Master Plans as Cosmograms: Articulating Oceanic Forms and Urban Forms After the 2010 Earthquake and Tsunami in Chile

The 2010 tsunami that severely affected coastal towns in Chile posed a novel cosmopolitical challenge: how to cope with the radical asymmetry between human life and overwhelming oceanic forces. In this article, I discuss the different ways master plans for sustainable reconstruction proposed to recompose an urban cosmos where human life with future tsunamis would be possible. I focus on three distinct cosmogrammatic operations: the territorialization of tsunami risk, the classification of entities and urban activities, and commonalization of urban works. Through these operations, master plans seek not just to govern human populations, in order to reduce their exposure to mortal danger, but also to govern tsunamis, in order to soften, or even civilize, their behavior in the city.     «

The 2010 tsunami that severely affected coastal towns in Chile posed a novel cosmopolitical challenge: how to cope with the radical asymmetry between human life and overwhelming oceanic forces. In this article, I discuss the different ways master plans for sustainable reconstruction proposed to recompose an urban cosmos where human life with future tsunamis would be possible. I focus on three distinct cosmogrammatic operations: the territorialization of tsunami risk, the classification of entit...     »