CASA - Ciudades Auto-Sostenibles Amazónicas
The research project develops a participatory process to co-produce sustainable spatialities and promote alternative livelihoods systems in the Amazonas.
7 June 2018
The research project Ciudades Auto-Sostenibles Amazónicas (CASA), coordinated by BUDD alumna Belén Desmaison (PUCP), with the involvement of DPU’s Camillo Boano and Giovanna Astolfo, develops a participatory process with local communities, local authorities and the national government to co-produce sustainable spatialities and promote alternative livelihoods systems in the Amazonas, starting from local technologies and knowledges. The project aims to create evidence-based methodology for a more participatory implementation process of preventive relocations. The project looks at the city of Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, where a massive relocation process of around 16,000 people living in the flood-prone low-district of Belén is undergoing amid great difficulties and resistance. The government-led relocation has been implemented following a DRM policy released in 2011 and as part of the national programme “Programa Nuestras Ciudades”; despite many positive pioneering aspects, the decision-making process was centralised and the project poorly articulated, failing to capture the socio-spatial complexity of the context. Particularly, the relocation threatens the traditional spatial organisation of Amazon’s communities, negatively impacting the livelihoods system.
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- Staff
Development Planning Unit: Camillo Boano & Giovanna Astolfo (co-investigators);
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú : (co-investigator and coordinator); Kleber Espinoza (research assistant); Urphy Vásquez (co-investigator); Karina Castañeda (co-investigator)
- Outputs
Working Papers
“Home as Catalyst for Resilience: settlement relocation in the Amazon rainforest. Literature review”. (revised Dec 2017)
Policy Briefs
Videos
Blogs, interviews & conferences
“” By Giovanna Astolfo, on 3 August 2017.
“” Interview to Camillo Boano.
"" 09 October 2017, Lima.
"" 03 October 2017, Lima
News
DPU co-coordinated project wins Water Research Prize at the 2018 World Architecture Festival
Articles
DESMAISON, B.; BOANO, C.; ASTOLFO, G. (2018). CASA [Ciudades Auto-Sostenibles Amazónicas]: desafíos y oportunidades para la sostenibilidad de los proyectos de reasentamiento poblacional preventivo en la Amazonía Peruana. Medio Ambiente y Urbanización (IIED-AL), (88), Available at:
DESMAISON, B.; VASQUEZ, U.; ESPINOZA, K. (2018). Medios de vida, tecnologías apropiadas y su integración con los planes de desarrollo urbano como requisitos indispensables para la sostenibilidad de los proyectos de reasentamiento poblacional: el caso de la Nueva Ciudad de Belén, Loreto, Perú. Espacio y Desarrollo (PUCP), (31) (Forthcoming, will be available at: )
VASQUEZ, A. (2018). La Perspectiva de Género: ¿Una consideración necesariapara comprender y transformar estructuras de desigualdad en el contexto del cambio climático? Aportes de la iniciativa Ciudades Resilientes al Clima en América Latina. Medio Ambiente y Urbanización, (88), Available at:
Desmaison, B., Boano, C. ., & Espinoza, K. (2021). Towards an Amazonian Urbanism: Collective Infrastructures of Care.Contesti. Città, Territori, Progetti,1(1), 81–96.
Books
"CASA [Ciudades Auto-Sostenibles Amazónicas]: generando Hogares" by Belen Desmaison (editor)
"Conviviendo en la Amazonía en el siglo XXI: Guía de Arquitectura y Diseño Urbano para la Selva Baja" by Belen Desmaison (editor)