Geographic isolation: opportunity or constraint for the territories? Crossed eyes in Chilean Patagonia

The 11th region (Aysen del General Carlos Ibanez del Campo) is in Chile a space in a relative geographical isolation : the traditional communications (roads, airports) are little developed and in structuralization. The modern communication tools (telephone, internet) are still in the embryonic state. In this context, the isolation is lived as a major constraint the effects of which affect all the fields of the economic, social and environmental reality. The current population is concentrated essentially in some urban poles which gather 80 % of the population. The remaining 20 % live in even more remote areas, mountain valleys and islands. The isolation in these sites is even more obvious. The inhabitants develop, there, activities connected essentially to fishing and to extensive breeding. At stakes for these populations are the vital questions of the preservation of their activities and the recognition of their specificities, which certainly depend on a regional recognition and new means of communications.The subject of this research is to study the question of the isolation in the most geographically remote sectors (fjords, islands and mountain valleys) through the analysis of the perception of these remote population and public and political actors in Aysen. The study analyzes the assets and constraints associated with remoteness, and concludes on the stakes and perspectives of these peripheral areas and their population.Original Abstract: Revues Ouvrages Encyclopedies de poche Magazines L'etat du monde Revues Discipline Revue Numero Resume Article precedent Article suivant Page 47-59 Vous consultezL'isolement geographique : contrainte ou opportunite pour les territoires ? Regards croises en Patagonie chilienne AuteursIngrid Peuziat du meme auteur auteur correspondant. Geomer - LETG UMR 6554 CNRS (Universite de Bretagne Occidentale), Institut Universitaire Europeen de la Mer - Technopole Brest-Iroise, place Nicolas-Copernic - 29 285 Plouzane, France (ingrid.peuziat super(n)iv-brest.fr) et al. Resume Au Chili, la XIe region (Aysen del General Carlos Ibanez del Campo) est un espace relativement isole geographiquement. Les moyens de communication traditionnels (routes, aeroportsa) restent peu developpes et sont en cours de structuration. Les outils modernes (telephonie, interneta) restent a l'etat embryonnaire. Dans ce contexte, l'isolement est vecu comme une contrainte majeure dont les effets affectent tous les champs de la realite economique, sociale et