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Sacrifice zones and the construction of urban energy landscapes in Concepción,

Sacrifice zones and the construction of urban energy landscapes in Concepción, Chile Vanesa Castán Broto a1 Martín Sanzana Calvet b a University of Sheffield, UK b Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos para el Desarrollo Humano, Chile Abstract This article examines how national energy policies in Chile constitute urban energy landscapes characterized by environmental and spatial inequalities. The concept of urban energy landscapes is deployed to explain the spatial patterns resulting from energy governance and energy conflicts in the metropolitan area of Concepción, a metropolitan region of strategic importance in the configuration of national energy policy. These urban energy landscapes result from the constitution of 'sacrifice zones' that reflect an extractivist model of energy production. The combination of qualitative interviews and transect walks reveals different aspects of a dual arrangement of energy infrastructure and urbanization. The city's fragmented landscapes emerge from the coexistence of energy infrastructure and associated industries, with daily activities of communities that have little to do with these industries but live in their shadow. Conflicts in these urban energy landscapes are intense, with every inch of space contested by competing modes of 'being urban.' The urban energy landscape in Concepción is an expression of a clash of social and economic power with local priorities. Keywords: urban energy landscapes, industrial landscapes, sacrifice zones, energy conflicts, coal energy, Chile Résumé Cet article examine comment les politiques énergétiques nationales au Chili constituent des «paysages énergétiques urbains» caractérisés par des inégalités environnementales et spatiales. Le concept de paysages énergétiques urbains est déployé pour expliquer les schémas spatiaux résultant de la gouvernance énergétique et des conflits énergétiques dans l'aire métropolitaine de Concepción, une région métropolitaine d'importance stratégique dans la configuration de la politique énergétique nationale. Ces paysages énergétiques urbains résultent de la constitution de «zones sacrificielles» qui reflètent un modèle extractiviste de production d'énergie. La combinaison d'entretiens qualitatifs et de marches de transect révèle différents aspects d'un double arrangement d'infrastructures énergétiques et d'urbanisation. Les paysages fragmentés de la ville émergent de la coexistence des infrastructures énergétiques et des industries associées, avec les activités quotidiennes des collectivités qui ont peu à voir avec ces industries mais vivent dans leur ombre. Les conflits dans ces paysages énergétiques urbains sont intenses, chaque centimètre d'espace étant contesté par des modes concurrents «d'être urbain». Le paysage énergétique urbain de Concepción est l'expression d'un choc entre le pouvoir social et économique et les priorités locales. Mots-clés: paysages énergétiques urbains, paysages industriels, zones sacrificielles, conflits énergétiques, charbon, Chili 1 Dr. Vanesa Castán Broto, Professor, Sheffield Urban Institute and Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. Email: v.castanbroto "at" sheffield.ac.uk; Dr. Martín Sanzana Calvet, Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos para el Desarrollo Humano, San Pedro de la Paz, Chile. Email: biourbe "at" gmail.com. Funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) is gratefully acknowledged (Grant number: ES/K001361/1, Mapping Urban Energy Landscapes). Thanks to Prof. Casey Walsh and three anonymous reviewers for their consideration and suggestions. Castán Broto and Sanzana Calvet Sacrifice zones and urban energy landscapes Journal of Political Ecology Vol 27, 2020 280 Resumen Este artículo estudia la constitución de paisajes energéticos urbanos caracterizados por desigualdades ambientales y espaciales cómo resultado de las políticas energéticas nacionales en Chile. El concepto de paisajes energéticos urbanos sirve para explicar los impactos de la gobernanza energética y los conflictos energéticos en el área metropolitana de Concepción, prestando atención a la manifestación de los impactos en el espacio urbano. Concepción es una región metropolitana de importancia estratégica para la política energética nacional. Sus paisajes energéticos urbanos demuestran la constitución de "zonas de sacrificio" como resultado de un modelo extractivista de producción de energía. El análisis en este artículo combina entrevistas cualitativas y transectos a pie para explicar la configuración de un paisaje energético dividido en dos: una parte que sirve a la política energética nacional y otra que sostiene el consumo energético local. Los paisajes fragmentados de la ciudad reflejan la coexistencia de grandes infraestructuras de la industria energética con comunidades urbanas que tienen poca relación con esas industria pero que viven bajo su sombra. Los conflictos en estos paisajes de energía urbana son intensos. Cada centrímeto de espacio está en disputa y sirve para reclamar una modelo de vida urbana alternativo. El paisaje energético urbano en Concepción refleja el choque del poder social y económico con las prioridades locales. Palabras clave: paisajes energéticos urbanos, paisajes industriales, zonas de sacrificio, conflictos energéticos, energía del carbón, Chile. 