Huaita Alfaro, Ana Maria; (2019) Encounters at Lima’s inner-city marketplaces: negotiating fragmentation and common living in urban Peru. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Preview

Text AM Huaita Alfaro 2018 PhD Dissertation - Final (e-thesis).pdf - Accepted Version Download (24MB) | Preview

Abstract

This thesis explores encounters in Lima’s inner-city marketplaces as residents’ everyday intersections that exceed the immediate co-presence and imply ongoing negotiations on the shared space and activities together. These lead residents to shape relations and arrangements towards common living, on top of experiences of social and spatial fragmentation in this Latin American city. Encounters and negotiations are framed within the distinctiveness and complexity of market environments, historically accomplishing roles for economic and political participation, as well as social and cultural life in cities. Moreover, in the context of the ‘Gastronomic Boom’ of Peruvian cuisine, food became a central means through which it was possible to approximate these local environments. Two case-study markets in Lima were investigated through ethnographic work, applying experiential, immersive and qualitative methods. These were key in producing information on topics and locations little documented, as well as in raising comparisons between cases and across global references explored under this approach. Hence, this work informed about encounters – around typical foodstuffs such as ceviche - in the realms of markets’ management, imaginaries and exchanges. Beyond commercial transactions and exchanges, encounters among the diverse collective of traders and customers unveiled tensions from fragmentations in urban governance, social diversity and civic relatedness, but also allowed to identify common actions of collaboration, co-creation and connection. Furthermore, beyond-economic values emerged as determining market users’ participation from these spaces. Social values such as trust, recognition and sociability underlid market encounters and shaped residents’ actions in common as well as engagements with markets’ common making. Research outcomes invite to expand understandings and applications of urban encounters in the evaluation of complex realms of city making and living. Addressing shared values and actions allows to approach factors that ultimately determine the extent in which urban plans and growth processes respond to individual demands and contribute to building collective urban futures.

Download activity - last month

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as CSVJSONXML

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as XMLJSONCSV

Archive Staff Only

View Item