Right to the City in Mining Contexts: The Struggle of Women in La Rinconada

Abstract

Informal mining in the Peruvian highlands, particularly in La Rinconada, Puno, Peru, shapes an urban environment that reinforces the exclusion of women from public spaces. This article uses a right-to-the-city approach and gender-sensitive urbanism to analyze how the spatial configuration of the city—characterized by precarity and the absence of the state—limits women’s access to essential services, safety, and participation. Based on participant observation and interviews, the research shows how informal mining dynamics and structural violence restrict women’s mobility and relegate them to subordinate roles within the community. Despite this hostile context, the article suggests that transformation is possible through self-organization, community mobilization, and the recognition of care work. Drawing on examples of women’s collectives in other Latin American cities, it argues that in La Rinconada, women can redefine their relationship with urban space, claim their right to the city, and contribute actively to building a more just, inclusive, and equitable urban environment.