Faculty Sponsor: Timmons Roberts and Allen Hance

It is estimated that 2 million people in Lima, Peru live in underserviced informal settlements, facing daily climate-related risks such as heavy rains, mudslides and water scarcity related to El Niño. Building on social constructivist theory of disasters, Ximena will analyze how sociopolitical and economic factors are influencing the construction of urban risk and disaster in Lima’s slums. Through interviews with residents, NGOs and government officials in two of Lima’s informal settlements, Ximena hopes to understand the nature of state-society relations in these marginalized areas, which lie at the base of the inequalities and fragmentation in urban governance.