Cultivating the edge

Cultivating the edgeThe current process of expansion of the marginal barrios of Lima: a sustainable vision for José Carlos Mariátegui in San Juan de LuriganchoAdvanced Master of Human SettlementsSara Bearzatto

Cultivating the edgeThe current process of expansion of the marginal barrios of Lima: a sustainable vision for José Carlos Mariátegui in San Juan de Lurigancho

Advanced Master of Human SettlementsAcademic year 2013-2014

Author: Sara BearzattoPromoter: Dr. Viviana d’Auria

Faculty of Engineering ScienceDepartment of Architecture

Leuven, September 2014

AcknowledgmentsI would like to express my sincere gratitude to Viviana d’Auria for her close and steadfast supervision of this research project. I am also indebted to Carlo Esteban Escalante Estrada and the team at CENCA for the generous support and stimulating exchanges and to the staff and students of the Development Planning Unit of University College London for allowing me to participate in their workshops. Liliana Miranda Sara was a source of energy and inspiration throughout the process. Last but not least I thank the interviewees and inhabitants from José Carlos Mariátegui for the openness and generosity with which they shared their urban experiences at the edge of the fascinating city that is Lima.

This work is dedicated to my husband and my family for their loving support.

“Nada importa, en la historia, el valor abstracto de una idea. Lo que importa es su valor concreto.”

“The abstract value of an idea matters nothing in history. What matters is its concrete value.”

JOSÉ CARLOS MARIÁTEGUI

“La Liberta de la Enseñanza”, in: Mundial, Lima, 22.5.1925

Acronyms

ANP Áreas Naturales Protegidas, Protected Natural Areas

AF Agrupación Familiar, Family Association

AH Asetamiento Humano, Human Settlement

CIDAP Centro de Investigación, Documentación y Asesoría Poblacional, Centre for Research, Documentation and Demographic Consultancy

CISMID Centro Peruano Japonés de Investigaciones Sísmicas y Mitigación de Desastres, Peruvian Japanese Seismic Research and Disaster Mitigation Centre

COFOPRI Organismo de Formalización de la Propiedad Informal, Agency for the Formalization of Informal Property

EDELNOR Empresa de Distribución Eléctrica de Lima Norte, Electricity Distribution Company of North Lima

IGP Instituto Geofísico del Perú, Peruvian Geophysical Institute

IMP Instituto Metropolitano de Planificación, Metropolitan Planning Institute

INDECI Instituto Nacional de Defensa Civil, National Institute of Civil Protection

INEI Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática, National Institute of Statistics and Information

JCM José Carlos Mariátegui

MML Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima, Municipality of Metropolitan Lima

NGO Non Governamental Organization

PLAM 2035 Plan Metropolitano de Desarrollo Urbano de Lima y Callao, Metropolitan Urban Development Plan of Lima and Callao

SEDAPAL Servicio de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de Lima, Potable Water and Sewage Service of Lima

SJL San Juan de Lurigancho

SUNARP Superintendencia Nacional de los Registros Públicos, National Superintendent of Public Records

All images, maps, schemes and text produce by the author except where noted. All photos taken by the author in May and June 2014 except where noted.

Table of contentsAbstract 8

Introduction 10

Problem definition Scope Research Questions Work structure

Methodology 14

Choice of case study Mapping Fieldwork

Defining the edge 19

The right to the city 20 The “invasions” House scarcity and housing policies The borders of/in the city Nowadays expansion The “walls of shame”

Geological risk and climate change 26 Barrio Mio risk mitigation program

Ecological structure of Lima 28 The unique ecosystem of the lomas El Niño events Program Las Lomas and Mi Huerta Ecological infrastructure strategy Humans and lomas

Stretching the edge 33

Land dynamics at the edge of the city 34 José Carlos Mariátegui borders Settling into the quebradas Land management Agrupaciones Familiares Rural communities and land trafficking

Self-urbanization 48 Stages of dwelling consolidation House construction Infrastructure Access to basic services

Quebrada La Fortaleza: expanding to the top 58

Quebrada Los Angeles: green slopes 62

Quebrada Verde: the strength of the AF 66

Including the edge 71

A connective border 72 Arrest the expansion Risk resilience City inclusion

Conclusions 83

Bibliography 85

Lima keeps expanding, house by house, plot by plot. Far beyond the constructed and administrative limits, the city develops in a capillary way through narrower and narrower gullies, climbing the Andean massifs, invading the fragile ecosystem of the lomas in what appears to be an unstoppable process.

People settle virgin land in the hope that one day it will become a city through the same process as neighbouring areas: first invasion, then access to basic services and later formalization. However for those recent settlements that are located on steep terrain there are fundamental technical and safety issues that hinder their possibility of urbanization. Because of their extreme topography, access to basic services and the construction of mobility infrastructures are difficult. The terrain is furthermore at high risk of seismic shocks and rain induced landslides and erosion. The occurence and intensity of rainfall events will be exacerbated as a result of climate change. Nevertheless people inhabit these areas because they can not find an alternative in the consolidated city. Thus what is the future of these marginal settlements?

This work presents a planning vision that breaks with current dynamics and conceives a more sustainable scenario in which the limit of the city is definitively defined and marginal settlements are included in its life. Such a shift in city planning can

take place by giving a specific role to these areas, in connection with the particular environment where their inhabitants have settled. In this sense the presence of the valuable natural phenomenon of the lomas and the abundant availability of un-built terrain are potential sources of a new identity. The area of José Carlos Mariátegui (JCM) in San Juan de Lurigancho district is taken as a case study as it is emblematic of city-wide issues related to topography, risk, speculation, environmental injustice and social exclusion.

This paper also explores the possibility of introducing productive landscapes as a source of food and income generation. More particularly urban farming is investigated as a means to define the border, as a modality of the terrain’s consolidation and as a transitional space between the constructed and the natural environment. Water would be supplied through a low technology system, already in use in some neighbourhoods, that condenses the fog, in combination with a grey water recycling system. Urban farmers would intrinsically control the stability of the cultivated border. Some parts of the lomas can be made accessible through sensitive interventions that attract people from other parts of the city and favour social encounters as well as nurture the local economy through weekend markets and restoration points.

Abstract

8

CULTIVATING THE EDGE

x1 Metropolitan LimaSecond world largest city in a desert 8,693,387 residents (INEI, 2010)It will hit 9.5 mil by 2019 (INEI, 2010)1/3 is self-constructed3.5 mil people live in informal settlements(CIDAP, 2008)

x4 San Juan de Lurigancho District1,047,725 residents (INEI, 2010)Most populous district of LimaEstablished in 1967Popular district mostly formed through informal occupation

x8 José Carlos Mariátegui CommunityAH established in the early 90ies by informal occupationComposed by a myriad of AF Current expansion along gullies and hillsides

9

ABSTRACT

Problem definition

One third of Lima is composed of self-constructed settlements that originate through “invasions” of unclaimed land (Matos Mar, 2013). From the end of the 1940s till the 1970s large groups of immigrants coming from the provinces organized themselves and occupied available land in Lima in this way, self-building vast parts of the city through what has been defined as the Social Production of Habitat (Ortiz, 2002). They were pushed out of the provinces by reasons of security1 and poverty2 and went in search of opportunities in the city. The population of Lima increased drastically from the 1950s till the 1908s reaching a peak annual growth rate in the decade from 1961- 1972 of almost 6 percent (INEI, 2004). The government did not provide any viable alternatives and encouraged the invasions as an answer to the immense housing demand. This happened both indirectly, by not actively opposing them, and directly by enacting laws that formalize informally built settlements and led to the formation of institutes such as the Organization for the Formalization of Informal Property (COFOPRI). In this way many barrios (neighbourhoods characterized by informal formation) were born in what is now Lima Norte, Lima Este and Lima Sur.

Nowadays the barrios have mostly completed their process of consolidation and they form the most populous districts of Lima: Comas and San Martin de Porres in the North, San Juan de Lurigancho in the East and Villa El Salvador and Villa María del Triunfo in the South.

Since the 1990s city growth has slowed down considerably and the growth rate in 2012-2013 was 1.57 (INEI, 2013), which means about 150,000 new citizens a year. Even today Lima keeps expanding in its outskirts through processes of land occupation.

The recent invasions from the 1990s onwards however, present different characteristics from the historical ones. They differ in size: while before in most cases there were massive actions of several hundreds or even thousands of people, now action

1 The 80ies and 90ies were difficult and unstable years for the country due to the fight between government and the terroristic organization Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru)2 In 1980 64% of Peruvian rural families were poor (Eco-nomical Commision for Latin America and the Carribean, 1990).

is taken individually or in small groups. They differ also in the location: as flat land and large ravines were saturated by the first waves of invasions3, recent settlements are now located on the slopes of the Andean foothills that surround the city. Such as inaccessible position leads to isolation from the rest of the city and renders the access to basic services challanging (Barreda & Corzo, 2004). The settlements of recent expansion, besides posing questions in terms of liveability, present particular challenges vis-à-vis risk levels and ecological impact. Their location on steep slopes of unstable soil places the inhabitants at high risk in case of earthquakes, a highly relevant issue in seismically active areas like the Peruvian coast.

Furthermore with regards to ecological issues, Lima is located in a desert and rain is rare. Existing rainfall, measured at less than 5 mm per year, is the result of the fog that originates from the ocean. However, according to the most accredited climate change scenarios, rains may become a more frequent event in the area, causing mudslides and mobility issues in general in the new settlements which, as in all of Lima, lack a drainage system. In the event of particularly heavy and frequent rains, it can be assumed that the dry gullies where the settlements find their first path towards further expansion, would be the natural collector of water, presenting a significant health hazerd to the inhabitants, causing substantial damage to self-built housing and also probably blocking the main access roads to the barrios.

