Toward sustainability and resilience in Chilean cities: Lessons and recommendations for air, water, and soil issues
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Date
2023
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Abstract
Achieving sustainability and resilience depends on the conciliation of environmental, social, andeconomic issues integrated into a long-term perspective to ensure communities flourish. Manynations are transitioning toward both objectives, while at the same time addressing structuralconcerns that have not allowed them to look after the environment in the past. Chile is one ofthese nations dealing with such challenges within a particular administrative context, anincreasing environmental awareness, and a set of unique and complex geophysical boundariesthat impose a plethora of hazards for cities, ecosystems, and human health. This paper presentsrecent accomplishments and gaps, mostly from an environmental perspective, on issues related toair pollution, the urban water cycle, and soil contamination, in the path being followed by Chiletoward urban sustainability and resilience. The focus is on the bonds between cities and theirgeophysical context, as well as the relationships between environmental issues, the built environment, and public health. The description and diagnosis are illustrated using two cities as casestudies, Temuco and Copiapo, ´ whose socioeconomic, geographical, and environmental attributesdiffer considerably. Particulate matter pollution produced by the residential sector, drinkingwater availability, wastewater treatment, stormwater management, and soil contamination fromthe mining industry are discussed for these cities. Overall, the case studies highlight how tacklingthese issues requires coordinated actions in multiple areas, including regulatory, information, and financial incentive measures. Finally, the policy analysis discusses frameworks and opportunitiesfor Chilean cities, which may be of interest when conceiving transitional paths toward sustainability and resilience for other cities elsewhere.
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Keywords
Sustainability, Resilience, Cities, Air pollution, Water management, Soil quality, Energy efficiency, Chile