Ricardo Fort addressed the enduring consequences of informal urbanization at the University of Chicago
Ricardo Fort, senior researcher at GRADE, presented his research studying the institutional arrangements that govern the massive ‘informal’ urban expansion of Lima—as well as other Peruvian cities and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The research presentation was held by the University of Chicago The Pearson Institute and the Center for Latin American Studies.
This research program has produced evidence that suggests that the very process of informal occupation of the territory generates certain informal institutions that not only persist over decades, but determine a number of economic, social and political outcomes. Ricardo will discuss how these primeval institutions formed and how they affect—both in positive and negative ways—the current performance of public and private agents. He will then present the results of a project that attempts to fix some of the fundamental shortcomings of such institutional arrangements—namely, a lack of access to technical knowledge to improve coordination and management issues. Specifically, this project seeks to improve the layout of new informal settlements through a free mobile application.
