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Abstract
The ongoing housing crisis poses a challenge to urban areas around the world. Whereas in developed countries this crisis has to do with a shortage of housing, in developing countries the addition of poor urban and architectural conditions makes the problem worse. In a developing country like Peru, the creation of informal squatter settlements on the fringes of the cities are not only eroding the urban fabric, but also becoming a threat to the safety of the people living in these areas. This means that there is the potential for the physical, and therefore social, collapse of the built environment in the event of an earthquake event.
The city of Cusco in Peru has seen a sharp urban growth over the past decades. The increasingly difficult farming conditions, due to climate change, and the promising economic growth due to tourism incentivizes people living in the rural areas to move to the city. However, when these people arrive in the city, their hopes and dreams are confronted with a harsh reality. The price of the land in the city is very expensive and the cost to build a house that follows the regulations is even higher. Thus, they are pushed to the outskirts, where the price of the land is cheaper, and they can build their house through informal means. An added difficulty is the challenging topography given that the fringes of the city are usually located on the hillsides.
By considering the topographical and cultural challenges of these areas, this thesis proposes an urban and architectural solution that deals with the problems posed by urban sprawl and informal construction. The literature review studies two key characteristics of the informal housing in Peru: self-help construction and incremental growth. The theoretical aspects of these characteristics are complemented by the study of precedents located in sites with similar social and cultural conditions. Then a thorough study of the evolution of the single-family housing unit in Cusco from Inca to contemporary times is described. As a result of this study, the use of adobe, a traditional construction technique that uses sun-dried mud bricks, is further examined and proposed as the construction technique for the production of affordable housing.
The selected area of study is a squatter settlement located on the fringes of Cusco called Mosoq Wasi. The current conditions of the area are analyzed and a proposal for the re-development of the settlement is put forward. Three scales of work are encompassed: informal settlement scale, building unit scale, and material scale. These scales aim to produce a comprehensive urban and architectural intervention that is rooted in its local context and advocates for the development of social and affordable housing that is properly articulated with public spaces.
The proposal aims to produce a set of urban and architectural design tools that can be applied to the community of Mosoq Wasi but that can also be applied to other areas of similar conditions around the city.
