Stadiums that ignore the city: Land-use analysis and safety perception of two main sports venues in Lima (Peru).

Sports infrastructures are often perceived as disruptive facilities, as they generate urban voids, traffic disorder, and underutilization after competition days. The problem lies in functionalist zoning that approaches sports venues as an isolated object, ignoring their potential as sources of urban complexity. In this sense, the morphological fabric of the city of Lima (Peru) has been radically transformed by these sports infrastructures, which have generated problems in perceptions of safety and accessibility for women and vulnerable groups navigating these environments.

The present study develops an analysis of land use and urban perception of six representative stadiums in the city of Lima during the 2014–2024 period: the Nacional and Monumental stadiums. In a first stage, the Shannon Diversity Index (H) is used to characterize urban complexity (Rueda, 2012) in the immediate surroundings of these infrastructures (500-meter pedestrian isochrone). In a second stage, a mapping of "blind spots" is carried out from a safety and gender perspective.

Preliminary results suggest that the Nacional stadium presents a higher H index (3.2 bits) due to natural surveillance, while peripheral stadiums like the Monumental show high entropy and land-use segregation, as 70% of the immediate area is allocated to inactive parking lots. Consequently, this study identifies urban management models that transform sports complexes into equitable and complex nodes of public life.