Architectural guide : Lima

Lima has many more sunny days than its inhabitants claim. The urban layout of its historic centre - the famous checkerboard - is the most perfect Cartesian grid in South America, yet the suburbs are the global capital of informality. Lima society lives in a permanent state of commercial frenzy, yet it has preserved the oldest traditions in the continent. The best-known works of architecture are viceregal and republican, yet pre-Columbian ruins are scattered around the city in a manner that can only be found elsewhere in Cairo. Its modern movement is more cheerful than that of the old continent, midway between Brazil and California. And the invasions, a heterodox and radical phenomenon, have generated an astonishing form of urban development.The book describes more than 160 works, organised in routes that range from the territorial to the neighbourhood scale and are designed to explore the city by boat, car, train, bus, bicycle or on foot. It covers the predominant styles of architecture in each period as well as the remains of the pre-existing landscape and the infrastructures that articulate the city today. Interspersed in the texts are references to the civilising mechanisms that have underpinned the construction of the works, the economic activities that have made them possible, and their public administration.Until now, Lima has shown the world a gloomy, unattractive ambience. Herman Melville described it as 'the strangest, saddest city thou can'st see', César Moro as 'Lima la horrible', and Héctor Velarde as 'Lima la gris'. This guide offers a different picture, one of a vibrant, cheerful and insanely glorious city, with bright colour photographs inviting visitors and residents to see it in a new light.