Landscapes of the South in the slums of Lima, Peru

Authors

  • Céline Felício Veríssimo Federal University of Latin American Integration
  • Gabriel Rodrigues da Cunha Federal University of Latin American Integration
  • Mariela Alexandra Peña Aymara Federal University of Latin American Integration

Keywords:

Landscapes of the South, Modernity-coloniality, Epistemologies of the South, Designs of the South, Slums of Lima

Abstract

This paper analyses the socio-environmental importance and the biocultural memory observed in open spaces of the self-organized context of the slums of Lima, Peru. Looking forward to the Good Living and Epistemologies of the South in order to rescue the knowledge turned invisible by the colonialist, capitalist and patriarchal domination, this paper proposes the antipodal concept of "landscapes of the South". Therefore, the theoretical framework triangulates theory from the Decolonial Turn, Designs of the South and Biocultural Memory. This theoretical approach was decided by its capacity to situate the critique from a different angle, opposed to the Eurocentric hegemonic notion of Landscape, which commodifies nature based on the propaganda of power, inferiorizing the people, their knowledges and their landscaping designs. Likewise, a theoretical approach is developed based on the landscape designs self-organized in the slum areas of Lima, popularly known as “barriadas”. The slum called "La Ensenada" was our main case study, located in the district of “Puente Piedra”, where direct observation and semi-structured interviews were developed with some residents during the fieldwork. Considering these elements, a booklet with landscape design alternatives was developed aimed to serve as a basis for improving self-organization and landscape interventions in this slum, in order to improve their socio-environmental quality, and, above all, to overcome the violences of modernity-coloniality.

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Author Biographies

Céline Felício Veríssimo, Federal University of Latin American Integration

She is an architect and has a Ph.D. in Development Planning. She is an Associate Professor of the Architecture and Urbanism career and the Postgraduate Program in Public Policies and Development of the Federal University for Latin American Integration, Brazil. She is a researcher in the group of multidisciplinary studies in Urbanism and Architecture of the South - MALOCA and collaborator of the research group ¡DALE! Decolonize Latin America and its spaces. She conducts research on the political dimension of the challenges of cities, environmental impacts, and socio-spatial inequalities, particularly with Guaraní communities, residents of urban occupations, and Afro-religious in the BR-PY-ARG Triple Border region.

Gabriel Rodrigues da Cunha, Federal University of Latin American Integration

He is an Architect and Urbanist, a Doctor in Theory and History of Architecture and Urbanism, and an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Latin American Integration, Brazil. He is a researcher in the group of multidisciplinary studies in Urbanism and Architectures of the South - MALOCA, and co-author of the book "Por um ensino insurgente em Arquitetura e Urbanismo" (Edunila, 2020). He conducts research in the field of social studies of technology and solidarity technoscience, with an emphasis on the study and development of popular and traditional construction technologies with raw earth.

Mariela Alexandra Peña Aymara, Federal University of Latin American Integration

She is an Architect and Urbanist and a researcher in the group of multidisciplinary studies in Urbanism and Architecture of the South - MALOCA, and the Postgraduate Program in Design and Planning of the University of Brasilia, Brazil.

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Published

2021-12-21

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 23 (2021): V!23 References of the South

Section

Project