Urban Planning in Lima, Peru

The concept of international urbanism in the United States seems to revolve around the same European nations: The Netherlands, France, Spain. Then you have the occasional mention of an Asian city —most likely in Japan — but after that, not much more is said. This is not to say that these nations do not deserve the spotlight, but this is a call for curiosity to explore outside the traditional urbanism box.

Latin American urbanism provides one such avenue for exploration. Apart from traditional urban issues such as lack of affordable housing and traffic congestion, some of these nations face other challenges. A great example is a city on the western coast of South America: Lima, Peru.

Lima: A brief history

Historically known as “La Ciudad de los Reyes” — Spanish for “The City of Kings” — Lima has a rich and layered history. From the Incan Empire to the Spanish conquest, Lima has a lot of stories to tell. Located on the Pacific Ocean with the Andes as a natural barrier on the east, Lima seemed to have had a geopolitical advantage. By the 1500s the urban center had grown exponentially in all aspects, and by 1542 it had become the capital of Spain’s new viceroyalty of Peru. This included not only what is known today as modern Peru, but also the territories of Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Panama, Venezuela, and parts of Chile.

Originally, Lima was a modest port city with a square urban grid. As a Spanish colony, it inherited an impressive sample of Spanish architecture, greatly represented in its historic center (Centro de Lima). From monumental churches, such as the Cathedral of Lima, initially constructed in 1534, and Peru’s current presidential palace, originally built by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1535, these and other edifices show the influence of the Spanish up to today. By July 28th, 1821, the Spanish era ended, Peru was a new sovereign nation, leading its biggest city on a new trajectory.

Lima became the capital of Peru, becoming the center of the young nation. Though growth was slow during the 19th century, by the early 20th century Lima was already well established. With the arrival of the second industrial revolution in Peru, Lima’s urban development would start a new age.  

According to historical population records from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI), Lima’s urban population was approximately 630,173 in 1940, and by 1961 it had a population of 1,752,277, a nearly threefold increase in population in only two decades. This was partly due to fast urban growth and the ever-increasing amount of motor vehicles in the hands of Lima’s residents that started in the early 20th century. Additionally, industrialization meant jobs, money, and opportunities, which led to migration from the Peruvian provinces to the capital in search of a better life. This contributed to the development of one of Peru's several challenges: centralization. Even today, Lima is the the country’s most developed city. According to an excerpt from the book The Mega City in Latin America by the United Nations University Press, “By 1986, Lima generated 69 percent of industrial value-added and collected 87 percent of the nation's taxes. It also contained 76 percent of the nation's telephones, 51 percent of its public employees, and 73 percent of its doctors. In the same year, Lima attracted 83 percent of all Peru's bank loans and 98 percent of private investment outside the mining sector.” These statistics show the magnitude of the imbalance in Peru and its cities and show how most opportunities are still concentrated in the Peruvian capital. This reinforced the consistent immigration patterns from Peru’s different regions to Lima.

An urbanist revolution

The square historic grid of Lima, which was planned by the Spanish, remained virtually untouched as the main part of the city up to the late 19th century, when there was a revolution in Lima’s urban planning paradigm. For the first time in centuries, big plans were ahead. In 1872, the city hosted the Lima International Exhibition, and with it came the construction of “el Parque de la exposición,” where the exhibition would be held. The park would represent the first urban park in the city and is currently home to Lima’s Museum of Art (MALI, Museo de Arte de Lima). A few decades later Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City movement arrived in Peru and influenced the construction of grand boulevards such as Avenida Arequipa, and, later in the century, large-scale residential projects such as “Unidad Vecinal #3” in 1955 and “Residencial San Felipe” in 1962.

Yet despite all these efforts, the government could not keep up with the constant influx of immigrants from outer provinces. The numbers were vast, and the resources were limited. 

Hence, due to the inability of the government to provide affordable housing, they did the second best thing: a combination of legal actions to facilitate squatting, or in other words, they said “Let them build.” Known locally as “pueblos jovenes” or “invasiones,” these are the structures migrants built on vacant land. According to a publication by Santa Clara University’s School of Law, in 1958 the number of squatters in Lima was approximately 138,000, and by 1966 the number had increased to half a million, representing 25 percent of Lima’s population at the time. The building of the informal settlements did not follow any guidelines or master plans, making them impossible to govern. These led to the creation of vast districts of squatters that with time became part of the city.

This story presents the second big issue Lima battles: informality. This is not only found in housing but also in transportation, specifically in the public sphere. Public transportation in Lima is a complex, unfortunate story. In 1904, Lima inaugurated an electric light rail system, that connected the city’s historic center with its surrounding areas. The story of Lima’s light rail (known as Tranvia de Lima) system draws many parallels with ones in American cities. The proliferation of motor vehicles fundamentally changed transportation in the city. Buses arrived in the expanding metropolis with cheaper fares and with it, traffic. The light rail did not have most of the road dedicated to it anymore, and with no way to keep up with the faster, cheaper competition, the system became obsolete in 1965.