Another ecological impact concerns how the urbanized tissue has reached the areas of the lomas and is destroying large parts of it. The lomas are a unique eco-system present along the coastal area of Peru and northern Chile that formed as a result of their particular geographic location at tropical latitudes overlooking a cold sea. It is a seasonal phenomenon occurring in winter in parts of the first line of sandy mountains that usually consist of desert territory. These flourish with moss, small vegetation and even woody plants. This lomas phenomenon, accentuated by El Niño4, is particularly important in a desert

3 The very first invasions, the one of San Cosme and El Agustino were on steep land too, but on isolated moun-tains that were located inside the city.4 El Niño refers to variations in the temperature of the surface of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean and in air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific. El Niño accompanies high air surface pressure in the western Pacific.

Introduction

10


Areas of current expansion(Policia Nacional del Peru, Division de Asuntos Sociales)

Informal Expansion

Areas of recent informal expansion Informal settlements established in the last 15 years and upcoming expansion

Generic lomas formations and lomas conservation areas

The lomas

Generic lomas formations and lomas parks Generic lomas formations and recent informal expansion

Areas at high and very high natural risk(National Institut of Civil - INDECI)

Geological Risk

Steep land with medium and high risk of landslides and rockfalls (CISMID)

Areas at high and very high natural risk (Barrio Mio Program, MML)

MetropolitanLima

San Juan de LuriganchoDistrict

José Carlos Mariátegui Community

11

INTRODUCTION

city like Lima, not only for its biological value and oxygen regeneration, but also for its role in the water cycle. The presence of plants encourages fog condensation and helps introduce it into the underground water system (Haas & Dillon, 2003).

These issues related with the recent expansion are not addressed in an integrated way at the planning level, as there is little (if any) coordination among public authorities (Riofrío, 2010). Public authorities and other organizations operating in the territory are organized in institutes that sectorally address risk mitigation (INDECI), the poor living conditions of the marginal barrios (NGOs) and ecological aspects (“Lomas de Lima” program by Metropolitan Municipality of Lima), while the water supply and other basic services are taken care of by private entities: Edelnor for electricity and SEDAPAL for water. Even though there is a recently implemented program by the Municipality of Metropolitan Lima called Barrio Mio that aims for an integrated action for risk mitigation and habitat improvement in marginal settlements of recent formation, its application is also limited to the formalized areas5.

ScopeAlthough city-making through self-building, provides housing for the needy, on the other hand it shows its limits when considering risk mitigation and environmental vulnerability. Integrated urban planning by authorities is largely absent.

While there is a rich literature on the historical waves of invasions (1940s-1990s), there is a lack of detailed information and analysis on the ongoing process of occupation occurring at the city’s edge. Furthermore, despite being a theme highly related with the built and the physical environment there is a general lack of mapping and projective explorations of this new wave of growth in Lima.

The aim of this investigation is to address this lack of documentation concerning the current process of expansion as well as the lack of an integrated urban vision.

To this end the thesis intends to provide a clear and integrated vision of the urban, social and environmental situation and dynamics of the settlements at the edge of the city by analysing a representative case based on original fieldwork. A design vision will follow, aiming to transcend the limitations of planning paradigms that facilitate a sectoral reading of urban development.

5 Barrio Mio can however implement plantation in any area.

Research questionsThe main research questions are two:

(1) How is the process of urban expansion at the city’s border occurring today in Lima?

(2) Which sustainable development is possible to contain and guide the expansion considering on the one hand the need for decent and safe housing and public space and on the other hand the environmental imperative to protect the lomas?

Work StructureThe work is subdivided into three parts. The first section “Defining the edge” gives a general understanding of the historical formation of the barrios and of the issues related with current expansions. Information at city level is provided with regards to land occupation, geological and seismic risk and the ecological structure of Lima. An overview of these themes is conducted through a review of past and current studies, both local and international, and interviews with key actors. This part helps to understand the relevance of the research questions. Originally drawn schemes and maps are provided to enhance understanding of the spatial dimension.

The second part “Stretching the edge” tackles the first research question. The general concerns of the first section are related to one relevant case study and verified in the field. The focus of this section is to identify current dynamics in the marginal barrios of Lima and to define their potentials. The area of Jose Carlos Mariategui (JCM), a part of Lima’s rapidly expanding border, is studied in depth with the aim of understanding the modality of the current expansion of the city. JCM is considered in its totality, but the focus is on three gullies that exhibit a deeply problematic and ongoing occupation of new land. It tackles different aspects of the process of expansion both at the spatial and social levels.How do people access the plots? How are the settlements planned and managed? Do inhabitants have access to basic services such as water? How are inhabitants’ mobility patterns and activities delineated? How do they see the future of their settlements? How do people perceive the seismic risk and the value of the natural environment? Local and individual scales are introduced through interviews with inhabitants in order to understand the phenomenon more comprehensively and from multiple perspectives. This part is largely based

12


on fieldwork: mapping through observation and interviews with inhabitants, local stakeholders and other informants.

The third part of the thesis, “Including the edge” builds on the investigation and analysis of the previous section to identify and develop the potentiallities of the place. The second research question is answered through a design proposal which integrates special, social and natural aspects.

suorce: https://maps.google.com, 2013

Quebrada Fortaleza

Quebrada Los Angeles

Quebrada Verde

José Carlos Mariátegui

13

INTRODUCTION

Choice of Case studyConsidering the lack of information with regards to the current urban expansion and the small scale dimension of the process I chose to build up a case study in order to analyze in depth one representative sample of the broader phenomenon. The choice considered is the community of Jose Carlos Mariategui (JCM) in San Juan De Lurigancho (SJL) district, located in Lima Sur. The expansion is happening along the entire edge of the city but it is more accentuated in certain areas and JCM is undoubtedly one of them. The consolidated part sits on flat land and the more recent settlements expanded in the gullies towards the North-West. In particular three of these gullies (in Spanish quebradas) have been considered. For sake of clarity, in the thesis they will be named after the furthermost Agruapaciones Familiares (AF) present at the time of the investigation: Quebrada La Fortaleza, Quebrada Los Angeles and Quebrada Verde. In the three narrow valleys houses are already built on very steep land and new plots are traced on the ground up to the very top that will soon be settled. The self-construction and occupation of new plots is a daily reality. A comparison of aerial photos from 2006 and December 2013 shows a significant increase of inhabited plots. Also on field trips made in May 2014 it was possible to detect houses built in the last 6 months. The mountains are composed of sand and loose rocks and access to housing is often difficult, because of the instability of the soil and the steepness of the terrain. Although the houses have already occupied large parts of the fertile slopes, in winter the lomas are still present, albeit irregularly, on the unbuilt hillside tops, transforming the barren landscape into green valleys.

MappingIn order to work on defining the border of the city, a map accurately representing the existing area is fundamental, yet cartography is scarce. The cadastral map of 1996, combined with the maps supplied by COFOPRI dated 1999, only show the formalized urban areas. Yet the existing city has already expanded much further, as can be noticed when observing an aerial image dating from December 2013 (Google Maps, 26.4.2014). As the most recent expansions are the focus of this work it was necessary to complete the map through educated guess work based on satellite

photography and direct on site surveys.

Field workThe focus of this work came out during the involvement in the MSc Environment and Sustainable Development in Practice fieldwork of University College of London, Development Planning Unit’s students. During the presentations by stakeholders that was organized I met Carlos Esteban Escalante Estrada, advocacy coordinator at the local NGO Urban Developing Institute (CENCA). Several talks and involvement in CENCA’s work with the community helped define the scope and resulted in the setting up of a formal collaboration.

Field work was carried out over the course of two months in May and June 2014. The investigation was made at different levels and modalities.

On site visits and interviewsOutcome of the site visits in the three gullies:- Observation of differences and similarities of the urbanization in the three gullies and in the consolidated lower part.- Mapping of AF and identification of the presence of “borders” in between settlements- Identification of formation process and trend of future expansion- Verification of match between map and reality- Observation and localization on map of characteristics of roads/staircases/containing walls- Observation consolidation level of the houses- Mapped access to services- Visit of “potentialities”: vacant and public spaces- Informal interviews with available inhabitants encountered on the way.

Typical interview:

Which AF are you member of?How long have you been living here?Where are you originally from and where were you living before?How did you get to know there was available land here?Who did you pay for the plot? How much?Where do your family members work or go to school?How do you think the settlement will expand?What are the activities of your AF?Aren’t you afraid of the risk in case of earthquake?

Specific questions were asked according to the role of the person in the community or on the particularity of his/her occupation or situation (e.g. AF representative, construction worker, etc.).

Methodology

14


Base map

Cofopri

AF Expansion plans

Educated guess based on satellite photo (Google Maps, December 2013) and site visits

Cartographic Sources

Base map

Cofopri

AF Expansion plans

Educated guess based on satellite photo (Google Maps, December 2013) and site visits

15

METHODOLOGY

House of the interviewedDetails are noted for those interviews with specific reference in the section “Stretching the edge”.

6.6.2014Grocery lady, leader of AF Los Angelesp.62

8.6.2014Plot keeper, caretaker of dueño Virgiliop.59

8.6.2014Señora Anita & husband, new settlersp.58

12.5.2014Señora Elvia, orchqrd’s ownerp.66

12.5.2014Katy’s mum, inhabitantp.42

12.5.2014Señor Franklin, construction workerp.50

16.5.2014Señor Rodolfo, leader of AF 12 De Octubrep.50

Collaboration with CENCA

CENCA is a local NGO working since 1980 on research and project on social and planning aspects of the urban environment. It works at two levels: empowering local communities and lobbying for more sustainable and inclusive policies. Since three years CENCA is implementing a development project in JCM. The interdisciplinary team of CENCA is composed of architects, sociologists and anthropologists. The collaboration consisted in exchange of materials, talks discussing my findings and participation in their weekly meetings with the communities of JCM.

