Abstract

Natural risks have an extensive history in Chile due to the highly recurrent natural hazards that interact in exposed territories, resulting in major disasters. These disasters have had very high social and economic costs, especially in coastal areas in which the most important urban centers in the country are located. In recent years, along with recurring natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and volcanic eruptions, there have been powerful hydrometeorological events such as mudslides, meteotsunamis and storm surges, which, in the context of climate change, have brought about a change in the traditional approach to risk studies in Chile. This change in the manner of generating knowledge about complex natural phenomena and social processes is affecting risk management and territorial planning applications, which are strongly rooted in the traditional risk model, which contrasts with current dynamic models in which resilience is a facilitator of adaptive processes. Risk as a classical geographic construct of the human ecology school founded by Gilbert White has gone through various evolutionary phases while maintaining its fundamental ability to reflect the degree of harmony between society and nature; however, in recent years we have seen how approaches originating in natural sciences, especially those related to climate change, have introduced new conceptions that compel a reassessment of traditional approximations. This chapter presents an analysis of how the study of natural risks in Chile has been approached relative to this global context, how studies have been incorporated into territorial planning and the challenges of doing so in changing territories in which urbanization processes largely shape the social construction of risk and its response to future change scenarios.