1. Introduction In January 2015 the notion of 'sacrifice zones' entered the public debate in Chile after the municipal leaders of five boroughs (Tocopilla, Huasco, Quintero, Coronel, and Puchuncaví) met to demand action from the national government. Sacrifice zones, they argued, are urban areas exposed to extreme degrees of environmental pollution and degradation caused by the concentration of industrial activities, such as coal mining or electricity generation. The recognition of their boroughs as sacrifice zones, they argued, is the first step towards a radically different model of development. In Chile, the notion of sacrifice zones is a compelling narrative that has galvanized feminist social movements against extractivist models of economic development (Bolados García and Sánchez Cuevas 2017). Energy industries are an integral part of national imaginaries of modernization (Kale 2014), and Chile is not an exception. In Chile, the social, economic, and environmental costs of energy industries have been justified in the name of achieving national development and economic growth. In the 1950s, the country's development strategy promoted the construction and operation of large and state-owned energy infrastructures to boost industrialization and improve living standards. In the 1980s, neoliberal policies enacted by Pinochet's dictatorial regime led to the commodification of energy alongside the privatization and liberalization of energy production and distribution. Since the 1990s, foreign capital has fostered the expansion of the country's electricity production and distribution capabilities. This aggressive model of energy development has become increasingly contested, with the mobilization of local governments, civil society organizations and grassroots groups concerned with the environmental and health impacts of energy infrastructure (Schaeffer and Smits 2015). Nevertheless, these movements have not shifted the extractivist logic that prevails over local concerns about energy development projects in Chile (Feron et al. 2019). This article asks, to what extent do the urban energy landscapes of the metropolitan area of Concepción reflect extractive models of energy development? The metropolitan area of Concepción, including Coronel (one of Chile's sacrifice zones), is a paradigmatic example of the materialization of an extractivist model of energy production in an urban area. The whole energy landscape of the metropolitan area of Concepción reflects profound spatial transformations that have taken place to serve the fossil fuel industry. Resource extraction and electricity generation infrastructures shape—through pollution and stigma—the physical and the representational setting of the areas hosting them (Castán Broto et al. 2010). Studies of energy landscapes contribute to political ecology because they relate landscape transformations to community mobilization against extractive models of energy production and use (e.g., Pasqualetti 2001). Communities' concerns have gained weight worldwide as regulators, empowered communities, and energy innovators have sought to respond to climate change and global sustainability challenges (Pasqualetti 2011; Soini et al. 2011). However, calls for greater community autonomy and energy sovereignty are few and far between (Avila Calero 2017; Castán Broto Castán Broto and Sanzana Calvet Sacrifice zones and urban energy landscapes Journal of Political Ecology Vol 27, 2020 281 2017a). Current practices of energy production and use continue to appropriate space and transform settlements all over the world. Sacrifice zones emerge from highly disputed systems of energy provision. Landscape research methods can support place-based analyses to reveal the political ecology of energy and the constitution of sacrifice zones in cities such as Concepción. For example, the boroughs in the metropolitan area of Concepción, especially the Borough of Coronel, have a history of resource and labor exploitation that has constituted them into sacrifice zones. The extraction and transformation of energy resources has taken precedence over preserving local livelihoods. However, the narrative of sacrifice zones does not capture Concepción's energy landscape in its entirety. Another inhabited energy landscape emerges in the interstices of large infrastructure networks. Many large energy infrastructures in Chile are nowadays either operating, under construction, or planned within city boundaries. An analysis of the constitution of energy landscapes in urban areas—urban energy landscapes—requires distinct analytical tools to reflect the landscape dynamics that result from the proximity of large infrastructures and dense human settlements. However, urban areas have largely been absent from analyses of energy landscapes because this literature has mainly focused on large-scale landscape transformations in rural settings (e.g., Blaschke et al. 2013; Cowell 2010; De Boer et al. 2018; Jefferson 2018; Nadaï and Van Der Horst 2010; Pasqualetti 2000; Soini et al. 2011). Concepción in Chile is the capital of Bio Bio, the country's central energy-producing region. The city presents a paradigmatic case that demonstrates how the transformation of landscapes threatens local economic growth, energy transitions, and the well-being of local populations. Our analysis focuses on the governance of energy, urban energy conflicts, and the spatial constitution of energy landscapes uploads/Ingenierie_Lourd/ jpe-2233-castan-broto-zonas-de-sacrificio-en-concepcion.pdf