Participation in CENCA routine meetings with the community of JCMParticipation in meeting with adults and youngests. Submission of a questionnaire to the group of youngests regarding their and their family mobility patterns.

Participation in seminars− 2.4.2014 Seminar “Estrategias de infraestructura ecologica, planificación integrada del territorio, ecosistemas y agua para lima” organized by Foro Ciudades Para la Vida, Lima Water (LIWA) and Ilpo− 22.04.2014 Seminario Internacional “Ciudad Verde y Modelo de Sostenibilidad”

Participation to presentations organized by Development Planning Unite, UCL− 30.4.2014 Rommy Torres Molina (Ex Barrio Mio, Municipality o Metropolitan Lima, MML) on understanding risk− 2.5.2014 Sofía Hidalgo Collazos (Equipo Verde, MML) on proposal for the lomas of Lima− 2.5.2014 Jose Garcia (IMP) on the Urban Development Plan− 4.5.2014 Albert Ibanez (Techincal coordinator of PLAM) on strategic planning in Lima− 6.5.2014 Cecilia Estebes on real estate market− 6.5.2014 Josue Cespedes Alarcon (SEDAPAL) and Carlos Franco Pacheco (IMP) on water

Visits to public institutions− Office of Municipality of SJL− Jose Carlos Eche, teledetection specialist at INDECI− Wilder, employee of COFOPRI− Juan Espinola, research manager at IMP

Nombre y Apellido............................................................................................................................................ Etad:.......... Agrupacion Familiar (indica la posición en la foto en el retro):.......................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................ ¿Desde quanto tiempo vives allì?....................................................................................................................... ¿Donde querrías quedarte quando tendrás tu familia?...................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................. ..............................................

□ ESTUDIO □ TRABAJO

Nombre de la escuela/ lugar de trabajo:........................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................. ............................................... Dirección y districto:.......................................................................................................................................... Tipo de escuela /tipo de trabajo: ................................................................................... ¿Como llegas a la escuela/a el trabajo? (puedes marcar mas de una respuesta) □ A piè □ Mototaxi □ Combi □ Microbus □ Autobus □ Tren electrico □ Otro (specificar):.......................................................................................

¿Que trabajo querrías hacer?............................................................................................................................

¿A dónde vas en tu tiempo libre? Centro deportivos, parques? (reportelos en la mapa en el retro) ............................................................................................................................. .............................................. ............................................................................................................................................................................

>>>>>>>>> HERMANNO/A (Si vive en otro lugar specificar.......................:..................................................)

Etad:.......................... □ ESTUDIA □ TRABAJA

Nombre de la escuela/lugar de trabajo:............................................................................................................ Dirección y districto:.......................................................................................................................................... Tipo de escuela /tipo de trabajo: ...................................................................................................................... ¿Como llega a la escuela/el trabajo? (puedes marcar mas de una respuesta) □ A piè □ Mototaxi □ Combi □ Microbus □ autobus □ tren electrico □ Otro (specificar):.......................................................................................

>>>>>>> MADRE (Si vive en otro lugar specificar................................:....................................................) Tipo de trabajo:................................................................................................................................................. Dirección y districto: ......................................................................................................................................... ¿Como llega al trabajo? (puedes marcar mas de una respuesta) □ A piè □ Mototaxi □ Combi □ Microbus □ autobus □ tren electrico □ Otro (specificar):.......................................................................................

>>>>>>> PADRE (Si vive en otro lugar specificar.................:........................................................................) Tipo de trabajo:........................................................................................................................ Dirección y ditricto: ................................................................................................................................ ¿Como llega al trabajo? (puedes marcar mas de una respuesta) □ A piè □ Mototaxi □ Combi □ Microbus □ autobus □ tren electrico □ Otro (specificar):.......................................................................................

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House of the interviewedDetails are noted for those interviews with specific reference in the section “Stretching the edge”.

6.6.2014Grocery lady, leader of AF Los Angelesp.62

8.6.2014Plot keeper, caretaker of dueño Virgiliop.59

8.6.2014Señora Anita & husband, new settlersp.58

12.5.2014Señora Elvia, orchqrd’s ownerp.66

12.5.2014Katy’s mum, inhabitantp.42

12.5.2014Señor Franklin, construction workerp.50

16.5.2014Señor Rodolfo, leader of AF 12 De Octubrep.50

Onfield Interviews

17

METHODOLOGY

7.5.2014View from Pamplona in San Juan de Miraflores, Lima Sur: on the left the informal barrios, on the right the formal city.

Defining the edgeGeneral understanding of the historical formation of the barrios and of the issues related with current expansions. Information at city level with regards to geological and seismic risk and the ecological structure of Lima.

The “invasions”Lima is the “self-constructed” city par excellence, as a third of the urbanized area originated through “invasions” of unclaimed land (Matos Mar, 2013). During the second half of the XX century, Lima registered a strong demographic growth. In 1940, the population was about 10% of that in 2004. The demographic growth was caused by large scale internal migration from the provinces and, besides a radical change in the social composition of the city, this also meant a modification of its morphology (Barreda & Corzo, 2004). The particular modality of urbanization happened through so-called barriadas and consisted in occupation of the land and construction of the dwelling first, and only subsequently in accessing basic services and construction of urban infrastructures. As a consequence, in the first phase, living conditions were sub-standard. Another major difference between a conventional urbanization and an urbanization through barriadas is, besides this inversed process, also that the popular sector itself bore the efforts of urbanization works both through single family direct investments and through community work.

The first barriadas were installed along the Rimac River in the 40ies and 50ies. They were close to Lima’s historical centre and dependent of it in terms of services and food supply. It was a marginal phenomenon in terms of its contribution to city growth. Only with the invasion of La Ciudad de Dios in 1954 did the modality of barriadas start to assume a central role in conformation of the city (Matos Mar, 2013). This organized invasion of about 20,000 families took place outside the traditional city, on low value desert land. This modality consisted in founding new settlements that would grow with time filling up the gap with the historical city. Although the access to services was more difficult for the settlements of this second phase, considering their distance from the consolidated city, the soil was more adapted to being settled than the sloping land of the barriadas located along the River Rimac. It is in this phase that the barriadas became the main urbanization modality for the expansion of Lima. This was furthermore possible because the political conformation was favouring the rights to the city of the lower classes. The state did not satisfy the high demand for housing and adopted a laisser faire attitude towards those invasions that did not involve land interest to formal real estate agents. The state intervened only

The right to the city

source: Urquizo, 2006

20


source: Matos Mar, 2013

21

DEFINING THE EDGE

after the new comers were settled to formalize it by providing a land title.

A third period of invasions can be identified starting from the 80ies and lasting until the present. Migration pressure from the provinces has decreased because the city no offers highly better conditions than rural areas and because all relatively easy urbanizable land (flat and relatively stable) is already occupied. The new settlements in this period are located in the marginal areas of the consolidated barriadas of the 50ies – 70ies in sloping land in the same way as the very first urbanizations were located in the surroundings of the traditional city.

In the current city five different urbanizations can be identified: the historical center, the new center built in a conventional way, the barriadas of the first period surrounding the historical centre which have become shantytowns, the barriadas of the second period that are now consolidated into districts and have access to services, and the barriadas of the third period that are still in progress and occupy the gullies of the initial slopes of the Andes. Although the vast barriadas of the second generation are now part of the city to all effects, the urban tissue remains relatively low dense as the house typology of which it is composed is 2 to 4 storey single family houses. The new popular settlements were given different names in the three different periods: initially they were known as barriadas (settlements) in the 50ies, then as pueblos jóvenes (young towns) from the 70ies and they have been referred to as asentamientos humanos (human settlements) since the 90ies (Riofrío, 2003).

House scarcity and housing policies Financing is granted by the MIVIVIENDA fund to households with a monthly income of maximum USD 649 for buying, building or improving a house. The grant, bono familia Habitacional (BFH), amounts from S 8740 to S19000 (about 2300 to 5100 Euro) depending if it is for buying, constructing or improving the dwelling. The family must hold a land title of the plot where the house is located or would be constructed, posing a major obstacle for the majority of recent barrios which have not yet been formalized.

Currently, there are no serious housing policies that tackle housing scarcity in Lima for the popular class (Caria, 2006). There has not been, in the recent past, housing construction or promotion for households with less than USD 10,000, an amount which targets only the higher part of the urban poor. The MIVIVIENDA fund, created in 1999 till February 2002 has financed interventions for a total cost of USD 41.1 million which is a small portion of the USD 600 million at its disposal. This demonstrates how housing policy has not targeted the lowest income segments of the population.

This is surprising as the MIVIVIENDA fund vision statement declares it to be the reference of the solution of the housing need and the reduction of the housing deficit, boosting wealth”. And in its mission statement it furthermore refers to “families with low incomes”. In fact, it does not reach the population in need of housing, which are the ones of lowest income (Riofrìo, 2003).

