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INTRODUCTION
Complexity in diversity: how a single intervention is about to affect a whole city
Cantagallo is a small district of the center of Lima, bordered by the Rimac River. Approximately 5,000 people live in this area which used to be a landfill site that has never been rehabilitated
Each family of Cantagallo is now facing eviction due to the implementation of two large-scale infrastructure projects, the Via Parque Rimac and the Rio Verde.
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| Cantagallo in Lima: future locations of the Via Parque Rimac and the Rio Verde projects © Loan Diep |
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Contagious anxiety
10th May 2014
This was followed by a meeting organised in emergency by the association which was hosting our workshop. Many people came to address questions to a legal expert and express their concern to the president and the crowded assembly.
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Quiet observation of the Cantagallo map © Loan Diep
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Cement over social, all over nature
7th May 2014
Today we were shocked to see how quickly the works of Linea Amarilla advanced. In a matter of few days, 60 'temporary' houses are being built for part of the people affected by the mega-project. Besides the cramped way the houses were built, the sewage is designed for going straight to the river.
While the social is bulldozed, the ecological is completely trampled.
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| © Iris Kuhnlein |
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Unfurling the Flag of Peru
4th May 2014
We received a warm welcome from ‘Mercedes’, the coordinator for safety issues as a part of the Ministry of Interior, and her team in their cheery yellow and red uniform, along with a friendly Policeman (Cercedo). The Policeman explained that he worked together with the neighbourhood community and Ministry of Interior team to foster community togetherness for the greater good of the safety of all the residents of Cantagallo. Mercedes added that the goal of the weekly flag unfurling ceremony was symbolic towards achieving their goal of a safe community, by gathering together as residents of Cantagallo as one unit rather than as fragmented association entities. Safeguarding the community includes protection against gangsters, drug dealers and thefts, not just for the residents within Cantagallo but also for all those visiting the market from the rest of the city of Lima.
The market in zone 1 has customers from all over Lima and consists mainly of shops selling textiles, bags and hardware. There are also several ‘lunch time’ visitors from offices in the vicinity, especially on weekdays, who come to have lunch at the small eateries in the market.
Mercedes and her team are now all set to unfurl the flag while everyone stands in attention with their right hand on their left chest, in an orderly fashion and facing the hoist, with the womenfolk on the right and the menfolk on the left. The flag is then proudly unfurled with the Peruvian national anthem playing in the background.
Unfurling the flag of Peru in Cantagallo © Maya Ganesh
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Addressing complexities of development planning on the ground
3rd May 2014
Our objective is to understand the implications of a development project in Lima that includes large-scale highway and a green park. We want to study this project as a model of planning and analyse how the replication of environmental injustice and unsustainable development could be prevented in the future.
The Cantagallo relocation is not an isolated case of exclusive planning. However, its uniqueness lies in the socio-political complexities that characterises it. The first step of our research project is to explore the different histories of people, the current conditions in which they live and their opportunities for assisted relocation.
To achieve this, we started by conducted semi-structured interviews as well as utilising multi-scalar maps. Reasonably a few people needed reassurement that we were not sent to 'spy' before they were willing to talk to us! But once we had explained our position and shown our pre-field trip video (viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bga9A_Aa9Uk), then everyone was happy to get involved and help us understand the situation faced by the people.
Here is a glimpse of what we did in Cantagallo:
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| Mapping and interviews with people from the commercial zone of Cantagallo © Loan Diep (Left) and Auji Nabilah (Right) |
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The politics of social diversity
30th April 2014
Before visiting the field, we were aware that Cantagallo is an extremely diverse settlement: there are multiple ethnicities, several associations and many different interests in that one single area.
Yet it was not only until talking to people that we realised how delicate the situation is.
The possibility of Cantagallo uniting 'beyond identity', a political move that could help the lobbying for a just relocation/compensation, is not only quite problematic but may also cause more social harm than good. Unifying as "one community" could increase Cantagallo's recognition in face of the relocation problem. Nevertheless it could also obscure social diversity, suppress different needs and wants and thus lead to further injustices.
How to bring political visibility to Cantagallo while respecting its diversity?
Yet it was not only until talking to people that we realised how delicate the situation is.
The possibility of Cantagallo uniting 'beyond identity', a political move that could help the lobbying for a just relocation/compensation, is not only quite problematic but may also cause more social harm than good. Unifying as "one community" could increase Cantagallo's recognition in face of the relocation problem. Nevertheless it could also obscure social diversity, suppress different needs and wants and thus lead to further injustices.
How to bring political visibility to Cantagallo while respecting its diversity?
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| Graffiti in Cantagallo © Iris Kuhnlein |
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| View of the Via Parque Rimac construction site from a house in Cantagallo © Auji Nabilah |
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