Peru 1957–1977: How time and place influenced John Turner's ideas on housing policy

Abstract John F.C. Turner worked in Peru for several periods between 1957 and 1965, and he developed many of his ideas on aided self-help housing on the basis of his Peruvian experiences. His most famous publications on housing policy, several of them co-authored with the American anthropologist William Mangin who also worked in Peru in the 1950s and 1960s, make extensive use of Peruvian examples. This paper describes Peru in the periods when Turner was there, and in the succeeding decade, pointing out distinctive characteristics of the country and its housing, and outlining the major housing policy debates which raged among Peruvians. Publishing in English in major international journals, Turner was able to draw on abundant Peruvian research, ideas and expertise, and to graphically present Peru's urban squatter settlements ( barriadas ) to a global audience. The contrasting ideas of Fernando Belaunde, Pedro Beltran and Carlos Delgado were particularly influential, leading to innovative government programs. Turner drew on all three of them to some degree, but found his own distinctive middle ground.