ENVI-met World Tour: Lima

This month we are moving to our second station in Lima, Peru – where architect and sustainability expert Carol Torres examines ways of improving thermal comfort for Lima’s citizens. She presents a strategic approach for the metropolis Lima to combine its urban green areas with shading and ventilation, that could significantly reduce thermal stress.

When looking for sustainable ways to cool the urban environment, Lima presents a very unique case. As in many other cities, increasing vegetated areas could be a potential strategy to help the city achieve the purpose of cooling. However, the nature of Lima’s climatological and urban conditions makes this approach very challenging.

While Lima is a hyper-arid city, dealing with severe water scarcity which complicates the natural growth of vegetation, it is also highly vulnerable to increasing temperatures. Lima’s geographical location exposes the city to intense solar radiation which is magnified by the development of urban heat islands to meet its current population demands, all exacerbating the effects of climate change. To make things worse, Lima continues to experience exponential urban growth, taking place in formal but also informal areas. Therefore, the green infrastructure of the city needs to be strategically planned to be successful and sustainable.

For the complete results please visit the station Lima here.