-75 to -36-36 to -26-26 to 00 to 90

23 to 7516 to 238 to 160 to 8 10 km0

Housing deficit % inadequate housing %

data source: INEI, 2003

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10 km0 m

Villa MaríaTriunfo

Ventanilla

Laderas deChillon

Puente Piedra

Río Rimac

HuascarSanJuande

Lurigancho

HoracioZevallos Huaycán

VillaEl

Salvador

Cieneguilla

Ancon

source: Riofrìo-Desco, 2002

BarriadasShantytownsUrbanizaed area

Barriadas of Lima

23

DEFINING THE EDGE

The borders of/in the cityNowadays expansionAs pointed out by Barreda & Corzo (2004), there are fundamental differences between the recent barriadas of the 90ies and those of the second period. 90% of the population now comes from within the city and so already has a social city network and an urban culture. The barriadas of the second period received support from the state also in technical terms, this does not happen now. The new settlements are located at the margins of the consolidated ones and rely on them in terms of services. Furthermore, the recent barriadas present a highly fragmented community organization and rely more on family networks in the consolidated city than on the communal organization. This is often seen as an obstacle to the consolidation of these settlements.

The two biggest challenges from an urbanistic point of view for the new barriadas are the continuous expansion of the city together with a low density typology and the lack of public spaces that were postponed also in the barriadas of the second period in name of the urgency for basic services and the technical difficulty of building in a desert territory.

The “walls of shame”A 8 kilometers long wall have been recently constructed along the borderbetween the distrct of la Molina and Villa Maria del Triunfo in Lima Sur. The official purpse of the fence is the establishment of an ecological park on the topo of a hill. In fact it is a barrier between the informal settlements on one side from the high-income residential area on the other. Another similar case is registered nearby: a wall constructed in 2012 divides the residencial area Las Casuarinas in Surco from the settlements of Pamplona Alta in San Juan de Miraflores district.

Part of the wall that separates the settlements in Villa Maria del Triunfo from the residences of La Molina.

The “walls of schame”.

The wall between La Molina and Villa Maria del Triunfo.

“The walls of shame and the divisions among Limenos”, El Comercio, 9.2.2014

suorce: www.revistavelaverde.pe

suorce: www.elcomercio.pe


24


“Conflict in San Juan de Lurigancho for land occupation”, RPP news, 18.11.2013

“Authorities agreed measuraments for arresting invasions”, El Comercio, 17.2.2014

“Land trafficker invade land in Canete province”, El Comercio, 14.04.2014

“Everybody knows who are behind invasions”, El Comercio, 22.02.2014

“PNP: 216 house and land invasion cases registered in 2014”, RPP news, 16.08.2014

“The fight against invasions contribute to the improvement of the life quality of vulerable people”, Gestiòn, 15.08.2014

25

DEFINING THE EDGE

Geological risk and climate changeLima is located between two tectonic plates and is subjected to a very high earthquake risk. The risk affects in particular the informal settlements located at the margins of the city on the slopes of the first rows of Andes mountains. The same areas are furthermore subject to rain-caused landslides the danger of which is exacerbated by the sandy composition of the soil.

There is a high probability of a strong earthquake of 8-Mw in the city of Lima, taking into consideration the frequency of the last seismic events (IGP, 2010). After the last earthquake that hit the city of Pisco in 2007, a number of studies and projects were conducted with regard to risk mitigation by INDECI and the Ministry of Housing1. In 2011 the National Disaster Risk Management System (SINAGERD) was established and since then by law all public institutions must include a disaster risk management in to their planning (Watanable, 2012). In this regards also the soon-to-be approved PLAM 2035 includes a disaster risk managment section.

Barrio Mio risk mitagation programRecently several initiatives by the municipality to collect data about areas at higher risk and to raise awareness were implemented. This “new” attention to risk mitigation for the marginal barrios of Lima was established under leadership of MML and Barrio Mio (My Neighbourhood). The program combines rennovation actions with interventions for risk reduction in the most vulnerable areas of Lima. The works promoted aim to consolidate the soil and facilitate access (and evacuation) through stairs, containing walls, forestation of the slopes and other reinforcement works. The plan for each area is developed through a participatory process and the construction happens with the participation of the inhabitants. Citizens of informal settlements can also partecipate in the planning process and worskhops and training events organized by the municipality, The works however, with the exception of tree plantations, are planned and implemented exclusively for the formalized settlements. The projects are implemented in 12 vulnerable neighborhoods.

In April 2014 Joan Clos, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme , visited some areas where the Barrio Mio projects were implemented and described it a good practice of an integrated program.

1 In 2010-2011 project “Disaster preparedness in the face of an earthquake and/or tsunami, and early recovery” by INDECI 2010, seismic microzoning investigations and vulnerability studies for specific districts of the city of Lima by Ministry of Housing. Barrio Mio risk mitigation project in SJL

http://www.munlima.gob.pe/barriomio




26


Location of the Barrio Mio program projects

Geological risk in Lima. In red the areas at very high risk.source: http://www.munlima.gob.pe/

27

DEFINING THE EDGE

The unique ecosystem of the lomasPeru is divided into two areas with extremely different natural characteristics by the Andes mountains that run North- South along the country. In the hinterland, on the East of the mountain range there is the Amazon forest, on the West there is a desert strip along the coast. The majority of the population lives in the cities along the coast. Lima, with its 8.6 million inhabitants accommodates about 30% of the total population of the country and it is the world’s largest desert city after Cairo.

The arid land is crossed by three rivers: Chillón, Rímac and Lurín, which bring water from the Andes in summer. Although it is a desert area the humidity is very high, but without rainfall. This is because of the presence in the Pacific Ocean of the Humboldt Current, a cool current that runs along the Peruvian and Chilean coasts till about 1.5 km offshore. Lima construction is not adapted to rainfall and when this periodically occurs due to El Niño phenomenon results can be disastrous.

The vegetation of coastal Peru is largely restricted to the lomas formation, a series of fog-dependent plant and animal communities that are diverse and endemic to the region. The lomas vegetation is a seasonal phenomenon which is a result of a combination of climatic and physical topology. The particular geographical position in tropical latitudes and facing a cold sea forms the typical dense fog locally called garúa. The thick fog is formed between 200 and 1000 meters above sea level and appears in winter, from September till December. Where the land is flat, the fog dissipates inland without biological impact, but in areas like Lima, where the Andes range runs close to the coast, they intercept the clouds and the fog condenses on the hillsides which allows the lomas to flourish. The lomas are a unique ecosystem which does

not cover more than 8,000 hectares even during periods of maximum development (Dillon, González & Nakazawa, 2003).

The lomas occur in islands of vegetation composed by highly variable formations of short-lived plants and woody vegetation. The flora is estimated to include over 815 species with 40% of endemism in individual lomas islands (Dillon, González & Nakazawa, 2003).

The lomas formations were important for the early inhabitants of the Peruvian coast. They could have acted as a source of fresh water (Lanning, 1965), they attracted game, like deer and native camelids with their forgeable vegetation and birds with their supply of seeds and insects. They also contain some tomato-like edible berries as well as edible roots. Agriculture has been practiced at some locations, especially during El Niño events. Crops of corn were harvested at Cerro Cabezon, in the North of the country in 1998 and both corn and wheat were cultivated in the lomas near Tacna in 1983 (Dillon, González & Nakazawa 2003).

Nolana genus, composed of ca. 85 species, stands out as one of the most wide-ranging elements of the flora of the lomas (Dillon, 1999) and can be encountered in almost all lomas formations. It also grows spontaneously on the cliffs of Lima. The Nolana species prefer arid and semi-arid habitats within a few kilometers of the shoreline.

El Niño eventsThe El-Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon is a short-term climatic fluctuation with an important seasonal influence on the Peruvian coastal region. The event occurs over a cycle of 5 to 50 years and consists of a displacement of the normally cold waters of the

Ecological structure of lima

source: Dillon, González & Nakazawa, 2003

Section of the Peruvian coast illustrating the formatio of the lomas.

28


source: http://www.munlima.gob.pe

Coastal lomas

Wetlands

Lomas parks

Rivers and dry gullies

Agricultural valleys

Lomas during El Niño 1998

Ecological Structure of Lima

0 4 km

29

DEFINING THE EDGE

coast of western South American by warmer water. This causes higher temperatures which stimulate brief periods of heavy rainfall. This seasonal climate favors the formation of lomas due to a higher level of moisture that provokes massive germination of seeds leading to large blooming events. This also means opportunities for seed dispersal and establishment and possibly expansion of the distribution. The impact of El Niño on the lomas is high. In its absence the levels of floristic diversity would be much lower (Dillon, González & Nakazawa, 2003).

In Metropolitan Lima there are more than 70,000 hectares of areas seasonally covered by the lomas vegetation. The importance of the lomas formations for the city of Lima is linked with the supply of clean air, climate regulation, condensation of atmospheric water and its recreational and landscape value.

Program Las Lomas and Mi HuertoThe Municipality of Metropolitan Lima has established the Metropolitan Loma Program (Programa Metropolitano Lomas de Lima) with a view to conservation and sustainable use of the natural resources and of the biological diversity present in the lomas formation of Lima.

Several actions have been taken. The creation of Areas of Regional Conservation of the Metropolitan Lomas (Área de Conservación Regional de las Lomas Metropolitanas - ACR) where the lomas

formation are particularly rich and flourishing. Identified areas are included as Lomas System into the Regional Plan of Concerted Development (Plan Regional de Desarrollo Concertado – PRDC), construction is forbidden and the ecosystem is protected. The implementation of 2 Lomas Parks (Parque Lomas) in Mangomarca and in Villa María del Triunfo consisting of a process of regeneration of the hillsides with green areas, forestation, urban agriculture, a fog-condensing system to produce fresh water from moisture and water recycling systems together with cultural and recreational equipment. In these parks the PRDC includes also a program of biological investigation and re-population with native species, activation and promotion of 3 eco-touristic routes in the lomas of Lúcumo, Villa María del Triunfo y Mangomarca, as well as training courses for tourist guides.

