Rita Lambert

Mapping the Contradictions: An Examination of the Relationship Between Resilience and Environmental Justice

Acknowledging that the relationship between resilience and environmental justice is complex, this chapter examines the tensions and contradictions arising between these two notions. Through a contextualised analysis of the institutional mapping practices, as well as those undertaken by inhabitants of two informal settlements on the periphery of Lima-Peru, it asks: what is to be made resilient? What from? With what consequences for environmental justice? The implications that such maps have on opening or foreclosing the possibilities for resilience and environmental justice are evaluated, making evident the transactions that take place within and across various scales. This interrogation demonstrates how in making a system resilient, environmental injustices may paradoxically be reinforced, or even produced and reproduced, leading to a vicious cycle difficult to disrupt.

From state agencies to ordinary citizens: reframing risk-mitigation investments and their impact to disrupt urban risk traps in Lima, Peru

The understanding of linkages between disaster risk and urban development has seen important advances in recent decades. However, it falls short in addressing the production and reproduction of so-called urban “risk traps”, which are accumulation cycles of everyday risks and small-scale disasters with highly localized impacts, particularly on impoverished urban dwellers. Drawing on the action-research project cLIMA sin Riesgo, this paper examines risk-mitigating investment actions of state agencies, residents and communities in Barrios Altos, in the historic centre of Lima, Peru, and José Carlos Mariátegui, in the periphery. The analysis shows that residents tend to be caught in risk traps not necessarily due to lacking investments, but paradoxically despite them and their unintended effects. Furthermore, accumulated fragmented investments erode the capacity to act of those at risk and perpetuate risk accumulation cycles. The paper argues for a re-assessment of risk-mitigation investments and their intended and unintended consequences, and suggests routes to address current shortcomings in order to disrupt “risk traps”.

Participatory Mapping to Disrupt Unjust Urban Trajectories in Lima

This chapter shares the experience of two action research projects ReMap Lima and cLIMA sin Riego, where mapping has been used with three main objectives: to make visible what is otherwise ‘invisible’; to open up dialogue between different stakehold‐ ers in the city and to arrive at concrete actions, collectively negotiated between citizens and policy makers. Two case study sites were chosen in Lima, Peru: Barrios Altos (BA) in the historic centre and José Carlos Mariátegui (JCM) at the edge of the city. The approach adopted applies a participatory action methodology based on grounded applications and advanced technologies for community-led mapping and visualisa‐ tion. The chapter reflects upon three interrelated sites of the mapping process: the reading, writing and audiencing of maps and explores how these can provide opportunities to break away from the polar positions often established between Claimant/ marginalised group and the state, thus aiming to contribute to a process of spatial co-learning across typically confronted actors. The two case studies show different possibilities for interrogating the city to provide a spatially and socially grounded way of co-producing knowledge for action that can contribute to the planning of just urban futures.