Urban growth and indigenous land. Real estate strategies and urban dynamics in Temuco (Chile)

Abstract

This manuscript reviews the urban growth process in the Temuco-Padre las Casas conurbation (Chile) on indigenous land, highlighting three topics of great interest. First, the ability of legislation to regulate the protection of indigenous land. Second, the role played by the real estate sector as the main protagonist of urban expansion on indigenous land. Finally, the subsidiary role of those who should be the main actors: indigenous communities. The consequence is a process of material and symbolic dispossession of the Mapuche population, which reinforces the dynamics of settler colonialism existing in the region and presents parallels and divergences with other international cases. For this, the methodology used combined quantitative data with qualitative information, spatializing the former and giving greater weight to the latter as an interpretive key. The results reflect a disagreement between a legislation incapable of regulating urban growth and responding to indigenous demands, and a reality marked by increasing pressure on the Mapuche population and lands. This shows a situation that is present in Chile but can be extrapolated to other countries in the region.