THE BARRIADAS OF LIMA AS INCENTIVE TO URBAN HOUSING REFLECTION. REVISITING TURNER AND DE SOTO

Abstract

The barriadas of Lima have been the most thoroughly studied urban and social process in the field of housing and social sciences in Peru. The processes observed in them served as inspiration for two enthusiastic and influential proposals in the field of housing and urban economics, elaborated and advocated by John F.C. Turner and Hernando de Soto, respectively. After nearly 60 years since the peripheral barriadas became massive urban development processes in Lima, it is a good occasion to ask how valid the assumptions of Turner and De Soto are in the same areas that inspired these ideas. To answer this question, this paper presents reviews and discusses the origins, circumstances and studies on these two perspectives collected from the local and international urban debate. The conclusion presented is that the assumptions of Turner have been partially met, even if his recommendations were weakly and irregularly implemented by the different governments. On the other hand, the assumptions of De Soto, implemented by himself through Comisión de Formalización de la Propiedad Privada (COFOPRI), have had little success despite their long-standing political support.