The Politics of Cartographic Calculation and Coordination: State Mapping of Human Settlements in Lima

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates a way of analysing planning governance in relation to human settlements and exposes the micro-politics at play that precipitate particular forms of planning in Lima. Adopting a socio-material perspective, it focuses on mundane institutional practices in the production, use and circulation of cartography, to reveal conflicting and competing rationalities. It uncovers the multiple ways the politics of representation play out through omission, inclusion and partial visibility of low-income settlements, as well as the production and reproduction of cartographic palimpsests, giving way to an urban governance regime that works against the normative objectives of the state.