Housing Precarity: A Longitudinal Understanding of Thermal Comfort, Safety and Energy Access in Lima’s Autoconstructed Settlements.

This paper contributes to the limited research on the interplay between climate change and long-term impacts of housing conditions on wellbeing, vulnerability and sustainability, particularly concerning vulnerable populations in the global South facing environmental injustices. Despite the growing body of literature, several gaps remain in the conceptualization of vulnerability through a longitudinal approach in housing studies. Given that space and social relations are co-constructed, it is important to develop nuanced frameworks that foreground space and materiality, account for contextual variations, as well as diverse dimensions of wellbeing.

This paper draw from primary research undertaken in two settlements in Lima- Peru that exemplify the different stages of the auto-construction process for the poor to access housing in the city. There is a prevalent assumption that, over time, individuals residing in auto-constructed settlements will experience improvements in their vulnerability and overall wellbeing as these communities consolidate and develop. Focusing on aspects that are often overlooked such as thermal comfort, safety and energy access, this paper analyses the spatial and material configurations at the household and neighborhood scale to better understand what happens over time and what are the implications for inhabitants’ wellbeing, as well as for justice and sustainability more broadly. It shows how existing vulnerabilities shift and change but are not entirely eliminated, arguing that the consolidation pathway of auto constructed settlements in Lima (that exemplifies how many other cities in the world are growing) is in essence a pathway to degradation, needing urgent attention from policy makers and planners.