'Debe ser esfuerzo propio': changing patterns of belonging in Lima's peripheral settlements

Decades of Habitat-studies in Latin American cities have resulted in a rich and varied knowledge on how the urban poor organize and exercise pressure to gain access to land, housing and basic services. The Peruvian experience stands out, because of its early and progressive policies vis-à-vis the invasions on Lima’s peripheral lands. Since the fifties the Peruvian government promoted the approach of the "cheap house that grows" on Lima’s peripheral lands. This papers however argues that the Peruvian model of "laissez faire" has reached its limits, both in physical as well as in social terms. Based on a longitudinal study comparing a 1997 with a 2010 household survey, as well as qualitative data, this paper shows that the current generation does not want to follow their parents’ tradition of land invasion and incremental home improvement. They have grown up in the city, in fundamentally different circumstances, in which "ser professional" (be a professional) was the major goal. Consequently they no longer aspire to collective action, but put emphasis on individual efforts, which also implies a very different sense of belonging to the city. It is no longer a strong attachment to the neighbourhood, but the sense that the city is - or at least should be - theirs.