Beatriz Bustos & Javiera Larraín: Spatial Refiguration in Resource Frontiers: The Interplay of Infrastructure and Markets in Chile’s Central Region. [Abstract]

The economy of Chile’s central region has historically been based on agricultural production. Its Mediterranean climate, the connectivity provided by the Pan-American Highway, and its proximity to metropolitan areas have all been critical factors in the persistence of the agricultural tradition. More recently, the export-oriented logic pushed by the state during the neoliberal era has intensified the region’s economic vocation as a producer of commodities such as food and timber. However, over the past 30 years, changing global market demands and climatic conditions have triggered various actions and reactions on the part of producers, with varied spatial and economic effects. Drawing on the notion of the expansion of resource and commodity frontiers, this paper focuses on the cases of the O’Higgins and Maule regions to examine how infrastructure (in the form of roads, trans-mission lines, and reservoirs), climate variability, and economic conditions are driving spatial refiguration in resource frontiers.

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