Unfortunately, the buses could not keep up with the exponentially increasing population, resulting in an overwhelmed public transportation system. Until the 1980s, Lima mainly had large buses on its streets, just like other major cities. But the pressure to increase capacity and improve the system in a limited space was growing, ultimately resulting in a series of laws that would change modern public transportation in the city. First, in 1991, the “Decreto Legislativo N° 651” was passed. The legislation permitted interested parties to provide public transportation services to the general public and to set their own fares. From that moment, public transit stopped being solely provided by the government of Lima, and now anyone with a vehicle could provide the service. A year later, another key law was passed: Law  N° 25789. Before this, there were several restrictions on the import of used vehicles and other machinery in Peru; they were virtually impossible to bring into the country. The law effectively removed most restrictions and changed the transportation industry.

These laws were the beginning of Lima’s public transport Pandora’s box. If the streets were overwhelmed before, they were even more so — but now it was virtually impossible to control. Today, buses, vans, and other different-sized vehicles provide public transit in the metropolis. Transit in Lima is mostly owned by dozens of private companies, but one became the staple of Lima’s transit system. Known locally as “Combi” or “Micro.” these vehicles are microbuses that zoom around the metropolis. Usually, a Combi consists of both a driver and a fare collector that promotes the routes via mouth-to-mouth (shouting) while he hangs from the side of the microbus with the door open. In some cases, these vehicles are not well maintained and are infamous for not following traffic laws. Pair that with each combi having its own passenger stops, schedules, and routes, and it is not a mystery why chaos seems to rule the streets in Lima.

Despite all the chaos, the government still partially provides formal public transit; there are traditional bus systems, as well as bus rapid transit (BRT) and rail. The Metropolitano — a BRT system — and Lima’s expanding metro are some of the best examples. Originally inaugurated in 2010, the bus rapid transit system known as “El Metropolitano” has proved to be successful in mobilizing millions of Lima’s residents day by day. The system moves approximately 700,000 passengers daily, representing 255,500,000 passengers annually — not too bad for a bus. The main difference between this system and a normal bus system is its dedicated bus lanes. Lima went a step further and built not just a single lane but also passing lanes that are used for express service. In a world of transportation chaos, the Metropolitano offers quality, reliable service.

The second large system the government manages is Lima’s rail system. Despite a rough start and taking 28 years to finish a single elevated line, the Lima metro (which goes from south to north) can still be considered a success. Inaugurated four years after El Metropolitano in 2014, the elevated line has also moved millions of Lima’s residents. On average, line 1 has been moving 350,000 passengers per day, representing 127,750,000 passengers per year. There is also good news, as both projects have expansion plans inthe works, with El Metropolitano soon opening an extra 17 stations up to the north of the city, and the Lima metro’s anticipated underground line (line 2) that will go east to west, which has already opened 5 out of its 27 planned stations, with two extra underground lines in the planning stages as was well.

Nonetheless, both the Metro and the BRT still have a long way before they get most of Lima’s transportation cake. In a study conducted by Lima Como Vamos in 2023, both the Metro and the BRT combined represented only 12.7 percent of the total transportation mode split in Lima, with most people choosing to walk (42.8 percent) or use combis (34.4 percent) to their destinations. The new expansions could help drive more ridership to these systems.

There are also deeper issues in Lima’s society that heavily affect the successful development of public transportation systems and public housing, which presents us with the third and last issue: a culture of corruption. In a country where its last six presidents elected since 1990 are either in jail or currently facing detention orders, its capital city is not much different. One of the biggest challenges is transportation and housing mafias. For instance, formal public transportation companies such as Translima suffer from illegal replicas of their fleet. These copycat buses have the same color, schedules, logos, and even fare prices, but operate under the government's radar an often use coercion and verbal threats to ensure local residents use them. On the housing side, the industry of land trafficking in Lima is as alive as ever, and by moving millions of dollars a year, it is a big barrier against housing formality and security.

Promise for the future

Lima is an up-and-coming city, one that has grown exponentially throughout its existence. The city also has a history of delegating government tasks to its residents, from transportation to housing. Lima’s residents have been accustomed to the status quo, even though it can be damaging and destructive. Fortunately, despite the city government not taking the appropriate measures to accommodate the new influx of residents, changes in recent decades have shown that good things can still happen. Projects such as Lima’s Metro and the expanding El Metropolitano have the potential to change the thought paradigm by providing a high-quality, efficient, and (hopefully) consolidated public transportation system that the city’s residents deserve and serving as a reminder that things can still be done well.