Formalizing the informal city: Designing for development in a Peruvian shantytown

Resources for urban development in Third World countries are usually very limited, while population demands are increasingly higher, resulting in informal urbanism. According to recent projections, nearly 75% of the growth of Lima over the past three decades has been due to the expansion of informal settlements; approximately 50% of the country's population lives in shantytowns.; This thesis maintains that urban and architectural design can promote sustainable social, economic, urban and human development. The project is located in Villa el Salvador (VES) a planned shantytown in southern Lima and is part of a proposed network of infill development for the 144 vacant urban spaces in the district. Each space is considered as a "core" containing mid-density infill housing, a public plaza, urban park space and an institutional/community building.; A progressive housing scheme is proposed which provides an initial basic core that is designed to support future expansion through self-help construction. The challenge is to provide a higher density model for self-help construction that replaces the predominant scheme of the single house per lot.