Mi Huerta is an urban agricultural program by the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima established as a strategy that promotes alternative development that contributes to improve nutrition and food diversification. Urban agriculture is introduced in urban and peri-urban vacant spaces with the aim of cultivating healthy food for self-consumption and commercialization. Urban agriculture targets 16 districts with a prevalence of low-income population in Lima, including San Juan de Lurigancho, the municipality of the case study analyzed in this work. The program has funded community and family vegetable gardens whose

The arid landscape changes radically in winter, when the lomas flourish.

http://lomas.lima28.com/

30


farmers receive technical assistance by qualified experts. Urban farmers are put in contact with restaurants and markets that commercialize the products and an Urban Agricultural Alliance has been established to unify the network the farmers.

Ecological Infrastructure strategyThe Ecological Infrastructure for Lima is a strategy elaborated through the project “Sustainable Water and Wastewater Management in Urban Growth Centres Coping with Climate Change - Concepts for Lima Metropolitana (Peru) - (LiWa)”. It aims at sustainable planning and management of water and sanitation. The project draws particular attention to the impacts of climate change on and the promotion of energy efficiency in water and sanitation systems. The relevant stakeholders have been identified and working relationships have been established. Furthermore, potential technologies of wastewater disposal and treatment have been analyzed. Also, a preliminary version of a macro-modelling tool, simulating water and wastewater fluxes in Lima, facilitating analysis of scenarios and variants, assisting stakeholder discussions and decision making has been set up (<www.lima-water.de/en>, 28.7.2014).

Humans and lomasHumans have modified the lomas over the past 1500 years. Woody species were used as firewood and for construction, and some of them are now less present. The overharvesting of woody plants

has also modified the presence of herbaceous plants. The livestock movements from the inland to the coastal areas have introduced Andean weeds to the lomas. Historical introduction of outside species, such as Eucalyptus and Casuarina, has also modified the landscape. Finally, the introduction by humans of herbivores such as goats have negatively affected the lomas formations as they are very destructive (Dillon, González & Nakazawa, 2003).

Recently the building of houses and factories in many coastal areas has further accelerated the disappearance of the lomas formations.

The Municipality of Lima, together with civil society groups, have campaigned to raise ecological awareness, among the population. The urban control over natural areas of particular ecological value is currently done by civil society groups that request the intervention of the public authorities through social and traditional media. Several Facebook pages have been set up by groups of citizens and NGO’s to protect what is perceived as a Peruvian heritage both for archeological and natural values. This is not the case for the areas with generic lomas formations that are not perceived as valuable and thus seen as “free-land”.

“Invadors destroy lomas marked as protected area in Villa Maria del Triunfo”, El Comercio, 22.1.2013

“Citizens of SJL protest against invasions in the lomas of Mangomarca”, <www.canalN.pe>, 21.7.2014

Facebook group “let’s save the lomas”, <www.facebook.com>, 21.7.2014

31

DEFINING THE EDGE

5.6.2014Agrupaciòn Familiar La Fortaleza in José Carlos Mariátegui, San Juan de Lurigancho.A family recently installed in a plot on the hillside is bringing in their furniture.

Stretching the edgeHow is the process of urban expansion at the city’s border occurring today in Lima?

Settlements of the early 90ies

Recent/ ongoing expansion


Settlements of late 90ies

Land dynamics at the egde of the cityJosé Carlos Mariátegui borders

Formal/informal

Land title since early 90ies

land title since 1999 (formalized through COFOPRI)

Informal plots

Plots for sale without title

Planned expansion by an AF, without title

100 m0

Urban/natural

Herbaceous plants

Woody plants

Fog limit (1000 m a.s.l.)

100 m0

34


Settlements of the early 90ies



Settlements of late 90ies

Urban/natural

Herbaceous plants

Woody plants

Fog limit (1000 m a.s.l.)

Safety/risk

Very high risk of landslides and rockfalls

High risk of landslides and rockfalls

Low risk of landslides and rockfalls

100 m0 100 m0

35

STRETCHING THE EDGE

Mobility

Agrupaciones Familiares

The process of occupation of the three quebradas (gullies) under examination, occurred in phases. The first group of families settled about 10-15 years ago along the bottom of the gully. In a second phase a new group immigrated along the gully, while the first settlement started expanding up on the slopes. The groups of families organized themselves in Agrupaciones Familiares (AF). Sometimes the settlements on the slopes came later and founded a new AF. Sometimes the slopes are settled by extensions of the community that first settled at the bottom.

The new comers are often relatives, friends or acquaintances of established inhabitants. The plots are occupied one by one by each family that, seeing that the bottom of the gully is already occupied, moves into the plots on the slopes of the valleys made accessible through stairs modeled in the terrain.

From field interviews it emerges that most of the inhabitants are originally from the province and, after a short passage in the historical center of the city (typically Lima, Barrios Altos, Rimac), were driven by difficult financial circumstances to move to JCM.

Expansion into the quebradas

36


Mobility


37

STRETCHING THE EDGE

Quebrada La Fortaleza Quebrada Los Angeles Quebrada Verde

38


Quebrada La Fortaleza Quebrada Los Angeles Quebrada Verde


39

STRETCHING THE EDGE

Dueño Martinez

Agrupacion Familiar limits

Dueño (land owner)

before 1990

Occupation of the land

2000-2005 ca

2009-present

future expansion

La Fortaleza

Quebrada La Fortaleza


Quebrada Verde

W3 Ext.

Los Vallesitos

Los Vallesitos

Los Alamos

Dueño Ticana

Dueño Unknown

V5 Ext.

V5A Ext.

U 11

La Fortaleza

Los Angeles

21 De Enero

CerroLa Libertad V2 Ext. V1 Ext.

U11 Ext.

12 De Octubre

12 De Octubre Ext.

12 De Octubre Ext.

Nueva Generacion

Quebradas Verdes

When the first group of families moved into the three gullies in the 90ies, there was no conflict with any known owner of the land. However, since about ten years, the expanding settlements have reached areas that are in formal private ownership. The owners of these lands divide them in plots and sell them. Both in the case of an occupation of formally free land or through purchase from an owner, inhabitants organize themselves in associations that manage the settlement in terms of infrastructure and services and in some case draw up for new expansions.

Land management

40


Dueño Martinez

Agrupacion Familiar limits

Dueño (land owner)

before 1990

Occupation of the land

2000-2005 ca

2009-present

future expansion

La Fortaleza

Quebrada La Fortaleza


Quebrada Verde

W3 Ext.

Los Vallesitos

Los Vallesitos

Los Alamos

Dueño Ticana

Dueño Unknown

V5 Ext.

V5A Ext.

U 11

La Fortaleza

Los Angeles

21 De Enero

CerroLa Libertad V2 Ext. V1 Ext.

U11 Ext.

12 De Octubre

12 De Octubre Ext.

12 De Octubre Ext.

Nueva Generacion

Quebradas Verdes

41

STRETCHING THE EDGE

From the outset, each AF consists of at least 20 families (the minimum number required to apply for formalization), but often AFs come to manage about a hundred plots when the settlement develops further. The main objective of an AF is to obtain access to basic services and achieve legal recognition of the settlement by means of land titles issued by COFOPRI. An AF has statutes agreed upon by the assembly of the first group of settlers that regulate membership, duties and rights and obligations of the members. The leaders (dirigentes) are elected by the assembly of members. The first group of inhabitants that founded the settlement is joined by new comers. In case a new family settles in an area, it has to pay an entrance fee to the AF to obtain a lot. The lot is not flattened and the terrace has to be prepared by the occupier. The entrance fee varies from 200 to more than 1000 soles (about 50 to 250 Euros), according to the status of access to services, legal recognition and the presence of common containing walls or other infrastructure.

With the budget collected through fees common infrastructures are constructed such as containing walls and staircases to facilitate access and consolidate the terrain. During the workshop with the community organized by DPU students, it emerged that in some cases the management of the AF funds is not transparent and there are cases of suspected embezzlement by the leaders.

According to AF rules, new occupiers of the lots

should be people in need of housing. New comers are welcomed as they add to the critical mass necessary to obtain basic services and lobby for formalization. There are cases however in which people obtain a plot as an investment, but do not actually live there. These people are coined “turistas” as they only look after the plot during the weekends. According to AF rules they are given notice twice before the plot and the house is rendered available and it is given to another family who will actually live in it. This often leads to conflicts in cases where occupiers have stayed away for health or work related reasons.

The name of an AF can be a code (U11, W2), the date of the invasion (12 de Enero) or an evocative name (The Strength, Green Gullies). The AF’s tend to be less active when the sense of urgency is lower, for example when settlements are fully urbanized or when legal recognition in the form of a land title has been obtained.


Katy and her mum arrived in 2010. They live in a wooden house at the top of the gully and now have a little brother too. Katy’s mum had problems when she was pregnant as it was difficult to walk up and down the gully so she stayed at her sisters’ house in the center of Lima for a period. When she came back her plot was taken over due to her long absence. She was given a new one higher up, which is considered less desirable because it is further from the water collection point and sup-posedly it will take more time to achieve full access to services. However she does not mind the new plot, because it contains more space for a future expansion of the house.

She has been paying the entrance fee for the AF in installments as she could not afford to pay the 500 soles rewuired (about 130 Euros) in one go.

Katy’s mumInhabitant of Quebradas Verdes

“I was renting in Lima, but the end of the month always came too soon. A relative told me I could come here and have a place to build my little house [casita] and so I did.”

42


43

STRETCHING THE EDGE

The mountains that surround the city are owned by rural communities1 (Comunidades Campesinas) and used as livestock pasture. This was so defined when the urban area was still far from the mountains and large-scale urban expansion was not foreseen. The law defines the limit of property in rather vague descriptive terms, for example “till the top of this particular mountain” and does not include techni-cally precise references. Nowadays the situation has changed as this territory has become peri-urban and has increased in value.

