The conventional understanding and model of development is based on economic growth. This dominant way of creating development has consequences to natural, cultural and social environments, which cannot be overlooked. The transformations within these environments are increasingly connected to the prevailing socio-economic model of neoliberalism, but are often not considered in its contextualization at a local scale. The processes of production of space and nature under the neoliberal doctrine have led to economic restructuration and to conformation of geographies of neoliberal environment, which together transform localities. There is an increasing need to investigate how the local inhabitants understand and experience these processes and their outcomes. In this research, place is introduced as an insight to observe these problematics. Place in this research is understood as a changing and dynamic terrain, which articulates experiences of development.
This research is qualitative case study which investigates the consequences of production of space and nature in Curepto, Chile. Curepto is one of the localities where the implementation of a normative framework for economic growth has resulted in extensive areas of foreign tree species monoculture and important physical and socio-spatial transformations related to them. The primary aim of this research is to investigate the local inhabitants' accounts of these transformations. The thesis investigates how the locality has changed, but focuses on what these changes have meant for the local community and their sense of place. Physical, sociocultural and emotive dimensions of place as well as their transformations were investigated using qualitative methods, mainly semi-structured interviews. Residents were interviewed both in urban and rural districts.
The findings of this research indicate that the forest industry and tree plantations have been important drivers behind the physical and socio-spatial transformations. The extensive plantations of pine and eucalyptus have changed the physical environment and these transformations are reflected in the social and cultural geography. Environmental degradation, changed circumstances of land property, loss of native forests and drought constitute transformations that affect livelihoods negatively especially in the rural districts, and come in parallel with a loss of local tradition and culture. The meaningful space the inhabitants experience diminishes and is made more one-sided, as access to the natural environment becomes more difficult and the interaction with it is lost. Although transformations within place are considered negative, the meaningful relation inhabitants have with place remains positive. Participants redetermine their practices and livelihoods, and re-articulate the relation with their surroundings in order to stay in their place. The local community lives in a space that is both familiar and foreign to them, loved and hated at the same time.
