Neighborhood conflicts and social mediation in Lima's “middle-class” housing complexes (Peru)

Abstract

In recent years, so-called condominios populares, which are low-price, closed housing developments, are increasingly appearing. These become units with their own entity in the city. This construction boom is the result of a state initiative focused on subsidizing the creation of new mortgage funds for buying social housing. These funds are preferentially meant to be for the middle and lower classes of the Peruvian population; together with the sustained increase in salaries, they have made it possible for people to move to more central areas of the city. This phenomenon has generated strategies of upward social mobility linked to a change in residence. But this mobility has not managed to avoid the appearance of new neighborhood conflicts, as nearly 70 % of Lima residents acknowledge. In this paper, focused on the city of Lima, I deal with these new conflicts, on both the interpersonal and structural levels. I will also offer a preliminary classification of these conflicts. The study pays special attention to the social policies that could improve the residents' situation and standard of living. One of these policies, discussed in this paper, is the implantation of social mediators who, because of their work in different condominios, offer a broad and critical vision of the issue.