Miraflores, residential & commercial neighborhood in
Lima. A touristspot, Larcomar. Photo: DC_Colombia.

The reading on Spatial Justice got me thinking, for the first time ever, about one of my country capital in terms of space correlated to justice. Lima, capital of Peru, is a city where almost 10 million people live (out of 32 million, so that makes it one third of the population living in the capital). The city is full of contradictions, of course, that shows the social fracture of the privileged and the non-privileged. One of them is space. There are a lot of things to say about the contradictions of country considered one of the world’s fastest-growing economies according to the World Bank, but that at the same time has 7 million people living in poverty. Is a democratic country with, again, many contradictory lines of governing (progressive and conservative) but one thing hasn’t changed since the 1990’s and that is the deployment of neoliberalism. All presidents since 1990 have had a neoliberal economic approach that impacts socially, environmentally, and politically.

Neoliberalism and corruption at all power levels has widened the gap between the rich and everyone else (middle and lower economic classes). If you were to go to Lima right now you will be bombarded as a tourist with the best beautiful places to visit (we have the Pacific Ocean within the city itself), modern residential and commercial areas that look as any other developed country. You will also be taken to see the beautiful historical buildings downtown Lima where post-colonial (Peru was invaded by Spain in the XVI century) architecture combined with local tradition to leave a valuable legacy that is considered World Heritage by UNESCO.

Historical downtown Lima, World Heritage (Unesco). Main square featuring
the main Cathedral and City Hall and Government Palace. Photo: Promperú.

But you will also see, evident to the naked eye in the background, the small hills that surround the capital and that are swamped with precarious buildings like the one hill in the picture that is right above downtown Lima. These are places very arid as Lima herself is located in a dessert. But those hills, as arid as they were, began to be invaded by the migration of Peruvians that fled nationwide terrorism, especially from the mountains of Peru. In 1950 Lima had a population of 400,000 people; by the year 2000 we were about 8 million. Most of these invasions of land (hills mainly at first) started in the 90’s, and the neoliberal and corrupt government never addressed it or handled the inner migrants needs other than mainly with oppression.

There wasn’t a spatial thinking or addressing of the problem and that generated a chaotic growth of this shantytowns (which I already knew), but as the readings now let me become aware, they were a consequence of spatial injustice, and at the same time, their survival mode also generated a lot of Spatial injustice for the migrants. They would start off by invading the terrain in the hills and set up shanty homes made of hay matts. Fortunately, Lima doesn’t have extreme weather but it can get very humid and cold during Winter time (50F). Then, when possible, they replace the matts for wood or any other material; they can’t afford a engineer so it is al self constructed even though Peru is a seismic country.

Shantytown more developed in Cerro San Cristóbal, off downtown Lima.
Photo: Inforegion.

        They have no water or sewage, nor electricity and to get these services will take decades for some. There is no possibility of transport within the hill but either self-made stairs or sometimes made by the City Office. People have to buy and carry their water drums up the dozens stairs to shower or to cook or do hand laundry; they also have to go up or down their houses using dozens, sometimes hundreds of stair-steps out in the open without handrails. It is very windy and dusty, their homes and shoes are always covered with dust so you can tell who lives in such places, and depending on how old the shantytown is, they will barely have schools or health facilities.

Stairs with no handrails to go up the hill. Photo: Revista Apuntes.

    The Spatial Justice reading helped me see these, already known facts, under a different lens. Now I realize how spatial injustice has been committed with this fellow citizens. How the neglect from the government authorities and the indifference of the privileged only perpetuate, institutionally and culturally, this spatial injustice that relegates these citizens' rights to be and become (Spatial Claims); rights to thrive (Spatial Power); and rights to access and connect (Spatial Links). All of which generates overcrowding and difficult life conditions and which again is evidence of discrimination, racism, and classism against the mountains' immigrants.

Shantytown at a beginning stage with house made of hay mats or triplay wood.
Notice windows are scarce. Photo: Andina News.

Yellow steps built by the City Hall in Independencia district, Lima.
Photo: Lima City Hall.

Spatial contrast: A sight from the Pacific Ocean where buildings look
onto the sea in Miraflores. Photo: Miraflores City Hall.

Interestingly enough I found this Masters thesis done in 2013: "Seeking Spatial Justice in Lima – a Case Study of Resistance Mobilisation to an Urban Megaproject from Lima’s Barriadas":
https://www.academia.edu/11936750/MA_Thesis_Seeking_Spatial_Justice_in_Lima_a_Case_Study_of_Resistance_Mobilisation_to_an_Urban_Megaproject_from_Lima_s_Barriadas

And also this blog of a research group on several case studies in Lima:
https://disconnectedlandscapes.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/learning-from-the-barrios-lima/