Urban Microclimates and Comfort in Santiago de Chile: Multi-scale Data Collection and Design Strategies

Extreme weather conditions in urban contexts have become a recurring problem in the case of Santiago de Chile, where desertification has drastically increased temperatures in the warm seasons (Romero et al. 2020). In addition, the changing and constantly developing conditions of the urban morphology of this metropolis affect the variety of microclimates generated within, which generates different comfort experiences for its inhabitants. 

The data obtained from remote and satellite sensors cannot account for these differences and conditions at the micro-scale, which are highly heterogeneous and particular to Latin American cities (D’Alençon et al. 2023). This work seeks to better represent and understand the microclimatic reality of the city of Santiago in a local scale, by focusing on the municipality of Cerrillos and analyzing the results of a field climate data collection campaign carried out in January 2025 using a mobile transect methodology. Temperature, humidity, wind speed, and sun radiation were collected in two different residential areas, in different periods of time. 

As a result, the data was compared with data obtained from other sensors, and related to urban morphology variables: topography, building typology, street typology, and relation to green areas and large-scale infrastructures. These analyses reveal the effects that heterogenous urban developments in Santiago have on the microclimate at street level, leading to a better understanding specific urban models have on urban comfort conditions. At the same time, these results evidence the effects of less studied variables that influence the microclimate, such as informal interventions on public and private spaces and maintenance practices, suggesting the role local governments play is crucial in the generation of microclimate conditions.