Sustainable development in Lima, Peru:

Question G:

Do you think that the lifestyle of the inhabitants of your town or city reflects

behaviour that is in line with the concept of sustainable development? In your opinion, what should be improved?

Index

1. What is sustainable development?

2. Case Study: Lima

(a) Introducing the city

(b) Lifestyle of the population

3. Examples of sustainable cities

4. Suggestions for improving sustainable development

What is sustainable development?“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Understanding Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development can be defined by two key principles:

• “The concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's population”

• “The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs"

Having understood the two core principles to which sustainable development adheres to, this presentation will focus on the city of Lima, analyzing specific elements of the lifestyle of its population to see whether they comply with the concept of sustainable development, and identifying what could be improved in order to attain a better sustainability.

Case Study: Lima, Peru Introducing Lima:

• Lima is the capital of Peru.

• It is located on the coast of the country, on the Pacific Coast.

• The city has a population of approximately 7 million and is the biggest city of Peru.

• Lima is located within the desert of Peru. It has very humid climate and little rainfall.

• Peru expects a GDP growth of 6% - the highest rate of South America.

• Inflation rate is currently 2.8% - lowest in the region.

Case Study: Lima, Peru

This presentation will focus on 3 key factors of the lifestyle of the population of Lima:

1. Infrastructure

2. Transport

3. Waste Management

1. Infrastructure

These pictures give a clear image of the state of infrastructure in Lima’s high end districts. The characteristics are of chaotic construction, overcrowded spaces with little urban development in mind. High rise buildings mixed with low rise housing – and little government regulation dictating a norm for construction.

Immigration to the city over the past 20 years has resulted in the creation of several shantytowns. However, although there has been a rise in the economy, the poorer neighborhoods along with the more affluent ones have developed in a disorganized way with little control or supervision. No regulation of building materials, and little development of communal spaces including green areas. Residents have to walk for hours to reach their houses since there are no proper road systems.

2. Transport

It often takes people at least one hour to get around the city. Aside from the new public bus and overground, there is a lack of formality in public transport - the service is run by 464 private companies which are poorly regulated. This in turn makes people prefer to use their own cars – increasing the level of traffic.

3. Waste Management

There is no official recycling policy and little awareness of recycling. This in turn affects any plans to manage waste efficiently. Garbage, especially in the poorer areas of the city is often left lying around.

Making cities sustainable

Vancouver San Francisco

Curitiba Masdar City

Making cities sustainable : common traits

• The four cities in the previous slide are all cities that have taken steps to become more sustainable. I believe that since Lima is still developing as a city, it has a lot of potential and could easily adopt some of the same strategies used by other cities.

• Although some of the cities (such as Masdar and Curitiba) have been designed from the outset as being sustainable, they still all share some similar traits: waste recycling, reserving land for green spaces, carbon neutral building, good management of car traffic, and use of renewable energy sources.

• By following the examples of these cities, Lima could set out three simple short term plans that could be started immediately and adopted in the long term, to try and make the lifestyle of the population more in line with sustainable development.

How is Lima going to become more sustainable?

The 3 Step Plan1. InfrastructureFor a city to develop sustainably, there has to be more control over the development of construction. Stricter regulations should be enforced, with special consideration going into:

• Carbon Neutral construction (especially in office and high storey buildings).• Creation of more green urban areas for communal use.• More attention should be given to sustainable land use. A lot of the city

spaces and outskirts remain unused. Rooftops could be used as green spaces or equipped with solar panels to provide sustainable energy. The periphery of the city, which includes much unused desert area, could be designed to produce energy in a sustainable way through solar panels or through wind turbines.

• Demolition should perhaps be banned to promote renovation of buildings.

How is Lima going to become more sustainable?

The 3 Step Plan2. TransportOne of the big problems with the amount of traffic and lack of enforcement of the regulations surrounding cars is that there is a lot of air and noise pollution in Lima. Air quality affects people’s health, ecosystem and also deteriorates buildings.

• There should be a stricter regulation or penalty system regarding public transport so that the informal bus services become less frequent.

• Once a proper transport system is set up, the government should make public transport the preferred method of transport of the population.

• Air quality should be closely monitored, and people could perhaps be informed when air pollution reaches unhealthy levels.

• There should be more control over industrial areas and their environmentally damaging emissions.

How is Lima going to become more sustainable?

The 3 Step Plan3. Waste ManagementWaste management and disposal is a massive challenge for Lima and the whole country. Waste prevention should be enforced, such as re-use, recycling, and use of waste for energy. In order to achieve these goals, it would be good in Lima to start educating people about the basic concept of recycling.

• Education should be one of the main ways to campaign and teach people about the importance of recycling, to then be able to manage waste efficiently as a government.

• Facilitating recycling would be another key issue – such as creating special bags, special pick-up garbage trucks, and placing specialized bins for different things.

• Targets should be set, for example Europe targets for households to recycle 50% of their waste – in Peru you could aim at first for 25%.

Conclusion• As a city, Lima faces several challenges in terms of leading a more

sustainable life.

• Because Lima is still developing and faces bigger issues such as poverty, sustainability has not been a priority – meaning many basic areas within sustainable development have been neglected (such as basic recycling).

• This means that achieving sustainability in Lima will be a challenge but that there are many opportunities. This presentation has identified three key issues in the everyday lifestyle of the city’s population that could be improved almost immediately and could lead in the long term to a more sustainable city.

• By looking at infrastructure, transport, and waste management and ways to improve all three sectors, the quality of life of Lima’s citizens could benefit immensely through quite simple plans.