SPATIALITY OF SOCIAL MEMORIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DICTATORSHIP IN THE CONCEPCIÓN METROPOLITAN AREA (CMA), CHILE

Abstract

The Concepción Metropolitan Area (CMA) was one of the areas hit hardest by political repression and human rights violations during the dictatorship. Despite their impact, recent urban development has been erasing the materiality of memories linked to the period, highlighting the need to analyze and map their development in the territory. This article aims to dimension and territorially understand these places, using a qualitative documentary and geolocation methodology for their identification and listing, and then to conduct a spatial location and territorial distribution analysis. In this regard, a wide range of “silenced” sites are identified, while there are few spaces that evoke memories. A disproportion is observed between the number of political repression events and human rights violations and the lack of visible public spaces that account for these events. It is also relevant to note the inadequacy of existing spaces for contemporary memory practices, both in urban and architectural terms, raising questions regarding how social memories linked to the dictatorship are currently crystallized.