, G. J., SAROAR, M., YANNICKTOAMUKUM, N., y HA’APIO, M. (2018, abril 1). Fostering coastal resilience to climate change vulnerability in Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon and Uruguay: a cross-country comparison. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 23, 579-602. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-017-9750-3
LEÓN, J., WINCKLER, P., VICUÑA, M., GUZMÁN, S. y LARRAGUIBEL, C. (2023). Assessing the Role of Land-Use Planning in Near Future Climate-Driven Scenarios in Chilean Coastal Cities. Sustainability (Switzerland), 15(4). 3718. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043718
VILLAGRA ISLAS, P. A., y Felsenhardt Rosen, F. R. (2015). El paisaje urbano de emergencia en Valdivia, Chile: Contribuciones a la planificación y diseño urbano post-desastre para la restauración. Revista INVI, 30(83), 19-76. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-83582015000100002
RINALDI, A., y BERGAMINI, K. (2020). Inclusion of learning about management of natural disasters risk in territorial planning instruments (2005-2015). Revista de Geografía Norte Grande, (75), 103–130. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-34022020000100103
SANDOVAL-DÍAZ, J., y CUADRA-MARTÍNEZ, D. (2020). Vulnerabilidad social, severidad subjetiva y crecimiento postraumático en grupos afectados por un desastre climatológico. Revista de Psicología, 29(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2020.58002
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Stella Schröder
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The content of articles which are published in each edition of Urbano, is the exclusive responsibility of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent the thinking or compromise the opinion of University of the Bio-Bio.
The author(s) conserve their copyright and guarantee to the journal, the right of first publication of their work. This will simultaneously be subject to the Creative Commons Recognition License CC BY-SA, which allows others to share-copy, transform or create new materials from this work for non-commercial purposes, as long as they recognize authorship and the first publication in this journal, and its new creations are under a license with the same terms.
