BUILT ENVIRONMENT 

This line of research addresses the material conditions and practices of housing, as well as the organisation and distribution of local space (neighbourhood) and its impact and/or contribution to the development of sustainable cities. 

 

 It aims to improve the habitability and quality of life of people through the incorporation of technologies and design strategies that ensure thermal comfort, visual comfort, and indoor air quality with efficient energy use in buildings, considering the country’s diverse climate. Analysis methods are applied to assess the social and environmental impact of proposals throughout the life cycle of new and existing buildings. 

 

 At a local level, work is focused on defining neighbourhood indicators and evaluating government interventions, considering, for example, the effect of participatory recovery of collective spaces, which have proven to be essential for social cohesion and interaction. 

 

 At the intermediate level, research is developed around the regeneration of underutilised areas that can allow urban growth without further expansion. This should contribute to lessening the gap in the pattern of segregation in Chilean cities. At this level, sustainable densities that incorporate diversity and accessibility are studied to better understand the vicious circle of obsolescence, abandonment, and social deterioration that is so common in the central areas of metropolitan cities. Research is also conducted on mobility spaces in modern cities, understood as the relationship between transportation (private, public, or non-motorised) and urban development.