Removing Barriers to Environmental Comfort in the Global South

Alexis Pérez-Fargallo holds Ph.D. and is Associate Professor in the Department of Building Science, Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Design at the University of Bío-Bío, Concepción, Chile. He has been Investigator-in-charge of the “Comfort and Energy Poverty” Research Group at the UBB since 2019. His area of expertise covers energy renovation, energy costs, energy efficiency, thermal comfort, and fuel poverty. He is Author of more than 30 research outputs in international peer-reviewed journals and has directed and participated in several research projects. He currently directs the master's degree in Sustainable Habitat and Energy Efficiency and coordinator of “Ibero-American Network of Energy Poverty, and Environmental Well-being” (RIPEBA Thematic Network 722RT0135). Maria Beatriz Piderit-Moreno holds Ph.D. and is Associate Professor in the Department of Design and Theory of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Design, University of Bío-Bío, Concepción, Chile. Her research interests are occupants’ well-being in indoor environments, thermal comfort, daylighting, and educational spaces. She has published more than 30 research papers, 3 books and has led several research projects. Among them, two are international cooperation projects with the Université Catholique du Louvain and the Université of Liège. During 2018, she elaborated, for the Ministry of Education of Chile, the proposal of the new school infrastructure regulation that raises the standards and quality of educational spaces. From 2015 to 2021, she was Director of the master's degree in Sustainable Habitat and Energy Efficiency at the University of Bío-Bío. Maureen Trebilcock-Kelly holds Ph.D. and is Professor in the Department of Design and Theory of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Design, University of Bío-Bío, Concepción, Chile. Her research interests are occupants’ well-being in indoor environments, sustainable architecture, integrated design process, energy efficiency, natural ventilation, and thermal comfort. She has led several research projects and has published several papers and research outputs in journals, proceedings, and books. She is currently the Head of the Doctorate program in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Bío-Bío. Paulina Wegertseder Martínez holds Ph.D. and is Full-time Member of the academic staff at the Department of Design and Theory of Architecture, specifically in the undergraduate Architecture degree and in the postgraduate programs of the master’s in Sustainable Habitat and Energy Efficiency and Doctorate in Architecture and Urbanism. Her main lines of research focus on the built environment and its relationship with comfort, well-being, and energy efficiency in buildings. She has participated in national and international research projects, producing relevant scientific publications. In the professional field, she works in consulting projects on energy efficiency and bioclimatic design for public and private services. Laura Marín-Restrepo holds Ph.D. and is a Postdoctoral researcher at Université catholique de Louvain. Until 2021, she was a research Fellow in the Department of Building Science, Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Design at the Universidad del Bío-Bío, Concepción, Chile. Her research interests aim toward the sustainable development of the built environment, with specific attention on user comfort and well-being, passive design strategies, human-building interaction and the optimization of design and construction processes to sustain building energy and environmental performance. She is Young Researcher with several publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. 

What are the barriers to environmental comfort in the Global South?.-  Policies and standards to environmental comfort in the Global South.- Thermal performance of educational establishments in tropical climates: Case study of the Millennium Educational Units of Ecuador.- Bioclimatic comfort strategies for typical Meso-Andean dwellings in Peru.- Adaptive passive measures for tropical climates - a case study for Mauritius.- Optimized housing envelopes for Piura, Peru.- Textile  Architecture in the tropics: An approach from thermal comfort and implementation feasibility.- Air movement in relation to thermal comfort in naturally ventilated building in the tropics.- Occupant thermal perception of a hybrid system based on ceiling-mounted radiant cooling panels coupled to a roof pond.- Indoor air quality in Latin American buildings.- Daylighting metrics in buildings and the regional aspect.- Perception of light sufficiency and outdoor light availability: a dynamic daylight metric for the tropics.- Daylight strategies in side-lit spaces optimized for different Chilean climate contexts.- Circadian lighting in office spaces: design factors contributing to circadian stimulation.- Impact of urban re-densification on light consumption and energy poverty on the equator, in the city of Quito.- Acoustic comfort and noise control in residential building design.- Acoustic quality of school classrooms in urban areas.- Barriers and challenges in the interior acoustics design of flexible learning spaces.- Energy poverty and thermal adaptation in Chilean social housing.- Energy implications of thermal comfort models in schools in the tropics.-  Energy efficiency optimization applying adaptive thermal comfort in a public office building in San Juan, Argentina.- Passive practical constructive measures to counterbalance climate change impacts in low-income housing located in the Tropical Savannah Climate.- Impact of passive design measures on thermal comfort of social housing in the context of climate change in Montevideo, Uruguay.- Thermal adaptation in non-extreme climates to potentially reduce energy consumption.- Promoting well-being in southern latitudes. A pathway to comfort by natural conditioning.- Multicriteria decision making of bioclimatic strategies based on parametric models.- The Grille Climatique as a design tool for the Tropics.- Multi-criteria design: Optimising thermal, visual, acoustic, and respiratory comfort in school classrooms. Urban design for comfort, energy efficiency and renewable systems in social housing.- To what extent can architects and engineers depend on the adaptive behaviour of occupants to achieve indoor thermal comfort?.- To what extent can architects and engineers depend on the adaptive behaviour of occupants to achieve indoor thermal comfort?.- The paradigm of environmental comfort: unattainable goal or design tool?.- Concluding Remarks and Future Outlook.