Company town: Persistence and variation in the meanings of space. The case of Huachipato Iron and Steel and its influence on the urban development of Í€œGreater ConcepciónÍ€

Abstract

This paper discusses the formation of spatial subjectivity associated with a particular way of inhabiting territories, focusing on the way in which these territories are experienced and perceived, both currently and as a projection of the future. This approach is applied to the residential spaces of the housing project developed by the Huachipato Iron and Steel industry in Concepción, Chile, starting in the 1940Í€™s. In this way, the viewpoint adopted is that of the on-going Í€œepistemic transformationsÍ€ of the social sciences and humanities, known as the Í€œgeographic turnÍ€. This shift opens an interesting discussion and has generated proposals that are detached from geographic rationalism and positivism, thus allowing for a significant return to issues regarding geographic sensitive experience Í€“ an experience closer to the identities that produce, practice, give form and significance to territories, spaces and memories, both socio-culturally and historically.