Project title URBAN-ANDES: Landscape Urbanism Strategies for Resilient Andean Cities in the face of Climate Change

The project tackles the issue of water insecurity influenced by unsustainable urbanization processes in Andean livelihoods, where Ayacucho City, in the semiarid basin of ‘Cachi’, is a representative case. From an urban planning and development perspective, we seek to tackle the accelerated and unplanned urban growth of Ayacucho as a primary factor for the overturning of the urban-rural hydric balance in the overall Cachi basin. In the face of Climate Change, water availability in the Cachi is jeopardized by the unsustainable water management and the city's full reliance on natural resources and seasonal climate events. By the induction of Landscape Urbanism practices in the local context, the project aims to influence the modus operandi of both academics and stakeholders of Ayacucho, so that the urban/rural hydric balance is tuned up in desirable and sustainable terms. At the same time, Ayacucho can become a model for the sustainable growth and water management of other Andean cities in the region. The project is built upon the collaboration between the UNSCH (IrNexus Institute-Ayacucho), KUL (Leuven) and FAUA-UNI (Lima) as supporting partner.