The Historic Center of Lima, Peru: a GIS database as a tool for safeguarding and developing,

The city of Lima, Peru, is today one of the greatest metropolitan areas in Latin America with nine millions of inhabitants. Lima’s historic center, designated UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, still maintains its original 16th century city layout, with few later transformations, and a dense and rich architectural heritage. However, in 2008, was included in the World Monuments Watch List as one of the world’s most endangered sites: many historic buildings are in poor condition, both as a result of neglect and deliberate decay for future speculative development. Recently, in November 2012, one of the few 18th century multistory buildings, the Casona El Buque, dramatically collapsed. A methodological approach for successful rehabilitation strategies has been created with the necessity of surveying the features of current urban fabric. The survey, organized in documentation forms, is going to be implemented within a GIS database. It analyzes various types of structures and takes under consideration several parameters: conditions of the existing architectural heritage, preservation of the fragile materials constituting historic structures, definition of boundaries for ‘compatible’ reuses of historic buildings, quality life improvements for inhabitants. The survey represents an investigative tool preliminary to any restoration program and could become a reference point for local institution to define guidelines for protection and revitalization of the historic center.