Informal mining in the Peruvian highlands, particularly in La Rinconada, Puno, Peru, shapes an urban environment that reinforces the exclusion of women from public spaces. This article uses a right-to-the-city approach and gender-sensitive urbanism to analyze how the spatial configuration of the city -characterized by precarity and the absence of the state- limits women’s access to essential services, safety, and participation. Based on participant observation and interviews, the research shows how informal mining dynamics and structural violence restrict women’s mobility and relegate them to subordinate roles within the community. Despite this hostile context, the article suggests that transformation is possible through self-organization, community mobilization, and the recognition of care work. Drawing on examples of women’s collectives in other Latin American cities, it argues t...

La falta de vivienda digna en el Perú es un problema generalizado, pero si hablamos de este mismo déficit en las zonas altoandinas del país, nos encontraremos con una realidad muy cruda: viviendas precarias y sin servicios básicos intentan arropar a hombres, mujeres y niños en condiciones climáticas gélidas, llegando incluso al bajo cero. Una de estas ciudades es Crucero, ubicada en Puno a 4200msnm, en donde en los últimos veinte años la población se ha duplicado debido a la presencia de minería informal a sus alrededores y su crecimiento urbano se ha visto acelerado de manera desordenada. Las nuevas construcciones en Crucero se alternan entre viviendas de ladrillo y concreto, las cuales representan “modernidad” en una ciudad construida desde hace 100 con adobe; y viviendas de calamina, conglomerado de madera y otros materiales temporales. Esta gran brecha se debe a que la...

Informal mining in the Peruvian highlands, particularly in La Rinconada, Puno, Peru, shapes an urban environment that reinforces the exclusion of women from public spaces. This article uses a right-to-the-city approach and gender-sensitive urbanism to analyze how the spatial configuration of the city—characterized by precarity and the absence of the state—limits women’s access to essential services, safety, and participation. Based on participant observation and interviews, the research shows how informal mining dynamics and structural violence restrict women’s mobility and relegate them to subordinate roles within the community. Despite this hostile context, the article suggests that transformation is possible through self-organization, community mobilization, and the recognition of care work. Drawing on examples of women’s collectives in other Latin American cities, it argues...