In several places there is a private dueño (owner) who buys the land from the rural communities opens a road, divides it in plots and sells them. In some cases they provide the buyers a with a defunct or fraudulous legal title. The plots are defined with a regular grid along the steepest slopes and traced with chalk. There are no infrastructure or services. The only investment the dueño makes is road construction. After the first group of plots has been sold and a group of families settles the value of the remaining plots increases in line with the increased possibility to form a AF that lobbies for services and land title.

1 It needs to be pointed out that anyway the law defines a property only, but not an administration power on the land, which remains under the local district and the Metropolitan Lima jurisdiction.

I localized five owners of land in the three separate quebradas of JCM. In one case, an owner called Virgilio, a caretaker man was present on the land to control the plots and possibly sell them. On the land of another owner, Ticana, selling normally happens on Sundays only and prices would vary from 2000 to 5000 soles (500 to 1250 Euros). Considering there can be up to a hundred plots and that the price increases when more people settle, significant amounts of money circulate.

The activity of the dueños is widely considered a legitimate business by the inhabitants of the quebra-das. However while catering to the demand of the poor to have land, dueños speculate on poor people settling on areas at high seismic risk.

Rural communities and land trafficking

Plots of dueño Virgilio at the end of Quebrada La Fortaleza, which is visible on the left. On the right, another gully: the two urbanizations are going to be connected when the plots will be occupied.

44


Road on dueño Virgilio’s property. Works are still in progress: there are visible signs of mine explosions. While groups of occupiers open roads by hand, dueños make their way using caterpillars and explosives.

45

STRETCHING THE EDGE

Plots of dueño Ticana at the top of the hill between Quebrada La Fortaleza and Quebrada Los Angeles.

Wooden cabins are placed to mark the territory and as a base for the selling.

46


There are no inhabitants yet, but in some plots works to make the plot flat have been started.

47

STRETCHING THE EDGE

1. Plot tracingThe lot is traced on the ground by chalk(typically when the land is owned by a dueño).

2. Plot flatteningThe steep land is modeled to create flat terraces with the dimension of a plot.

3. Wooden cabinEven if the occupiers do not yet live there a cabin is placed to mark the plot.

4. Wooden houseThe house looks over the center of the valley and the entrance is along the longest side of the plot.

Self-urbanizationStages of dwelling consolidation

48


4. Wooden houseThe house looks over the center of the valley and the entrance is along the longest side of the plot.

5. Permanent houseIt can be up to 3 floors high. The entrance is on the short side. There are no more windows overlooking the valley.

49

STRETCHING THE EDGE

“We get the wooden planks in Lima, there are plenty in those old houses there.”

Franklin was building a containing wall of a plot when we met him. He was working together with another man in a lot along the gully road of Quebradas Verdes.

He lives in the surroundings and he was doing the work for a new occupier. The plot had first been given to a man who got ill and never occupied it. Now there is a new owner.

The containing wall they were building was made by stones and reinforced concrete. Constructing the wall and flattening the terrain will take about three and half weeks. They will also install a small stone stairway to overcome the gap between the road and the plot. They will use as little cement as possible to economize. They will use the local terrain and stones for the plot.

The dwellings are mostly built with the help of construction workers, normally without any technical project guidance.

Señor FranklinConstruction worker, Quebradas Verdes

House construction

Family

50


Infrastructure

AF

Together with achieving access to basic services, the construction of infrastructures is the main purpose of an AF. The construction roads, stairs and containing walls is carried out by the inhabitants themselves on Sundays during what are called faenas (works). A settlement is also usually provided with a room for community meetings and a sport area. A football pitch, where youngest can gather, is felt fundamental for the life of a settlements and often it has given priority over consolidation and accessibility works.

In some cases an AF ask technical assistance to a private engineer for major works like a big containing wall. CENCA also assist technically some AFs in their infrastructure planning and construction.

Most of the infrastructures are self-constructed as the public authorities intervene in public space only when the settlement has been formalized, which happens only several years after the first group of settlers have been established.

A cancha (pitch) in the higher part of Quebradas Verdes.This part of the settlement, which present a particularly steep terrain, still lack of stairs and consolidation works.

A containing wall in AF Ampliaciòn V5.

Comon containing walls constructed by community workreinforce concrete and stone

A containing wall in AF Ampliaciòn V5A.

A stair in AF Ampliacion V5A. Sporadically stairs are constructed out of a individual initiative of a local politician during an election campaign. The paint is based on the colours of the political party.

Single-house cointaining walls(pircas) constructed by the dwellers,stone wall

NGO

51

STRETCHING THE EDGE

Access to mainservice systems

Plots uninhabitedwithout services

Commontap & toilet

Access to basic services

In the three quebradas most of the houses along the main gully road have access to the water system and have electricity and are provided with sewerage.Most of the plots on the hillside instead do not have access to basic public services systems. In some cases there are common taps and toilets. Sometimes inhabitants without private toilet and tap use the neighbours’ bathrooms.

52


Access to mainservice systems

Plots uninhabitedwithout services

Commontap & toilet

53

STRETCHING THE EDGE

Settling process

1. Occupation 2. Accessibility0. Lot acquisition

stakeholders temporary intermediate consolidated

purchase

or

Dwelling

Infrastructures

Services

Titles

AF in JCM

AFAF SEDAPAL

AF COFOPRI

EDELNOR SEDAPAL EDELNOR

Family

fee

Family Family

Family

Family

Family

Family Family Family

Title of possession(no legal value)

Land title

Barrio Miorisk mitigation program

Dueño

Dueño

Dueño

AF

AF

AFAF AFCENCA CENCA

3. Consolidation 4. Formalization

MML

X

or

SJL

MMLCommon toilet & tap

Informal electricity connection

Los Alamos 12 De OctubreU 11, V5 Ext, V5A Ext

Dueño Virgilio, Ticana, MartìnezAll AF of the analyzed gullies admit new comers

La Fortaleza (Q. Los Alamos)Quebradas Verdes Ext.12 De Octubre Ext.U11 Ext.

Nueva GeneraciònQuebradas VerdesCerro la LibertadLa Fortaleza (Q. Los Angeles)

21 De EneroLos Angeles

54


1. Occupation 2. Accessibility0. Lot acquisition

stakeholders temporary intermediate consolidated

purchase

or

Dwelling

Infrastructures

Services

Titles

AF in JCM

AFAF SEDAPAL

AF COFOPRI

EDELNOR SEDAPAL EDELNOR

Family

fee

Family Family

Family

Family

Family

Family Family Family

Title of possession(no legal value)

Land title

Barrio Miorisk mitigation program

Dueño

Dueño

Dueño

AF

AF

AFAF AFCENCA CENCA

3. Consolidation 4. Formalization

MML

X

or

SJL

MMLCommon toilet & tap

Informal electricity connection

Los Alamos 12 De OctubreU 11, V5 Ext, V5A Ext

Dueño Virgilio, Ticana, MartìnezAll AF of the analyzed gullies admit new comers

La Fortaleza (Q. Los Alamos)Quebradas Verdes Ext.12 De Octubre Ext.U11 Ext.

Nueva GeneraciònQuebradas VerdesCerro la LibertadLa Fortaleza (Q. Los Angeles)

21 De EneroLos Angeles

55

STRETCHING THE EDGE

56


57

STRETCHING THE EDGE

Quebrada La Fortaleza: expanding till the top

“We do this for our kids, for whom else?”They have acquired the plot recently and they are still working on flattening it. They used to live in La Victoria (a district in the historical center of Lima). The company he used to work for provided him with a room to stay, but they would not accept the entire family. Some friends told them about the availability of plots in this area and so they relocated. Now they have just built a small wooden house, which they plan to expand. Their sons are still living in the center of Lima, but they intend to move here too. They do not yet have any services: they bring water up by gallons, taking it at the bot-tom. They cultivate a little vegetable garden where they grow peppers, beans and caigua (a local fruit). They do not yet have an AF on that hillside.

Señora Anita & husbandNewly settling couple

PotentialityGuide the planned espansion.

58


“Soon all the mountains around here will be full [of houses] till the top. They will have their football pitches and all.”

The lotting has just started: there are not yet many buyers. The ones that have already bought built a hut and come only on Sundays to work on the plot. It is the buyer of the plot who has to take care of flattening it. Usually he does this with the help of a master mason. The price of a lot is 5000 soles (about 1250 Euros). The dimensions of the plots range from 90 to 100 m2 .The dueño opened the way up here and he is still continuing open up at this very moment (some explosions were audible) to connect here to the other valley. There is no access to services, but a water tank track provides the settlements at the bottom of the other valley. Also electricity arrives there with temporary informal connections.

According to him people who settle there are not afraid of earthquakes as “the terrain is strong”.

He works there only during the day and lives in another part of JCM.

Plot keeperCaretaker of dueño Viriglio

100 m0 m

59

STRETCHING THE EDGE

Pigs breedingSunarpproject

Textileworshop

SEDAPALwater tank

100 m0 m

AF La Fortaleza

Cross section

AF Los Alamos

dueño Virgilio

Lomasseasonal plants(winter)

dueño Ticana AF Los Vallesitos

AF W3 Extension AF W3

distance 570 mave. slope14%walking 9 min

575 m asl

525 m asl

750 m asl

Communitycenter

Mototaxidrop-off

Footballpitch

Denseurban tissue

Free rangepoultry

450 m asl

535 m asl

60


Pigs breedingSunarpproject

Textileworshop

SEDAPALwater tank

100 m0 m

AF La Fortaleza

Cross section

AF Los Alamos

dueño Virgilio


dueño Ticana AF Los Vallesitos

AF W3 Extension AF W3

distance 570 mave. slope14%walking 9 min

575 m asl

525 m asl

750 m asl

Communitycenter

Mototaxidrop-off

Footballpitch

Denseurban tissue

Free rangepoultry

450 m asl

535 m asl

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STRETCHING THE EDGE

Quebrada Los Angeles: green slopes

“Here nothing happens if there is an earthquake: the terraces where the houses set are small and the containing walls are solid.”

