Subsidiary displacement and empty plots: Dilemmas of original residents and newcomers in the reconstruction of Talca, Chile 2010–2016

Abstract

Throughout history people have been affected by disaster events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and landslides, with devastating effects for cities and towns around the world. Since the 1990s, post-disaster reconstruction has often been seen as an opportunity to invest in new projects following market forces and property speculation rather than for implementing rehabilitation strategies to address physical, social and psychological effects. Housing subsidies provided by the government seem to be a new issue creating more social disparity in the case of Talca, Chile after the 2010 magnitude 8.8 earthquake. This paper explores the contemporary urban landscape of this intermediate city, shaped between 2010 and 2016, which shows a great number of empty plots being filled by gated community typologies. By using ethnography and semi-structured interviews of residents from four historic neighbourhoods, the results show key patterns of physical and so