Navigating resettlement in the Peruvian Amazon: Gender inequalities in Nueva Ciudad de Belén

This article aims to demonstrate, from a gender and intersectionality perspective, how population resettlement as an urban policy in disaster risk management contexts generates inequalities for a specific group of women. The case of the population resettlement of the New City of Belén, a project executed in urban areas of the Peruvian Amazon, was investigated using a qualitative approach based on interviews and participant observation. The results showed that, within the framework of the urbanization process of the city of Iquitos, characterized by the presence of external actors, the planning of resettlement did not consider the local particularities of the territory and reinforced gender stereotypes regarding the use of space between men and women. This resulted in changes in the routines of resettled individuals, particularly women, who are primarily responsible for caregiving tasks. Finally, it highlights how gender, along with other demographic and socioeconomic dimensions, structures urban resettlement policy, generating unequal experiences within a similarly vulnerable group facing the State.