Service Provision in the Slums
Subtitle: The Case of La Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico
By: Yesmin Vega Valdivieso
Publisher: [publisher not identified]
Published: 2015
Place of publication: [New York, N.Y.?]
Language: eng
Description: The purpose of this thesis is to study the basic services and infrastructure available to residents of the informal settlement of La Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This thesis researched the availability of services, the acquisition and quality of these services and who provided them. This research concurrently explores the governance structures that emerged as a result of marginalization, the absence of government involvement and the endurance of La Perla for over a century. The research design consisted of reviewing background documents, photographing the study site, and interviewing both residents and local government officials. Seven public services were selected for study within La Perla: electricity, water, garbage collection, public transportation, education, fire and rescue, and safety and security. The findings show La Perla challenges the perception of informal settlements as places that lack access to public services and infrastructure with a mix of formality and informality in its built form and availability of the services studied in this thesis.

El objetivo de esta tesis es el estudio de los servicios basicos e infraestructura disponible a los residentes de la comunidad informal de La Perla en San Juan, Puerto Rico. Esta tesis analizs los servicios, la adquisicisn y calidad de los mismos y sus proveedores. La tesis, de forma concurrente, explora cuales estructuras gubernamentales y que necesidades emergen como resultado de la ausencia de servicios gubernamentales y la perpetuidad de La Perla como comunidad marginada por mas de un siglo. El estudio consistis en revisar documentos antecedentes, fotografiar el sitio de estudio, y entrevistar residentes y funcionarios del gobierno local. Siete servicios pzblicos fueron seleccionados para estudiar dentro de La Perla: electricidad, agua, coleccisn de basura, transportacisn pzblica, educacisn, fuego y rescate, y seguridad y proteccisn. Los hallazgos muestran que La Perla desafma la percepcisn de las comunidades informales como lugares que carecen de acceso a los servicios pzblicos y la infraestructura con una mezcla de formalidad y la informalidad en su forma construida y la disponibilidad de los servicios estudiados en esta tesis.
Notes: Department: Urban Planning.

Thesis advisor: Robert Beauregard.

Thesis (M.S.)--Columbia University, 2015.