Self-produced settlements in the Bajo Piura desert, Peru: between the extractive and risk scales

Abstract

This article aims to study the production of space in Bajo Piura, a hybrid (rural-urban) area where the valley and desert intersect, and where extractive dynamics and climate risks converge. The analysis is structured around three analytical categories: extractive scale, risk scale (both approached through the capital-nature relationship), and self-produced settlements. The objective is to analyze how links between capital accumulation, the climate crisis, and habitat self-production manifest under conditions of state deregulation and informal land markets. The mixed-methods approach combines qualitative and socio-spatial perspectives, drawing on semi-structured interviews, cartographic data, and urban–territorial plans. The results reveal that the extractive and risk scales are a product of the conceived space, ignoring community practices amid uncertainty. The planning instruments reinforce this logic, naturalizing risk by proposing areas for capital expansion that stimulate speculation in land markets. In the new rurality, desert refuge settlements exemplify the reappropriation of communal land in line with resilient principles. The study proposes recognizing the Bajo Piura as an intermediate planning unit within a sustainable development framework that considers local environmental culture and the right to a safe territory.