Heat waves in urban areas in Latin America. A review of the literature from the social sciences+
2026
A. Vallejos-Romero | A. Mellado | M. Cordoves-Sánchez | C. Cisternas Irarrázabal | A. Boso | F. Sáez-Ardura
As climate change intensifies, the frequency and intensity of heat waves have increased significantly. Adaptation to such extreme events has become a topic of growing research interest. However, scientific production is concentrated in countries of the Global North. In this context, this paper presents a systematic review of publications on social adaptation to heat waves in urban areas of Latin America. The analysis was carried out on 48 publications indexed in Web of Science and Scopus. Four lines of research were identified: (1) outdoor thermal comfort, (2) indoor thermal comfort, (3) health threats and impacts of heat waves, and (4) heat wave mitigation and resilience. In each of these lines of research, several challenges emerge that highlight the need for multidimensional and adaptive approaches to address urban heat in the region, ranging from urban planning to the implementation of contextualised mitigation strategies.
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