AF Los Angeles settles at the end of the gully street, before the cemetery. The AF board of Los Angeles consists of exclusively women. They do not have support from public authorities as they do not have land title, neither does the neighboring AF La Fortaleza. They worked however with CENCA and the municipality to organise a textile workshop in the area. The AF manages the entrance in the area. The plot cost is variable: 250, 350, 700, 1000 or 1500 Soles (from 70 to 400 Euros).

The containing walls and common stairs were constructed with the funds of the AF by specialized workers. The foundations of the containing walls are 1 meter deep and made by concrete. The AF constructed containing walls to consolidate the terrain for already inhabited plots, but also for new ones and for the football pitch. Before there was no place for kids to play. Now children play football (usually boys) and volleyball (usually girls). There is an area of 400 square meters on the hillside designated green area, but it is empty because people do not know how to grow plants.

The houses in the lower part have access to water. The service normally works well, but sometimes there are black outs. The plots on the slopes do not have access to the water system, they take water from common sinks and have common toilets.

The cemetery at the end of the road is illegal, it is for cases of extreme poverty. They do burials three times per year.

The settlement of AF Los Angeles sprawls up the hillside with mostly wooden houses. It is particularly green with plants and trees planted in both private and common space. The stairs, not yet consoli-dated, leave space for greenery on both sides.

All along the three quebradas it is common to see poultry run around and sometimes also caged. They are kept for home consumption of eggs.

Pork breeding occurs on the top of the mountain which was established by a community development program of SURNAP.

Grocery ladyLeader of AF Los Angeles

Green public space

Breeding

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PotentialitySupport the presence of planted vegetation and and care for public space during the consolidation process.

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STRETCHING THE EDGE

100 m0 mCross section

AF Los AngelesAF The Angels

AF La FortalezaAF The Strength

AF V5 ExtensionAF V5A Extension

Communitycenter

Footballpitch

Cemetery

Volleyballpitch

Planted treesand shrubs inprivate &public areas

Area forcultivation(unused)

Denseurban tissue

Free range poultry


distance 690 mave. slope 11%walking 11 min

1

450 m asl

510 m asl

525 m asl

720 m asl

450 m asl

Commontoilet

64


100 m0 mCross section

AF Los AngelesAF The Angels

AF La FortalezaAF The Strength

AF V5 ExtensionAF V5A Extension

Communitycenter

Footballpitch

Cemetery

Volleyballpitch

Planted treesand shrubs inprivate &public areas

Area forcultivation(unused)

Denseurban tissue

Free range poultry



1

450 m asl

510 m asl

525 m asl

720 m asl

450 m asl

Commontoilet

65

STRETCHING THE EDGE

Quebrada Verde: the strength of the Agrupaciones Familiares

“The leader [of Quebradas Verdes] said we should build a green border ourselves, every household should keep some plants.”

Ms. Elvia comes from the selva (inner part of the country) and came to Lima to work as a housekeeper. Her husband who moved to Lima from Cuzco to work. They got to know about available land in JCM through her brother in law. They arrived in Quebradas Verdes in 2007 with their daughter. They flattened the plot and in one year they built the wooden house where they currently live. She no longer works, because she has to bring and pick up the 8 years old daughter from school every day and it takes about one and half hours.

The first leader of AF, Carlos, encouraged the inhabitants to each have a small green area at the front of the house or even using land on the slope at the back. However not everybody knows how to grow plants and many do not care about them. Only some have actually planted some. Elvia’s husband has an agricultural background. He likes gardening and he is skilled with plants. They also have a plot at the back where they grow trees. They do not have to pay for it. They have apples, bananas and other fruits. The pear tree makes 7-8 fruits in a season, but it is more the pleasure to have some trees than the actual harvest that matters.

She remembers in 2012 when all the valley was green of lomas as it was a particularly humid season. The landscape was beautiful, but when the summer came, the plants dried and there were many mosquitoes.

Señora ElviaOwner of cultivated plot

RodolfoDirigente 12 De Octubre

“We will expand in a proper way, leaving 6 meters for the stairs so that the houses will have enough distance to each other and there will be space for greenery.”

Rodolfo showed us the expansion plan for AF 12 De Octubre. Since 1996 the settlement is located at the bottom part of the gully, along the main road. Since several years they have access to water, electricity and have the sewage system. In 1999 COFOPRI provided the inhabitants with land titles. Now they are expanding up to the hillsides to provide housing for their children, relatives and acquaintances. The slopes have already started to be modeled in plots and there are some cabins and wooden houses scattered. Mostly they are not inhabited yet.

A technical plan was made with the support of an engineer contracted by the AF for an expansion of 50 lots on each side of the valley. The plan was rejected several times by the municipality (apparently for the size and position of an open area), but now it has been approved and so should not receive resistance when presented to COFOPRI for formalization. According to the current law, only settlements established before 2004 can apply for formalization. In this case though the new plots are proposed as an extension of 12 De Octubre as a way of circumventing the law.

66


The University of Santo Domingo de Guzman is a private university located in the Jicamarca peasant community territory, in San Juan De Lurigancho, 1 km from the top end of Quebradas Verdes. It occupies a large area fenced off a high wall on the top of the mountain. It offers primary, secondary and university level education in business and management engineering.

According to the official Facebook page1, with its 200 hectares of extension, it is planned to be the largest in Latin American spatial terms. Even though it was officially inaugurated 30th April 2011, the university still does not appear to be fully operational.

1 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Universidad-Santo-Domingo-de-Guzm, 26-7-2014

University of SaintDomingo de Guzma

Potentialitywork with the AF on the planned expansion of the settlementsUniversity of as a new centrality to be integrated with the life in the quebrada

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STRETCHING THE EDGE

100 m0 m

Cross section

AF Nueva GeneracionAF New Generation

AF Quebradas VerdesAF Green Gullies

AF Quebradas Verdes AmpliacionAF Green Gullies Extension

AF U11

AF 12 de OctubreAF 12th October

AF 12 de Octubre AmpliacionAF 12th October Extension

Church

Footballpitch

Trees plantedwithin Barrio Mioprogram

Free rangepoultry

SEDAPALwater tank

Commontap & toilet

Fence wallSaint Domingode Guzman University

Mototaxidrop-offspot



650 m asl

475 m asl

775 m asl

515 m asl

700 m asl

68


100 m0 m

Cross section

AF Nueva GeneracionAF New Generation

AF Quebradas VerdesAF Green Gullies

AF Quebradas Verdes AmpliacionAF Green Gullies Extension

AF U11

AF 12 de OctubreAF 12th October

AF 12 de Octubre AmpliacionAF 12th October Extension

Church

Footballpitch

Trees plantedwithin Barrio Mioprogram

Free rangepoultry

SEDAPALwater tank

Commontap & toilet

Fence wallSaint Domingode Guzman University

Mototaxidrop-offspot



650 m asl

475 m asl

775 m asl

515 m asl

700 m asl

69

STRETCHING THE EDGE

18.6.2014Plots of dueño Ticana on sale in José Carlos Mariátegui. The plots are traced with chalk on the steep hillside till the top, few plots are already flattened. Lomas vegetation is about to flourish, maybe for the last time: in a year the hill will be mostly constructed.

Including the edgeWhich sustainable development is possible to contain and guide the expansion considering on the one hand the need for decent and safe housing and public space and on the other hand the environmental imperative to protect the lomas, what form of sustainable development can be devised in order to contain and guide Lima’s expansion?

A border fulfills a double function: on the one hand it demarcates the limits of two separate zones, on the other hand it connects them. With the consolidated city of Lima on the one side and the barren mountains on the other, the quebradas of JCM occupy an ‘in-between territory’. They are neither part of the formal city nor of the natural space outside of it. This physical border between construction and nature is indented and in constant evolution. As this research paper has documented, the built-up area of Lima spills over the formal border and makes its way into the natural zone along the gullies and slopes of the Andes. It exceeds the topographic limit, climbing up the slopes where it encounters the territories of rural communities. JCM lies at the margins of the city, but also at the entrance of the natural landscape.

In the proposal explained in this section the quebradas of JCM build on and exploit their particular location in order to become a connecting territory between city and nature, between one branch of the city and another, between inhabited and uninhabited territory. The quebradas are recognized and valued as a transitional territory that has characteristics of both.

The area is identified with its role as border of the city and as an entrance to the uninhabited natural territory lying beyond. Such a connection could be accentuated both through walking and cycling viability and through an in-between cultivated landscape that takes advantage of the topography and of the particular micro-climate, for example by condensing the fog into water though the above

mentioned low-tech atrapanieblas in order to introduce available water into the local water cycle.

Proposals must take into account the reality of the situation on the ground and incorporate the necessary pragmatism. Relocating the inhabitants to areas less prone to seismic risk and of less ecological value, may seem like an ideal scenario, but would cause unacceptable political and social upheaval and is therefore not considered as an option. Densification, an essential urban planning response to the self-building sprawl occurring at Lima’s edge, is not an option in the quebradas of JCM as a result of the inappropriate soil structure. Furthermore, large swathes of settlements in the quebradas do not have land titles and, even taking into account the possibility of this condition changing in the future, it means that at the current moment the scope for intervention by public authorities is very limited due to the characteristic informality of the settlements. Any interventions to bring about improvements must therefore happen in an in-between terrain where both government and civil society can coexist and synergize.

