Paper short abstract:

Urban income inequalities have also decreased, though the evolution of inequalities at lower scales of analysis remains unclear. How these great transformations of the urban structure of Lima were reflected spatially in the capital city, through residential segregation patterns.

Paper long abstract:

Peru has been growing constantly in the last 15 years. This period of relative prosperity, combined with the implementation of social policies, allowed to more than halve poverty incidence. Urban income inequalities have also decreased, though the evolution of inequalities at lower scales of analysis, for example the city centre as opposed to the periphery, remains unclear. The numerous transformations of both the economy and urban structure of Lima in the past twenty years call for an analysis of how these inequalities are reflected spatially in Lima, the capital city, through residential segregation patterns.

Using census micro-data we have analyzed the extent of residential segregation in Metropolitan Lima in 1993 and 2007 adopting a spatial perspective using geocoded data. With data at two points in time, we can grasp extent and types of segregation and its changes over time. Specifically we have explored the following four questions:

1. What is the magnitude and nature of residential segregation in Lima today ?

2. Has Lima become a more segregated city under economic growth?

3. Are there heterogeneous patterns of segregation at lower scales of analysis than the whole city?

4. To what extent socioeconomic factors are more relevant than ethnic factors (linked to internal rural/urban migration) to explain residential segregation patterns?