Reviewing the status of planning in Lima in the light of its recent metropolitan plans

• In Event: Lima: A City of Kings?

Abstract

Due to a long-standing neglect of urban planning, for many years Lima’s urban policies were basically oriented to increase its economic competitiveness. In spite of the improvement of the country’s economic situation after 2003, Lima’s residents experienced a notorious decrease in their quality of life, as there was no vision to guide Lima’s urban development. Only in 2011 the metropolitan government organized the elaboration of a Metropolitan Urban Development Plan (PLAM) 2035, finished in October 2014, which was never approved by the Council. The new municipal government that began its functions in January 2015 completely disregarded PLAM 2035, and surprisingly presented a new plan, the Local Urban Development Plan 2016-2021, approved in June 2016.
This study reviews the context and content of these plans to explore issues related to the practice of plan-making in Lima. How was the planning arena conformed? What was the number, qualities, position and capacity of the actors involved in formulating the objectives and strategies stated in the plans? To what kind of planning and governance do these two recent planning instruments respond? And finally, what is the status of planning in Metropolitan Lima?
The methods to answer the questions include literature review, analysis of documents and media articles, content analysis of the two plans, as well as interviews to relevant actors in the process of plan-making. The conclusions highlight the weakness of the current type of planning in Lima and discuss its relevance in front of the huge challenges for achieving sustainable and inclusive development.

Author

• Ana María Fernández-Maldonado, Delft University of Technology