As a result, the suggested changes start from the local and the particular, but intend to offer a framework that can trigger virtuous dynamics that can potentially be extended to a city-wide scale. The proposal has three main aims that are consequently presented: first to arrest the expansion, then to strengthen risk resilience and thirdly to improve the physical and social inclusion of the quebradas into the city.

A connective border

72


A productive landscape triggers an intrinsic control over the unbuilt land.

Arrest the expansion

Areas of productive landscape can be introduced along the border where similar conditions occur

The productive landscape will be connected with the agricoltural valleys and urban agricultural areas exisitng in the city.

The ongoing expansion can be stopped and the city limits actively transformed into a productive border, for example through the development of agriculture and the plantation of orchards. The introduction of a productive landscape gives value to the land and leads to stronger control by inhabitants who cultivate it and profit from it as yet unbuilt land. It also enhances the interconnectedness with other productive parts of the city such as the agricultural valleys and the urban agricultural areas existing in the city.This strategy could also be applied in other areas along the border that present characteristics similar to those of JCM, namely the presence of generic lomas that are not yet protected by law. Expansion arrest already exists in the case of culturally or naturally valuable sites: in front of a cemetery, at archeological sites, in the vicinity of renowned lomas formations or private property walls. Successful local examples include the case of archeological sites and particularly rich and abundant lomas formations identified and

valued by Lima’s inhabitants such as the lomas of Collique. In these cases, urban control is performed spontaneously by the community as a result of their recognition of the value and untouchability of the site.

Additionally, agriculture strengthens social cohesion. The community cohesion established through the AF typically disappears after access to services or land titles have been obtained. Community-based agricultural activities could build on this existing grouping and act as a catalyzer to promote a community-driven approach as an intrinsic way of living.Women would more particularly benefit from community-based agricultural schemes since, as field interviews made apparent, most of them do not work and could combine a small farming activity in the vicinity of the household with child care. The new non-motorized paths connect the different settlements and break the existing fragmentation of the gullies, favouring exchange between AFs.

AFFamily

Workshops and trainings could be done through CENCA and other NGOs together with the municipality program Mi Huerto as is already happening in other parts of the city. The planting of the orchards can happen by systematizing the plantations that have already been launched as part of the Barrio Mio program in AF Quebradas

Verdes for example. Both Mi Huerto and Barrio Mio activities are open to all population and plantations, unlike constructed works which are only possible in sites with land title possession.

NGO MML

MetropolitanLima

San Juan de LuriganchoDistrict

José Carlos Mariátegui Community

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INCLUDING THE EDGE

Independent water provision through atrapanieblas.

The water captured thorugh the atrapanieblas (low-tech fog condecantion technology) can be used to water the growings.

Risk resilience

New paths as evacuation way in case of emergency or alternative mibility in case of floodings.

The productive landscape consolidates the terrain uphill and protects the settlements from landslides.

The already well-established spontaneous practices of terrain consolidation such as stairs and common containing walls can be built upon to mitigate inhabitants’ exposure to seismic risk and increase their resilience. The introduction of a cultivated landscape uphill from the settlements would protect them from rock falls. The plantation of trees and the construction of paths and terraces to grow crops consolidate the terrain which would help prevent landslides in the event of an earthquake or heavy rainfall.

Independent water provision through low-tech fog condensation decreases the inhabitants dependence on the central water system and enhances the settlements resilience, as for example in the case of a disaster that damages the main water system. The new paths on the hillside favour the interconnection among AFs and can be of particular importance to evacuate people to the

safer area in the lower part of JCM in case of disaster or hazard occurrence, or in case the main road at the bottom of the gully becomes inaccessible. Also the hiking routes can be used in case of emergency as exits to the Northern major quebrada of Comas district.

The new paths can become crucial also in the case of heavy and frequent rains that may occur due to climate change. In this scenario the dry bottom of the gully would act as a natural drainage collector and the access to roads would be heavily impeded.

74


The marginal barrios are the connector between the city and to the surrounding natural landscape.

The marginal barrios are an area in-between the urban and natural environment.

City inclusion

The productive landscape penetrates into the voids of the urban tissue consolidating the connection bwteen the quebradas and the city.

The quebradas of JCM are currently quite isolated from the lower part of JCM and accessible only through the bottom-gully road whose starting point is not easy to locate. The accessibility to and from the quebradas is fundamental for the inhabitants of the higher parts as in the flat part of JCM there are service centers such as local health care units, a high school, markets, recreational facilities and medium-range bus-stops.In the proposal, the quebradas are conceived as residential and agricultural areas of medium-low density that rely on the flatter, lower part for main services. Existing community centers in the quebradas continue to be used for the management of common cultivating activities. Small shops and open air selling points are established at the bottom gully road as well as on the higher new connecting paths that are used by “outsiders” and students to reach the natural walking routes.A walking route along natural points of interest connects the quebradas with the other side of the mountains, rising until the Lomas of Collique.

The route passes by the newly settled private University of Saint Domingo de Guzma. This would hopefully increase pressure to open up parts of the wall that now surround the premises. Other activities targeting the students can be conceived in quebrada verde in order to lure students outside of the university walls in order to favour the local economy and mixed social encounters.The cultivated landscape penetrates into the consolidated urban tissue and finds its way into the urban voids of the plains of JCM reaching existing main meeting points such as the park, the Velasco secondary school, the sports center and the church.

The setting up of the slow walkway on the hillside can be taken care of by the AF through common work (faenas) and with the support of the Equipo Verde of the MML as part of the conservation and the strengthening of the recreational character of the lomas.

AFFamily NGO MML

75

INCLUDING THE EDGE

Hiking route

University of Saint Domingo de Guzman

Bosque de piedras de Collique (stone forest of Collique)

Lomas de Collique

Cemetery near AF Los Angeles

suorce: www.fotosperu.be

www.munlima.gob.pe/programas/ambiente/lomas-de-lima


76


background suorce: https://maps.google.com, 2013

77

INCLUDING THE EDGE

Arrest the expansion

78


Cultivated land

Row orchards

Breedings

Cycle and walking path

Markets

Lomas

79

INCLUDING THE EDGE

The productive landscape in Quebrada Verde.

80


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INCLUDING THE EDGE

source: www.limamalalima.wordpress.com/

82


ConclusionsToday, the era of massive invasions is already history, but the inhabitants of Lima continue to push the city’s borders further and further. This contribution has attempted to better apprehend the urban, social and environmental situation and dynamics at the edge of Lima by analyzing a representative case based on original fieldwork. Rooted in this analysis, a sustainable design vision was formulated aimed at transcending the limitations of current planning paradigms.

Each family in Lima feels it has a legitimate right to the city in the form of a “casita”: a piece of land on which to build a two-storey brick and concrete house. People can no longer find this space in the consolidated city and therefore expand their search up to the hillsides of José Carlos Mariátegui (JCM), among others. The quebradas of JCM, in San Juan de Lurigancho consist of settlements that first move into the bottom of the gullies and subsequently expand uphill. The occupation occurs through the actions of individual families that associate themselves in Agrupaciones Familiares (AF), encouraged by hazy municipal and campesino patronage. The AF play a fundamental role in the urbanization process. They are the key actor in securing progressive access to services, first shared for the entire group, and later through individual connections. It is also through common work organized by the AF that public stairs, roads and containing walls are constructed.

A sustainable city is compact and dense, or so recent paradigms claim it to be. Statistical data provides evidence that the demographic growth of Lima has decreased to an amount that could be easily absorbed by the necessary densification of the consolidated and historical city. The districts of Barrios Altos and of Lima Cercado for example, are being abandoned and the buildings are now left crumbling. It is in those areas that urban planners should look for densification. In this context, it is illogic for the city to plan or allow a further expansion of the city into the hills, on vulnerable unstable terrain and in the presence of the environmentally valuable but highly fragile ecosystem of the lomas.

This paper has therefore argued that there is a clear need to define a border of the city and contain further expansion.

The most recent informal settlements are placed on areas of high risk all along the outskirts of Lima. It is unimaginable to relocate them considering

the high number of people involved, the high level of consolidation already attained and the unacceptable political and social upheaval this would cause. In fact, very little successful relocation has happened in the city. This implies the need for mitigating interventions in the settlements already existing on the slopes that would integrate existing actions by the AF and simultaneously preserve them from marginalization.

Considering the absence of control by public authorities, that in the case of JCM are ambiguously promoting urban expansion, and the power of the civil society with a long and successful historical record, the only way a border can be defined and respected is through bottom-up local action that builds upon the existing community structure and cohesion. In such context, risk mitigation actions are more likely to be implemented.

The envisioning exercise proposes therefore a defined and soft border mediating between the city and the natural landscape. The border can thus become an in-between environment that can provide a strong identity to the marginal areas while making them an integral part of the metropolitan area’s varied structures.

Three separate but connected actions are proposed: to arrest the expansion of the city, to enhance risk resilience and to include the settlements in the city. A cultivated landscape is introduced as a means of physically defining the border and of adding value to the land in order to trigger intrinsic control by the inhabitants and improve the livability as a source of food and income.

Finally, a new hillside slow mobility network is introduced to link the different parts of JCM to each other as a connective landscape.

Cultivating the strength of the edge: its unique microclimate and the community cohesion could lead to a more sustainable connective border that brings the city to nature and includes the marginal settlements into it, making the city a more livable home for all its inhabitants.

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84


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5.6.2014Informal cemetery near Agrupaciòn Familiar Los Angeles in José Carlos Mariátegui, San Juan de Lurigancho. No new settlers exceed its respected limits.

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Cultivating the edge

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