Urban Heat Island In Latin American Cities: A Review Of Trends, Impacts, And Mitigation Strategies

Latin American countries experiment rates of urban growth among the highest of the planet, and in some cases the megacities' population can reach the 30% of the whole country's population. However, up to the date, the research on Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon has not been fully developed in this Region. Despite pioneer works on urban climatology realized in Mexico, most academic work on the UHI topic has been conducted in Brazil, where the number and size of cities are higher than those in in other countries. More recently, some studies investigated the phenomenon in cities of Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and Colombia. Only a few simulation studies were done for the case of Lima, one of the biggest megacities of the region. Since the Sustainable Development Goals introduction in 2015, a little more attention has been putted on urban climate and other aspects of cities' sustainability and liveability. Most of governments of the region are adopting codes and plans to reduce climate-related vulnerability of urban systems, and this includes UHI quantification and mitigation. This chapter analyzes the actual trends of UHI recorded in the entire region, the impacts on well-being and energy consumption, and the mitigation strategies proposals presented in the countries of the area. Firstly, a brief review of academic work conducted up to the date is done, then a deeper insight for a variety of cities and climates is presented: arid cities such as Lima, tropical hot climate of Guayaquil, continental case of Santiago de Chile, cities in Andean climate, etc. In the core part of the contribution, different mitigation strategies are tested by simulation, depending on climate emplacement, in order to give priority to the most effective strategies in each case. Finally, the relation between the analyzed trends and the Government’s mitigation/adaptation plans is discussed.