Reasentamiento por un megaproyecto de infraestructura en Lima, Perú. Un análisis desde la habitabilidad y las relaciones sociales

Metropolitan restructuring processes are often followed by issues such as involuntary resettlement. Even though it is hoped that such projects will compare with or improve preexisting living conditions, they instead intensified vulnerability. This paper is focused on the resettlement caused by the “Línea Amarilla” transport megaproject carried out in Lima, Peru, specifically around the “Patio Unión” housing complex. Both present and retrospective information were processed by using quantitative and qualitative methods in order to measure variations in housing and household conditions. These variations were related with the mechanisms and decisions that led the process. We found that affected populations chose to move to Patio Unión in order to stay close to their neighborhoods and maintain their economic subsistence networks. Nevertheless, the latter happened at the cost of losing conditions of habitability, broke apart extended families, undermining the social tissue and losing the investment and productive values of dwellings. The study concludes that the scope of resettlement and compensation mechanisms should expand in order to capture the complexity of housing as a fundamental asset.