Social Actor’s Networks in Heritagization Processes Within Postindustrial Neighborhoods: Bellavista Tome in Chile, 2008-2017

Abstract

In Chile, as in the rest of the world , industrial heritage shows varying degrees of valuation. That is how several industrial neighborhoods, particularly those located in intermediate cities, are struggling between the ‘ruinification’ or the redevelopment of its built heritage. This problem has gained notoriety in the last decades due to increasingly mobilized citizens, to which state actors have responded reactively. Using Bellavista’s textile neighborhood as a case study, the purpose of this research is to analyze theinteraction, agenda, and ability to influence of different types of actors in the heritagization processesas well as the strategies used in particular by social actors to overcome power asymmetries. The discourse and network analysis (SNA) showed powerful evidence regarding the organization of social actors in intersectoral and multi-scale ‘communities’, which are in turn articulated around key actors. The analysis also shows the importance of these links to modify power asymmetries, as well as the articulating potential of the local government. However, this potential is strongly limited because of its ambivalent trajectory and the consequent distrust of social organizations.