Port-city symbiosis and uneven development: a critical essay on forestry exports and maritime trade from Coronel, Chile

Abstract

This article explores the concept of port-city territory symbiosis in combination with social and environmental impacts of logistics, port handling, and the global value chains (GVC) of forestry products. Based on fieldwork and a mixed method approach, our analyses of the port-city of Coronel, its forestry hinterland, the port company PuertoCoronel, and the pulp mill MAPA, illustrate a more general pattern of uneven economic, social and spatial development. While forestry and port companies improve and modernize their processes and facilities, the city of Coronel and its territories seem to be left behind. As this case study shows, symbiosis makes an exciting contribution to the study of port-city-territories, if one expands the latter to include its connections to other territories upstream of the GVC, and conceives them as an integral part of the global economy. Additionally, our analysis challenges the concept of symbiosis by providing a critical twist to include phenomena such as environmental injustices and asymmetric relations between companies and local communities and their territories.