Living in the Intra-Urban Confines of Lima: A Precariousness of Geopolitical Origin

Abstract

Confines, defined as spaces of blurry boundaries and powers interpenetration, are most traditionally studied in geopolitics contexts at the national level. In this paper, we highlight the presence of such spaces at the urban scale, as a product of political fragmentation, drawing from empirical evidence in Lima, Peru. Through a geohistorical analysis, a morphological examination, and a qualitative fieldwork, we show how these confines produce urban uncertainty and precarity. In a local context of undetermined administrative boundaries justifying territorial disputes between municipalities, we turn to the analysis of the practices of political informality between municipal authorities and inhabitants as well as the inhabitants' strategies to adapt themselves to this context of urban geopolitics. This will show that these practices produce an original form of urbanity and citadinity. The dynamics of the urban fabric and territorial control reveal confines as geographical spaces that combine precariousness and informality, the latter being a constraint and a resource both for municipalities and inhabitants. The discussion of urban confines in relation to urban margins leads us to a reflection on precariousness, stressing the role of relationships of power and trust developed in these disputed and uncertain territories.