In recent days, the climatic effects of Cyclone Yacu have also reached the country’s capital, where 18 districts of Metropolitan Lima and 4 of Callao have been declared an emergency. Faced with this panorama, many wonder what the situation of Peruvian households is and if they are in safe spaces to face phenomena of this magnitude. According to the latest report of the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation (MVCS), around 20% of people in Lima are in non-mitigable risk areas.
“The biggest problem is the lack of urban planning. Despite having experienced the El Niño phenomenon in 2017, local governments have not yet had the capacity or political strength to carry out resettlement programs or diversify solutions. Construction on new land is unsustainable and Mivivienda credits do not cover the deficit for the population that most needs it,” Elizabeth Añaños, former MVCS Vice Minister of Housing and Urban Development, told La República.
Añaños says that currently one of the big problems in the city’s infrastructures are the independent constructions that are carried out without a structural design, without prioritizing respect for public areas, with a lack of ventilation conditions and with no support from the State. Approximately, families in Peru spend between S / 12,000 to S / 120,000, according to the Habitat for Humanity association to be able to get ahead of their homes.
It should be noted that, to date, the National Housing and Urban Development Policy (PNVU) has not yet been executed in Peru, nor has the regulation for the Sustainable Urban Development Law been established. Measures that could contribute to improve the quality of people’s housing.
building the city
In order to publicize proposals to improve the habitat of citizens, the exhibition XII BIAU Living on the Margin — organized by the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism PUCP (FAU) — which covers nine cases from Metropolitan Lima on different types of housing in consolidated areas of the periphery. In this sense, it seeks to look again at the existing neighborhoods of the capital and propose ways to enhance them.
“There is a general idea that unites all the cases and that is that the cities of Peru, especially Lima, cannot continue to grow on the periphery with new land, but rather already have an urban fabric, that is, it is a city-neighborhood that It has been built without technical assistance, but it can become overcrowded and requires significant State intervention,” added Añaños, curator of the Limapolis 2023 International Workshop.
The exhibition will be available until May 7 at Casa O’Higgins PUCP (Jirón de la Unión 554, historic center of Lima).
Until May 7, you can visit the exhibition Habitar al Margin at Casa O’Higgins. Photo: John Reyes
Source: Larepublica
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