Living Between Desires and Possibilities
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Living between desires and possibilities [RE] visiting and [RE] envisioning the self-help house in the ‘consolidated’ low-income settlements of Lima, Peru Olga Peek Master of Human Settlements 2012-2013 Promoter: Dr. Viviana d‘Auria Co-promoter: Dr. Michaela Hordijk Local promoter: Arch. Liliana Miranda Sara Reader: Prof. dr. ir. Bruno de Meulder Reader: Prof. Dr. Kelly Shannon Living between desires and possibilities [RE] visiting and [RE] envisioning the self-help house in the ‘consolidated’ low-income settlements of Lima, Peru Olga Peek Master of Human Settlements 2012-2013 Promoter: Dr. Viviana d‘Auria Co-promoter: Dr. Michaela Hordijk Local promoter: Arch. Liliana Miranda Sara Reader: Prof. dr. ir. Bruno de Meulder Reader: Prof. Dr. Kelly Shannon 1 Abstract Keywords: Lima, self-help housing, spontaneous urban development, home space A 60 per cent self-build city1 Lima is characterized by spontaneous urban deve- lopment, in which the user and the constantly growing, transforming and adap- ting homes are shaping the urban environment. Lima’s city making is characte- rized by this inverted planning process from the small to the large scale. The old barriadas changed from rural squatter settlements to urban neighbourhoods and single-family homes transformed into collective, multigenerational or rental homes. Various decades after the formation of the barriadas, it is questionable whether the self-help-housing models promoted by John Turner in the 1960s2, are still fit- ting the current population living in the now ‘consolidated’ barriadas. After the 1980s the characteristics of the population that had to be accommodated in the city shifted from migrants coming from the countryside to second generations that grew up in Lima3. As Peter M. Ward argues, no one had foreseen nor imagi- ned “the second- and third-generational complexities that might evolve”4. Today the city is confronted with a second, third and upcoming fourth generation that are still in need for housing. The self-help housing model has reached its limits and homes are not always able to adapt to changing social structures and characteristics of the extended families. It can be assumed that there are more factors involved than Turner initially showed. Furthermore the spontaneous process of city making, initiated by individual actions of home transformation has its constraints in shaping a qualitative urban environment. The presented thesis will reflect on the issues of spontaneous city making in Lima that starts off at the home space, using an empirical study based upon on-site fieldwork carried out in the neighbourho- od Pampas de San Juan, a low-income settlement in the southern periphery of Lima. 1 SÁEZ GIRALDEZ, Elia; GARCÍA CALDERÓN, José; ROCH PEÑA, Fernando, “La ciudad desde la casa: ciudades espontáneas en Lima”, in: Revista INVI, 2010: p. 79. 2 TURNER, John F. C., “The Squatter Settlement: An architecture that works”, in:Architectural Design, Architecture of Democracy, August 1968, pp. 355-360. 3 See article: DRIANT, Jean-Claude; GREY, Carlos, “Acceso a la vivienda para la segunda generación de las barriadas de Lima”, in: Boletín del Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos, 1988 (17) 1, pp. 19-36 4 See article: ARD,W Peter M., “Self-help housing policies for second generation inheritance and succession of The House that Mum & Dad Built.”, In: Habitat International, 2011 (35) 3, pp. 467–485. 2 3 Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been contributory in the successful completion of this project. I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my promoter Viviana d’Auria and co-promoter Michaela Hordijk for their useful comments, remarks and enga- gement through the learning process of this master thesis. I can’t say thank you enough for their tremendous support and help. I always felt very motivated and encouraged every time we met. Furthermore I would like to express my gratitude to my local promoter Liliana Miranda for her guidance during my stay in the field, her engagement and for introducing me to current realities of low-income settlements in Lima. Without her input I would never have been able to get insight into the local context as I did now. This thesis moreover would not have been materialized without the help and participation of the families of Pampas de San Juan. I am very grateful to all of them for their openness, warm-heartedness and willingness to share their, very personal, life stories and for participating in the documentations of their home space. I am especially grateful to Nora Jesusi and her family for accommodating me in Pampas during the six weeks of intensive fieldwork and ensuring my personal sa- fety. A special thanks goes to the children and grandchildren of Nora