Relearning to travel in Santiago: the importance of mobile place-making and travelling know-how

Cities today are experiencing constant, significant and abrupt infrastructural and spatial transformations. This is particularly evident in Metropolitan cities and more specifically, in cities in the Global South. Over the last decade, the implementation of Transantiago-a new public transport system-created greater awareness about the relevance of mobility practices in everyday life in the city. The intervention generated general unrest and particular daily challenges to Santiago’s residents requiring them to suddenly adapt, relearn and create ways of making sense of the complex situation that took place. It also generated major challenges for Transantiago implementers, who had to quickly react to the importance of everyday mobility experiences. Based on ethnographic research on mobility practices in Santiago de Chile prior and after Transantiago, this article presents the idea of mobile place-making as well as the various strategies urban travellers develop to adapt and create new ways of making sense of the city on a daily basis as it transforms. The results explore how travellers creatively find ways of learning or relearning to use new mobile spaces based on a travelling know-how which thickens the more mobility is practised, thus providing new possibilities within these places on the move

Gastronomy as a National Identity Element:The Peruvian Case

Purpose — The aim is to describe the cultural richness of Peruvian racial diversity. The articulating and unifying role of Peruvian gastronomy is highlighted in building a national identity, which acts as a platform for social cohesion. Design/Methodology/Approach — Qualitative analysis is used in order to understand the drivers that enabled a cultural revolution through gastronomy. Findings — Under a vast cultural diversity, gastronomy arises to articulate and unify it into a common sense of national identity and social inclusion. Although Peruvian gastronomic boom started as an initiative of a group of entrepreneurs, it actually has had an impact at society level. Research Limitations/Implications — Ethnographic studies among different social classes and racial groups are needed in order to elucidate the perceptions that they have regarding their social inclusion. At a quantitative level, econometric studies could be conducted to reflect the impact of gastronomy on poverty reduction or on inequality reduction, especially in urban-marginal or rural areas. Practical Implications — Gastronomy is also a business strategy model on the basis of the creation of a cluster as a viable alternative for developing countries. Social Implications — Peruvians no matter their racial heritage or social class are proud of their cousin and of being Peruvians, creating a sense of national union and social inclusion. Originality/Value — The contribution is to highlight the importance of gastronomy as one of the main articulators in the construction of national identity under a racially diverse population. Society, public policy officers, and businesses may benefit from this

A critical approach in the context of chilean forestry cities

This chapter has been written with the support of the Chilean National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT), FONDECYT project 1150770 and PIA-CONICYT Anillo Soc 1404.One of the most important processes since the late 1970s regarding land use and spatial changes in the central-southern Chilean regions has been the expansion of forest plantations. Besides, one of the main consequences in the new field of social and cultural geography is the reconfiguration of urban life and land planning management in some important medium and small cities that rely on the forestry industry. This chapter explores how globalization has influenced and redefined the idea of such cities. It also highlights the influence and the political roles of private forestry agents with regard to redefining the city and ensuring a particular path of development, that maybe offers a new dimension of political economy and a new notion about territory. The reorganization of the space, rural–urban migrations, heavy concentration of real estate ownership, monoculture, extreme dependence, and socio-natural disasters are some interesting consequences of this spatial process