Lima’s Slums:
Problems or Solutions?
Professor Bill Chambers
Liverpool Hope University
President
Geographical Association
Annual Conference 30th March 2005
University of Derby
Lecture Structure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Peru
Migration
Housing in Lima
Growth of Lima
Progressive Development
Employment
Government Policies
Hope or Despair?
1. Peru
Source: www.politicalresources.net
Costa: The Atacama Desert
Peru and UK
(World Bank 2004)
Characteristic
Population millions
2
Area million km
2
Density p/km
Infant mortality per 1000
GDP US$ billion
Electricity kWh per capita
Fertilizer kg/ha arable land
% urban
Peru
27
1.28
21
30
61
645
1
74
UK
59
0.25
240
5
1800
5495
200
90
Peru
Three Zones
Costa
Atacama Desert
(driest in the world)
Sierra
Andes (2nd highest
mountains in world)
Selva
Amazon (largest
tropical rainforest in
world)
Source: Coleccion
Huascaran, Lima
Sierra: The Andes
Selva: The Amazon Basin
Peru: Population by Region
Region
Area %
1876
2001
Costa
11
24
53
Sierra
26
75
36
Selva
63
1
11
2. Migration
Primacy of Lima:
‘the head of a giant on the body of a
dwarf’
Characteristic
% Peru’s population
Size compared with 2nd city
% financial transactions
% electricity consumption
% doctors
% factories employing >5 people
Fact
25
29
11x
95
75
66
70
Reasons for Primacy
• capital city (work, culture, civilisation)
• largest port (Callao)
• traditional home of Vice-Roy in Colonial
Migration
•
•
•
•
City centre v Paisanos
40% Costa
50% Andes
mainly centralsouthern Andes
• young/ambitious
• earthquakes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
rural poverty
land tenure in Andes
infant mortality
guerrillas
cocaine
El Nino
modernisation of coast
Source: Children in Peru, Peru
Support Unit 1991
3. Housing in Lima
Callejon
Housing for Lima Poor
•
•
•
•
Slums/turgurios and Squatter settlements
alleys & tenements (callejones)
64%
workers’ housing
20%
decaying mansions
11%
city plots (corralones)
5%
• government projects
• private sector
• squatter settlements (barriadas)
Squatter Settlements
• Barriadas
• Urbanizaciones Populares
• Urbanisationes Marginales
• Pueblos Jovenes
• Asentiamentos Humanos
Barriadas
• A residential community
• formed by low income families in which the
• houses are constructed in large measure by
the residents themselves and
• which are generally but not exclusively
formed illegally.
(Collins 1975)
4. Growth of Lima
Lima Population Growth
Year
1941
1945
1961
1972
1981
1990
2005
Population
598000
645000
1850000
3330000
4600000
7000000
8187000
Source:
J. Matos Mar
1977
Las Barriadas
de Lima 1957
Source:
J. Matos Mar
1977
Las Barriadas
de Lima 1967
Source:
J. Matos Mar
1977
Las Barriadas
de Lima 1977
Centro cerro
San Cristobal
my
house
Rio Rimac floodplain : Carmen de la Legua and San Martin de Porres 1965
Andes foothills
Comas 16-3-1945
my
house
Comas 1965
Southern Atacama desert: Tupac Amaru
Geographical distribution
unoccupied, state or church or absentee landlord owned
Location
Inner City infill
Decade
1920s-1930s
Example
Mendocita, Matute
Central Cerros
1940s
El Agustino, San Cosme
Rio Rimac floodplain
1940s-1950s
Carmen de la Legua
Andes foothills
1950s-1960s
Comas, El Ermitano
Southern Atacama desert 1970s-1980s
Villa el Salvador, Tupac Amaru
Margins, infill, extension 1980-present
Los Olivos
East Cone
San Juan de Lurigancho
1990-present
The Invasion
•
•
•
•
After several years residence
Pay to join invasion committee
Planned by architects
Holy Days, National Holidays, Public
Holidays, weekends, government crisis
• Appeal to patriotism or religiosity of nation
or landlords
5. Progressive
Development
(Consolidation)
(Positive Adaptation)
Progressive Development
The gradual development of
• housing
• community
• utilities
• employment.
