Sociospatial ties and postdisaster reconstruction: An analysis of the assemblage in the mega-fire of Valparaíso.

Disasters affect sociospatial links in a dynamic and unstable meshwork of aspects that are reconfigured. In this sense, accounting for this complexity is central to analyze the transformation of the sociospatial linkage of the affected people and communities. Addressing from community environmental psychology, we propose the concept of assemblage to guide a situated reading of subjective, material, and community aspects present in a reconstruction process after a disaster. Following a qualitative methodology, using spatially referenced narrative interviews (n = 16) and thematic analysis, it is described how these links are presented in a community that lived the mega-fire of a part of the city of Valparaíso in Chile. The results describe that the experience of being a community is a variable flow within a process defined by an ever-emerging configuration of spatial, technological, personal, social, and sensory characteristics. We conclude by pointing out the qualities of the communities when considered from an assemblage perspective.

Sentido de comunidad, participación y apego de lugar en comunidades desplazadas y no desplazadas post desastres: Chaitén y Constitución / Sense of Community, Participation and Place Attachment in Post Disasters Displaced and Non-displaced Communities: Chaitén and Constitución

La relación socio-espacial de personas y comunidades se ve afectada por procesos de desplazamientos a causa de desastres socio-naturales. A partir de experiencias de la comunidad disgregada de Chaitén por la erupción del volcán Chaitén y la que se mantuvo unida en Constitución después del terremoto de 2010, se exploró cómo los procesos vividos inciden en niveles de apego e identidad de lugar, así como sentido de comunidad y participación. Las comunidades estudiadas presentan diferentes vínculos espaciales y relacionales con respecto a su barrio de origen y actual. Las diferencias presentadas evidencian que vínculos comunitarios como aspectos psicológicos deben ser considerados centrales en la elaboración e implementación de estrategias para desplazamientos o reconstrucción. Se encuestó a un total de 224 personas.

Socio spatial relationships of people and communities are affected by processes of displacement due to socio-natural disasters. Based on the experiences of the disintegrated community of Chaitén by the eruption of the Chaitén volcano and the community which remained united in Constitution after the earthquake of 2010, this research explores how the experienced processes affect levels of place identity and place attachment, as well as in sense of community and participation. The studied communities express different spatial and relational links with their origin and actual neighborhood. Differences evidence that community bonds and psychological aspects must be considered as central in the development and implementation of displacement or reconstruction strategies post disasters. The survey considered a total of 224 individuals.