Daniel Contreras
Tatiana Gamarra
The content of this news item has been machine translated and may contain some inaccuracies with respect to the original content published in Spanish.
University College London (UCL) leads GEMDev: energy models for equitable urban development in the global south, a project that seeks to improve the quality of life in developing countries through the use of tools that contribute to improved energy planning and access to decent and sustainable housing.
Specifically, GEMDev investigates the nexus between energy access, comfort and housing, integrated into existing governance structures in the cities of Lima (Peru) and Ahmedabad (India).
In the case of our capital city, the project focuses on the areas of Barrios Altos, El Agustino and the José Carlos Mariátegui human settlement in San Juan de Lurigancho, which face problems related to deficient infrastructure, precarious housing and informality. Our University participates in this project through the Center for Research on Architecture and the City (CIAC). Thus, Dr. Martín Wieser, professor of the Department of Architecture, leads this research at PUCP.
Last month, a delegation of researchers formed by Rajan Rawal (professor at CEPT University of Ahmedabad) and Pamella Fennell, Rita Lambert and Paul Ruyssevelt (professors at UCL), visited our University to carry out several academic activities within the framework of this project.
GEMDev contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 7 (affordable and clean energy) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities). "On the household side, we are looking to improve thermal comfort to reduce energy risks and bills by understanding how families use energy. At the same time, we are looking at what can be done at the community level to improve these conditions," says Rita Lambert, project researcher and lecturer at UCL's Development Planning Unit.
In this sense, GEMDev emphasizes that both energy and decent housing are human rights. "We have to make these risks visible, because they not only impact on a person's health but also erode their assets, which produces a cycle of poverty," explains Lambert. The project seeks to find the techniques, financing and policies needed to support the rehabilitation of neighborhoods and low-income housing.
"Many of the housing settlements are off-grid or partially off-grid, which means they meet their energy needs through unsustainable means, such as the use of wood or coal," Lambert explains. "As long as socially and environmentally just strategies are not developed," she adds, "we have to support those means, because if you eliminate them, you are maintaining and fostering energy poverty and vulnerability.
The other goals of the research include empowering women in the community, adapting energy supply to homes according to their use, and linking housing and energy with city planning. In doing so, GEMDev seeks to join a list of projects that have contributed to building sustainable housing with access to affordable and reliable energy in other latitudes of the global south, such as Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Researcher at UCL
"World-class technologies are being implemented in this project and the beneficiaries are at the bottom of the pyramid. This shows that technologies can work to improve the living conditions of a large number of vulnerable people," says Rajan Rawal, architect and researcher at GEMDev.
Chief among these tools is Urban Building Energy Modelling (UBEM), which is increasingly being used for development planning in the global south. These models are fed by datasets co-created with inhabitants using participatory research methods.
Researcher and Deputy Director of the UCL Energy Institute.
GEMDev has therefore worked closely with local communities through surveys and focus groups to understand the different patterns of energy use. From this, maps and visualizations of the main challenges in the settlements have been developed for use by community members and organizations working with them.
"With these models, city planners can better understand the implications of decisions made to meet energy demands," explains Paul Ruyssevelt, project researcher and deputy director of the UCL Energy Institute.
In the three areas of Lima where the project is focused, the researchers have been able to identify several problems that require immediate attention. "We were surprised by how extreme the temperatures inside homes could be during the summer and winter, which implies health risks, especially for the elderly and infants," says Pamela Fennell, a specialist in energy issues. "We are studying how to improve the structure of homes," she adds.
Likewise, many of the energy connections are informal, which represents a series of dangers that threaten the integrity of the inhabitants. "The electrical infrastructure can become deeply flawed and there are regular cases of fires. And where there is no infrastructure in the traditional sense, people access energy by using firewood, which is very harmful to respiratory health, or by carrying gas canisters into settlements, which is a source of accidents," explains Fennell.
Finally, Rita Lambert explains that it is necessary to stop the occupation of hillsides on the outskirts of the city. While many assume that over time the development of settlements will be reflected in improved housing conditions, there is not necessarily a correlation. "According to what we see in the trajectories of these settlements in the initial stages of land occupation and self-construction there may be improvements, but 70 years down the road what we see is shantytownization, which leads to many other problems," says Lambert.
CEPT University Researcher