La Oroya: City and Industrial Heritage

Abstract

Each settlement has a particular spirit, from the most forgotten town to the one with the most tourist visits; however, they present values that are often ignored. La Oroya, a town and mining emporium, has a stigma due to its environmental problems, which overshadows the virtues of its people; however, it has made a valuable contribution to urban planning and architecture in Peru. La Oroya was recognized as a company town and from fruitful industrial work it achieved a productive and vital settlement for the economic development of the country in the 20th century. The article shows in an exploratory and descriptive way the spatial virtues of this district. An account of the theoretical foundations that help to understand the city is presented in this article, its location, urban evolution, neighborhood typologies are recognized, and it shows the testimonies of its current industrial heritage up to the present. This work is a seed that is sown with great expectation, envisioning that they are the first steps towards the recognition of La Oroya as an Industrial Heritage.