for making my stay pleasant and joyful, making me feel at home in Pampas. Nora moreover was a key informant in the field and deeply committed to my studies. My sincere gratitude goes to her for al her time, help and support. I also would like to thank Roberto, who lives in Pampas and works for the local municipality, for showing me other parts in the three ‘cones’ of Lima, and his view on the current situation in Pampas de San Juan. Furthermore I would also like to acknowledge with much appreciation the crucial role of Juan Tokeshi, who is deeply committed to the topic and with whom I had the pleasure to meet and discuss my findings with, also in our continues email sessions after I left Lima. Another special thanks goes to Peter M. Ward, meeting him was very encoura- ging and inspiring to continue my work. I am very grateful to all my dear friends and family, for always encouraging me and giving me confidence, and for all their love and support on the way. My studies of the Advanced Master program of Human Settlements at KU Leuven moreover would not have been possible with the financial support of the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Stichting de Fundatie van de Vrijvrouwe van Renswoude and Stichting dr Hendrik Muller’s Vaderlandsch Fonds. 4 Chapter 1 - Introduction and Methodology 5 Table of Contents 1968-1980: The fundamental reforms under military rule 44 The reproduction of the barriada 45 01 [Re] visiting Pampas de San Juan 1980-1990: The barriada in the ‘completing’ stage 45 Land access after the 1980s 46 Problem Statement 14 Three generations of barriadas 46 Aims of the research 15 1990-present: A third generation growing up 50 Thesis structure 15 Research Questions 16 PART V - Conclusions 52 Conceptual Framework 17 Hypotheses 18 03 A journey from the house to the city and back Research Methodologies 19 PART I - A journey from the house to the city and back 58 60 years of self-help housing practice in Lima 58 The house and the family in a changing setting of 02 The history of Pampas de San Juan 64 modernization and democratization in Lima Terminology 66 PART I - Self-help housing: the debate and the practice 30 PART II - The house along the street: types and trends in home space 68 1 - The visionary house - Sra. Nora 70 PART II – Theories on self-help housing 32 2 - The courageous house - Sr. Aleman 76 Who decides? 32 3 - The steady house - Sra. Sandra 82 The three stages of housing 33 4 - The faltering house - Brenda 88 Accessing the housing market 33 5 - The expeditious house - Sra. Vacilia 94 PART III - The self-help housing debate 34 6. The modest house - Sra. Cristina 102 Defining the concept 34 7 - The amiable house - Sra. Julia 108 The emergence of self-help housing 35 8 - The progressive house - Sra. Justina 114 The conceptual shift and need for housing 36 9 - The garden house - Sra. Cita 120 Critiques on self-help housing 36 10 -The ambitious house - Sra. Rufina 126 Empirically grounded reflections on Turner’s theory 38 PART III - From the house to the city via the street 132 PART IV - Self-help housing in practice: the case of Lima, Peru 39 Spontaneous city making 134 The development and consolidation of the classical barriadas 41 The straw house as a ‘strategy for city making’ 135 1940-1954: From bridgeheader to consolidator 41 From the house to the street 136 1954-1968: The barriada in the ‘developing’ stage xx 6 Chapter 1 - Introduction and Methodology 7 Changing social realities 137 Conclusions 139 PART IV - Living between desires and possibilities 144 Family size, changing household compositions and home consolidation 146 Financial resources and home investments 152 Tenurial conditions 158 Future aspirations and social consumptions norms 159 04 The ‘second life’ of the consolidated self-help settlement PART I - The consolidated self-help settlement 164 The paradigm shift 165 PART II - [Re] visiting the self-help house 168 ‘Que vivienda han construido?’ 168 Reflections on ‘the house that mum and dad built’ 174 ‘Other realities’ 178 A local perspective 182 The gap between desire and possibility 186 PART III - [Re] envisioning the self-help house 188 Conclusions 189 Appendices Construye para crecer más arriba - Construye para crecer, Housing Competition Ministerio de Vivienda Peru Bibliography 8 9 [01] [Re] visiting Pampas de San Juan 10 11 © By Author, 2013 Author, © By John Turner’s three stages model of barriada development, The Squatter Settlement: An architecture that works, 1968 12 13 [ RE ] Visiting Pampas de San Juan acteristic in the process of becoming a city)4, hypotheses. Chapter 2 describes the theoreti- highly influence the spontaneous process of cal and historical background that will lay the shaping the environment and not always re- foundation of the empirical study presented sult in a qualitative urban neighbourhood. This in Chapter 3.