Iquitos, Perú - Project Context

Community of Claverito:

The Community of Claverito is a floating informal urban slum community located in the floodplain city edge in Iquitos, a city of 0.5 million people in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest. The community of urban indigenous migrants live in 52 floating homes in the floodplain city edge. About 280 people and 240 domestic animals share the environment with hundreds of species of birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and native plants. The community lacks sufficient electricity, water or sanitation and suffers from severe physical and mental health issues related to their harsh environmental conditions.

 

Traction is facilitating a long-term collaboration called InterACTION Labs | Iquitos - a transdisciplinary partnership between Claverito, the University of Washington, the Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana, the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, and 90+ faculty, students and professionals from 8 research centers in Peru and the U.S. representing 26 different disciplines - which implements annual participatory built environment interventions and follows the changes in human and ecological health in Claverito over time.

Participatory Listening and Health Baseline: 

Before beginning any work, Traction facilitated a series of participatory listening activities including a Photovoice Gallery, participatory needs assessments, and community visioning workshops. In addition, Traction enlisted an interdisciplinary team of researchers to conduct a robust human and ecological health measurements. These scientific and participatory measures created a baseline for the InterACTION Labs | Iquitos program and guided the Traction team to design based upon community needs and priorities.

Iquitos, Perú - Projects