Improvised Cities

Gyger and the University of Pittsburgh Press should be applauded for producing a beautiful book. . . . Gyger’s detailed interdisciplinary approach is something that will hopefully appear in and inspire more urban histories of Latin America.

An immensely complex and instructive analysis of the politically motivated and socially contested housing proposals in Peru. . . . Helen Gyger’s book . . . belongs undoubtedly to the best and most meticulously researched books in these fields and is a sharp portrait of the North-South relations and their enduring effects of dependency.

[Improvised Cities] moves beyond well-rehearsed endorsements of slum upgrading, bringing needed critical perspectives about the technologies and politics of spatial coproduction among civic, public, and third-sector actors.

An excellent, exciting and timely historical investigation. . . . a brilliant, thorough and exciting study of a crucial moment for low-income housing. The amount and density of sources collected is impressive, the analysis comprehensive, and the resulting text is not only illuminating but also enjoyable and relevant to current practice.

A welcome addition to the growing scholarship on post-war modernism in Latin America. . . . Improvised Cities is the most comprehensive work on urban housing in Peru. As it moves effortlessly across various scales, Gyger reveals how transnational forces shaped Peru’s mid-century housing programmes in a period rife with political volatility.

A very welcome, and much needed, addition to the literature on informal urbanization, social housing policy, planning, and social housing design in developing countries. . . . mandatory reading to Peruvian scholars, practitioners and policy-makers, as well as to international scholars and policy-makers working in the field. It has the potential to re-engage the architectural discipline in these cross-cutting discussions, which . . . could lead to the acknowledgement that architectural design is not an isolated creative process.

Improvised Cities is a model exploration of the social, political, and cultural dimensions of construction. Probing and insightful, Gyger is equally at home discussing vanguard architects or community activists, dogmatic economists or policy entrepreneurs. This essential and sobering book draws powerfully on experiences in Peru to address urban questions and professional enthusiasms now debated worldwide.

This is a very important book. It skillfully provides much-deserved attention to a series of major themes in the history of twentieth-century architecture. This is the most detailed study of urban expansion and architectural planning and production in Peru.

This book is an indispensable resource for studying the problems of rapid urbanization and housing. Gyger’s multidisciplinary research—in which midcentury anthropological studies and governmental policies figure prominently—not only offers welcome, new historical perspectives but also informs current efforts to create healthy, safe, and just urban environments.

A fantastic addition to a fascinating line of urban studies on public housing in Latin America.