Co-producing the right to fail: resilient grassroot cooperativism in a Chilean informal settlement

Gateways or backdoors to development? Filtering mechanisms and territorial embeddedness in the Chilean copper GPN’s urban system

“…The availability of strategic assets in Gran Santiago is complemented with the lack of such assets in mining regions where urban agglomerations lack scale and are extremely dependent on the extractive activity and, therefore, subject to the high instability of boom‐bust cycles, including the backdoor city of Antofagasta. Furthermore, these extractive hinterlands are characterised by high costs of living, lack of land for business development, negative externalities related to the mining activities, weak connectivity, and a small stock of labour force (Arias‐Loyola & Vergara‐Perucich, 2020; Atienza et al., 2020). This situation has deep historical roots and is partially explained by the second filtering mechanism proposed by Breul and Revilla Díez (2019) focused on the role of institutions.…”

Community mapping with a public participation geographic information system in informal settlements

“…Nonetheless, these migrants have achieved a solid sense of belonging, a strong desire for overcoming their current difficulties, and, most importantly, a political organisation through which they aim to gain the right to the city in order to improve their quality of life. They have designed and implemented different strategies for such ends; these include (i) the first cooperative bakery in Chile to generate a steady income, (ii) a complex political body composed of 13 committees that organise decision‐making processes in the settlement, (iii) a continuous presence in the local and national media, and (iv) a strong commitment to upgrading their slums and achieving dignified living conditions (Arias‐Loyola & Vergara‐Perucich, 2020; Vergara‐Perucich & Arias‐Loyola, 2019).…”

“…Thus, the housing system is a top‐down scheme by which the government provides unilateral solutions, giving ownership rights to the dwellers who fulfil the requirements and patiently wait for their turn in the queue. This scheme produced a stark reduction in urban poverty since 1990, but it was a trend that did not last long (Arias‐Loyola & Vergara‐Perucich, 2020).…”

“…Indeed, in Antofagasta City the number of families living in slums has increased from 632 in 2007 to 6,831 in 2018, which translates to an increase of around 980% (CIS TECHO‐Chile, 2016; TECHO, 2018). This expulsion of workers and families from the formal city has been an indirect outcome of the rising cost of living, mostly because of severe speculation in the housing market influenced by the mining super‐cycle bonanza (Arias‐Loyola & Vergara‐Perucich, 2020; Vergara‐Perucich & Aguirre Nuñez, 2019; Vergara‐Perucich & Boano, 2019). Such dark sides of extractive Chilean geographies have required different strategies to deal with housing scarcity and affordability (Phelps, Atienza, & Arias, 2018).…”

“…Tired of waiting and because of the extremity of their needs, some Chilean slum‐dwellers are advancing their own solutions via bottom‐up, solidarity‐based approaches that are meant to increase their productive autonomy and the recognition of their rights to the city. Among these, informal grassroot movements have fostered self‐empowerment and strategic multipartite alliances with academics, civil society and other slum‐dwellers' organisations, politicians, and national and international NGOs to provide stronger, novel, and effective responses to their extreme problems (Arias‐Loyola & Vergara‐Perucich, 2020; Vergara‐Perucich & Arias‐Loyola, 2019).…”