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Copyright of Territorios: Revista de Estudios Regionales y Urbanos is the property of Universidad de los Andes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Latin America is a highly urbanized region characterized by remarkable inequality levels, also reflected in an uneven distribution of opportunities, making socio-economic segregation quite visible. Since the individual possibility to travel and therefore access to urban opportunities strongly depends on socio-economic status and the distances to overcome, highly unequal patterns of mobility and accessibility emerge. The continuous expansion of Latin American cities originates specific mobility-related inequalities visible in periurban areas, which tend to lack some key urban opportunities and public transport services usually available in cities. Due to established and new patterns of territorial segregation, these areas may generate new forms of marginality in relation to mobility, posing challenges for public action and territorial governance. Our paper considers if and how periurban areas experience different forms of mobility-related inequalities in three Latin American metropolises in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia (São Paulo, Santiago, and Bogotá, respectively). We do so by examining the differences among urban core and periurban zones based on four elements: socio-demographic features, access to the public transport system, spatial continuity, and functional dependence. Our analysis shows that the three metropolitan regions have different structures: while Bogotá and Santiago appear to be more dependent on the urban core, São Paulo shows more autonomous and self-sufficient periurban zones. The analysis also highlights different forms of peripherality, defined by differentiated mobility patterns and modal choices that suggest that city-specific lines for public action might be needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light-absorbing aerosols emitted during open biomass burning (BB) events such as wildfires and agricultural burns have a strong impact on the Earth's radiation budget through both direct and indirect effects. Additionally, BB aerosols and gas-phase emissions can substantially reduce air quality at local, regional, and global scales, negatively affecting human health. South America is one of largest contributors to BB emissions globally. After Amazonia, the BB emissions from wildfires and agricultural burns in the grassland plains of northern South America (NSA) are the most significant in the region. However, few studies have analyzed the potential impact of NSA BB emissions on regional air quality. Recent evidence suggests that seasonal variations in air quality in several major cities in NSA could be associated with open biomass burning emissions, but it is still uncertain to what extent those sources impact air quality in the region. In this work, we report on 3 years of continuous equivalent black carbon (eBC) and brown carbon (BrC) observations at a hilltop site located upwind of the city of Bogotá, and we demonstrate its association with fires detected by the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in a 3000 km × 2000 km domain. Offline PM 2.5 filter samples collected during three field campaigns were analyzed to quantify water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic and elemental carbon (OC/EC), and biomass burning tracers such as levoglucosan, galactosan, and potassium. MODIS active fire data and HYSPLIT back trajectories were used to identify potential biomass burning plumes transported to the city. We analyzed the relationship between BrC, WSOC, water-soluble potassium, and levoglucosan to identify signals of the regional transport of BB aerosols. Our results confirm that regional biomass burning transport from wildfires occurs annually during the months of January and April. The seasonality of eBC closely followed that of PM 2.5 at the city air quality stations; however, the observed seasonality of BrC is distinctly different to that of eBC and strongly associated with regional fire counts. The strong correlation between BrC and regional fire counts was observed at daily, weekly, and monthly timescales. WSOC at the measurement site was observed to increase linearly with levoglucosan during high BB periods and to remain constant at ∼2.5 µ gC m -3 during the low BB seasons. Our findings show, for the first time in this region, that aged BB plumes can regularly reach densely populated areas in the Central Andes of northern South America. A source footprint analysis involving BrC observations, back trajectories, and remotely sensed fire activity shows that the eastern savannas in NSA are the main BB source region for the domain analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal comfort and satisfaction have been little studied in the context of social housing. Post-occupancy evaluations and research on occupant's satisfaction are particularly scarce. This article examines and characterises this problem through the detailed analysis of a case study in Bogotá, Colombia, which is representative of a large percentage of the current housing stock in the country and similar regions in Latin America. The construction of high-rise social housing in major cities like Bogotá has soared in recent years, due to population growth and displacement. However, there are serious concerns regarding its built quality. The methodology used in this study combines analysis through the perspectives of the static and the adaptive models and the interpretation of modes of adaptive behaviour. Data was collected during fieldwork via various means, including temperature and relative humidity measurements, observations and structured occupant surveys. Results give new insights regarding thermal comfort deficiencies and low levels of occupant's satisfaction in all apartments studied. Additional findings highlight the adequacy of the models used for the analysis and identify opportunities for improvement. This could be of interest to academics, policymakers, construction stakeholders and housing users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]