Browsing by Author "Roman, Alvaro"

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    Neostructural innovation and directionality in Chilean salmon aquaculture
    (ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2023) Barton, Jonathan R.; Baeza-Gonzalez, Sebastian; Hopp, Joaquin Zenteno; Roman, Alvaro
    The recent work of Mariana Mazzucato on the role of public funding in economic development seeks to rebalance debates on innovation to highlight the role of the State, as opposed to the dominant narrative of unregulated private initiative. This is particularly relevant for the case of the Chilean salmon industry where, besides the diffusion of technology and management practices by a combination of international agencies and private initiatives, its boom has been supported by considerable national public funding since the 1970s and especially after the transition to democracy in 1990. In this regard, the main argument of this paper is that the innovation system of the Chilean salmon industry should be understood within a neostructural model of economic development. However, although the State has had an essential role in financing and promoting innovation, we found that it has not served as a guiding entity (directionality) for how innovation should be undertaken. This is important to recognise since it helps to explain why the Chilean salmon industry has been able to direct innovation towards its own economic interests without attending to broader social issues related to its operations, despite this public expenditure. The main conclusion is that, due to the type of knowledge developed and how innovations are valued within the sector's innovation system, the goal is to increase volume, reduce costs, and marginally mitigate negative socio-ecological externalities.
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    Social Movement Strategies for Articulating Claims for Socio-Ecological Justice: Glocal Asymmetries in the Chilean Forestry Sector
    (ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2012) Barton, Jonathan R.; Roman, Alvaro
    Pinochet's 1974 forestry law led to a rapid increase in development of the sector in southern Chile. Although there have been new employment opportunities and associated economic multiplier effects, the negative impacts of the sector, both socially and environmentally, have been widespread and have generated responses from diverse social organisations. Nevertheless, the capacity of these organisations to act collectively and create alliances against the sector's dominant, mainstream actors has been weak. The article argues that different social movements fail to capitalise on horizontal linkages in order to press their claims for socio-ecological justice related to the development of the forestry sector. This is a product of a strong stateindustry link and high concentration in a sector dominated by two firms, a relic of the power geometries established under the dictatorship. Different social movementsunions, environmental NGOs, and indigenous groupsmanifest these concerns about the socio-ecological impacts and make claims against the sector which often lead to direct conflicts. This article focuses how these claims are made, both horizontally among actors within the region, and vertically beyond the region to the national and global scales (glocalisation). Despite developing stronger vertical networks, the movements remain fragmented and marginal relative to the influence of the forestry firms. Given this lack of capacity to generate collective demands, grassroots claims for redistribution and rights protection are severely restricted.
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    Urban restructuring of globalized territories: A charaterization of the organic growth of the cities of Chiloe, 1979-2008
    (PONTIFICA UNIV CATOLICA CHILE, INST GEOGRAFIA, 2013) Barton, Jonathan; Pozo, Ricardo; Roman, Alvaro; Salazar, Alejandro; CEDEUS (Chile)
    Chiloe archipelago has experienced profound socio-spatial changes since the early 1980s. The localization and progressive consolidation of the salmon industry changed the velocity and composition of the urbanization process in the province, generating new forms of spatial occupation. This can be seen in a new urban typology characterized by nine forms of occupation. This typology emerges from an analysis of the morphological evolution of five cities using GIS. The article concludes that the insertion of small and medium size cities in circuits, or networks of global capital takes place at a high velocity, leaving urban planning, a public function, behind. Consequently, urban planning ends up as an instrument of recognition of organic urban growth and not of regulation and growth orientation. This situation of differentiated velocities generates disequilibria that negatively