Depends on
• finance
• health
• motivation
• priorities
• government policy
Progressive Development of
Homes
•
•
•
•
•
•
chosa (matting hut)
peripheral wall
internal walls
concrete roof
second floor
more
chosas
Chosa, foundations and peripheral wall
Chosa, shop and peripheral wall
Chosa, peripheral wall from casa noble
cement bag
Wood
Water cylinder
Roofing: tiles, iron,
electricity tubes
Roofing concreting
Casa noble Carmen de la Legua 1965
Progressive Development
(after Turner 1967)
Year
Homes
Water
Energy
Education
Shops
Roads
1-2
chosa
drums
tankers
kerosene
private
nursery
market
stalls
bars
dust
4-5
walls
temporary
roof
stand
pipe
generator
primary
schools
chemist
cinema
cafes
compact
10-12 concrete
roof
1st floor
piped
mains
secondary
stationers
bakers
garage
surfaced
lights
20-40 2,3, storeys
subletting
mains
college
university
malls
industry
restaurant
dual
carriage
Moving from Carmen de la
Legua to Comas
Carmen de la Legua 1965 view of my house
Carmen de la Legua 1982 view of my house
Carmen de la Legua 2003 view of home
Carmen de la Legua 1965
Carmen de la Legua 1982
Carmen de la Legua 2003
By 1974 its transformation into an urban barrio was almost complete – paved roads, uniform lotes,
water and electrical services, urban style houses constructed with permanent materials, and a
central plaza around which stood municipal buildings, a movie theatre, and a church all were
established.’ (Lobo 1982 p 42)
Town Hall Carmen de la Legua 2003
Comas 1965 view left from front door
Comas 1982 view left from front door
Comas 2003 view left from front door
Comas Avenida Tupac Amaru 1965
Comas Avenida Tupac Amaru 1982
Comas Avenida Tupac Amaru 2003
Maria: Restaurante El Once 1965 and Salon de Belleza 1983 Comas
Comas private
sector housing
2003
6. Employment
Ambulante
selling
tobacco,
chewing
gum, sweets
Open air office
domestica
Mobile furniture store
Julio and Helsomina
(Susan Lobo 1982)
1969
• Belt factory (J)
• Tailor (J)
• Kerosene
• Metal recycling
• Vegetables at market
• Wool balls
• Brick recycling
• Guinea pigs
• Chickens
• Chicha
• TV
1974
• Belt factory
• Front of house store
• Beer
• Zappo
• Ducks
• Chicken
• Goats
• Sheep
• Wool
• Refrigerator
• Typewriter (daughter)
• Electric repair (son)
INCOME =
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Job +
Overtime +
Fringe benefits +
Part time jobs (cachuelas) +
Reciprocity: exchange labour for goods +
Reciprocity: exchange labour for labour
Varied and flexible repertoire
Employment: informal & formal
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Informal
housefront stores
car cleaning
domestics
ambulantes
bootblacks
seamstresses
artisans repair and
creation
Formal
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
wages
social security
drivers
Builders
waiters
clerks
shop assistants
factory workers
7. Government
Policies
Government Policies
•
•
•
•
•
Do nothing
Eradicate: bulldoze, burn
Contain: Law
Prevent: planning, municipal housing
Facilitate: site & service, credit, technical,
improve & incorporate
• Correct: remodel, relocate
8. Hope or Despair?
Problem or Solution?
The Informal Approach
Advantages
• Cheaper
• Non-monetary input
• Early escape from
slums
• Added value to land
• Stimulated
construction and
service industries
Disadvantages
•
•
•
•
Slow
Poor conditions
Low quality
Uneconomic use of
space & resources
Lima’s barriadas
Why so successful?
(John Turner 2004)
• When dwellers control the major decisions and
• are free to make use of their own contributions
in the design, construction or management of
their housing,
• both this process and the environment produced
stimulate individual and social well-being.
Lima’s barriadas
Why so successful?
(Susan Lobo 1992)
Positive adaptation
• Build a community (material and spiritual)
• Accomplish goals
• View themselves and their future positively
•
•
•
•
Through
Kinship and paisanos
Alliances and compadrazgo
Control: migration & house construction
Flexibility
References
• http://comasweb.com
• Dietz, H. 1998 Urban Poverty, Political Participation and
the State: Lima 1970-1990. University of Pittsburgh Press
• Gilbert, A. 1994 The Latin American City. Latin America
Bureau.
• Lloyd, P. 1979 Slums of Hope? Pelican.
• Lloyd, P. 1980 The ‘Young Towns’ of Lima. Cambridge
University Press.
• Lobo, S. 1982 A House of My Own. University of Arizona
Press.
• Morrish, M. 1984 Squatter Settlement in the Third World.
Geography 16-19. Longman.
• Smith, C.T. 1988 Population and Development in Peru.
John Murray.