Disaster risk reduction in Chile: a typology of planning action

Amidst global calls for resilience and disaster risk reduction (DRR), this article examines how municipal planners in hazard-prone Chile interpret and implement DRR under conditions of institutional ambiguity and resource scarcity. Drawing on actor-centred institutionalism, street-level bureaucracy, and planning theory, it analyses interviews with municipal staff to explore contextual constraints, motivational action orientations, and discretionary actions shaping local DRR. Findings disclose that planners respond to the contextually limited scope for action through five types of motivational orientations. They lead to actions such as community capacity building, the implementation of technical measures, emergency collaboration and individual as well as institutional professionalisation.