Lima

In Lima, the main urban problems have been well identified for decades, and there is a fair degree of consensus as what should be done to address them. There is a range of ideas and proposals, and in recent years new voices have appeared to introduce those ideas into the city’s agenda. However, there is not much discussion regarding how to take these ideas from the concept to reality. In that context, this thesis highlights the importance of linking implementation strategies to the formulation processes of urban plans and projects, abandoning the idea of implementation as a separate operation (Kayden, 2014). In Lima, because of its complex and fragmented institutional context, the need for thinking on implementation makes itself evident. This thesis studies the case of Costa Verde, Lima’s disputed waterfront, under the premise that it is a clear sample of Lima’s complexities and its difficulties in coordinating the interests of its many actors and institutions at implementing plans and projects.

Furthermore, it explores the underlying factors of Costa Verde’s implementation failures and successes and the ways in which they can be extrapolated to the metropolitan level.