Through our Mapping for Climate Ready Cities program, HOT is supporting the development of a thriving ecosystem focused on the creation, interpretation, and use of maps to respond to and reduce climate risks in urban areas across four priority regions. This project page highlights our work in Latin America.

Summary

This project builds upon HOT-LAC’s previous two years of work, collaborating with local and national governments in Latin America. Its aim is to foster cooperation between these governments and civil society, universities, and citizens to gather data in a sustainable way. In this collaboration, we have expanded local cartographic data and technical skills across various institutions, and established support networks with universities.

The main focus of this project will be to train selected local governments across the region, in partnership with the Open Government Partnership (OGP). We will use public engagement, data collection, and systemic changes to create strong networks around the data in these cities. These networks will be pivotal for inclusive planning aimed at improving environmental conditions and quality of life in previously underserved communities.

Background

Most countries in Latin America face the challenge of having incomplete, outdated, and unequal national cartographic datasets, resulting in the exclusion of many vulnerable populations and isolated localities from official maps. This lack of data hampers evidence-based planning and the development of innovative and sustainable public policies to address the impacts of climate change on these underserved communities. Some of the reasons for this include broad gaps in territorial information, fast changes of land uses, and lack of resources and technical capacities.

The Climate Cities project in LAC is based on the team’s solid experience in training and technical assistance to local governments in Latin America, focusing on data management for more efficient and resilient local policies. Long-term initiatives such as Open Cities in Tulum, Mexico, and Chimaltenango, Guatemala have laid the groundwork, followed in 2023 by the development of a comprehensive practical teaching method for municipalities in collaboration with Mexico’s Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial, and Urban Development (SEDATU).

In 2024, a collaboration was established with a new network of organizations and governments, the Open Government Partnership-Local, which issued a call for local governments to participate in similar training until achieving integrated results in current public policy processes and urban planning.

Approach

Through an open call in the OGP-Local network of local governments, the Latin America and the Caribbean Hub (LAC Hub) selected an initial group of municipalities based on their urgency in disaster risk and climate change adaptation issues, commitment to an intensive training program, and ability to involve a diverse government team.

Methodology

The Hub offers this training for free with the aim of formalizing the program and continuing its implementation through external funding. The training focus is on defining the specific needs of each municipality in terms of new geographic data and their effective management for local decision-making. A personalized training plan is developed for each locality, using open technologies from the OpenStreetMap ecosystem and promoting collaboration with local universities.

At the end of the program, each municipality will have developed open information for a real policy process, data communication methods, and analysis capabilities, resulting in a replicable model throughout the territory in relation to sustainable development policies. In addition to dissemination in government networks, the program acts as a breeding ground for ideas and methodologies to address municipal issues.

Datasets Collected

• Chihuahua, Mexico: The project in Chihuahua’s historical center focuses on modernizing street lighting to reduce energy consumption and minimize light pollution, thereby significantly enhancing the urban environment. This initiative, driven by the goals of improving public safety and stimulating tourism and local business, emphasizes the strategic update of infrastructure to meet the community’s needs effectively.

• Maipú, Chile: The project in Maipú focuses on identifying various areas (plazas, parks, green spaces), assessing surface types, and special elements like monuments. It evaluates physical accessibility, space usage, and facilities such as playgrounds and trash bins. Observations include makeshift shelters, vandalism, and accidents, with photographic documentation of grass and trees.

• Quito, Ecuador: The project centers on detailed mapping of buildings to support urban planning and management.

• Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Ecuador: This project assesses road conditions (state, surface, extent) using Mapillary for street-level mapping. It georeferences government works in Valle Hermoso and completes the street map, identifying points of interest.

• Quintana Roo, Mexico: The project maps the geographic locations of temporary shelters in OpenStreetMap (OSM). It collects detailed shelter conditions using KoboToolbox, including area, capacity, services, accessibility, safety measures, and operational duration.

• Santa Catarina, Brazil: The project gathers data on housing and environmental conditions, such as location, services, building materials, and access. The data integrates with the e-SUS APS system to improve health and well-being services.

Expected Outcomes and Impacts

Through the Mapping for Climate Resilient Cities Programme, our team aims to raise awareness and develop specific mapping technical skills in six local governments in Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico. This will establish strong competencies that will endure in the administration and professional trajectories of its members in the government sector.

We will start the construction or consolidation of beneficial relationships between these administrations and local universities through data collection practices. We seek to form a community that is trained and interested in keeping their local territorial data updated, which will continue to be promoted through ongoing contacts, such as public OpenStreetMap workshops and similar tools in the future.

Currently, we are collaborating with six local governments as follows:

• Chihuahua, Mexico: The government of Chihuahua has launched a project to restore streetlights in the historical center of the city, driven by the need to enhance public safety and beautify the area to boost tourism and local commerce. This initiative not only aims to update the lighting but also to promote energy savings and reduce light pollution, which will significantly improve urban quality of life. The project involves collaboration with various municipal departments, including the treasury and the Municipal Planning Institute, to ensure that the infrastructure upgrade meets the needs and expectations of Chihuahua’s citizens.

• Quintana Roo, Mexico: Located in the Caribbean, Quintana Roo faces significant climate risks due to its high susceptibility to hurricanes and tropical storms. These events can cause widespread damage to infrastructure and necessitate the use of shelters. Heavy rainfall associated with these storms often leads to significant flooding, impacting crucial infrastructure and requiring robust emergency preparedness and response measures. To address these risks, the local government will undertake the mapping and data collection of temporary shelters. The initiative aims to identify the exact geographical location of each shelter, as well as assess their physical conditions, existing infrastructure, accommodation capacity, and other important aspects to consider in these emergency spaces.

• Quito, Ecuador: Quito is situated in a seismically active region, making it vulnerable to earthquakes. This necessitates a focus on building safety and structural integrity to minimize damage and ensure public safety. Additionally, heavy rainfall can trigger landslides, particularly in areas with steep terrain, further exacerbating the risks associated with seismic activity. To address this situation, citizen participation will be utilized to map and understand perceived natural risks. The goal is to develop awareness and preparedness initiatives that strengthen community resilience against adverse events.

• Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Ecuador: Public service infrastructure is often less resilient to climate impacts, such as extreme weather events (e.g., heavy rains, floods) and gradual changes (e.g., increased temperature, changing precipitation patterns). Limited accessibility to essential services during emergencies can further exacerbate the population’s vulnerability. To address this, the project will focus on diagnosing public service infrastructure in a remote and vulnerable community, training personnel to collect field data throughout the area.

• Maipú, Chile: Maipú experiences higher temperatures in urban areas due to the concentration of buildings and asphalt, known as urban heat islands. This phenomenon can lead to increased energy consumption, health issues, and reduced air quality. Additionally, poor air quality, exacerbated by high temperatures and urban pollution, poses significant health risks to residents. We will lead the local team in characterizing public open spaces, aiming to evaluate their capacity to adapt to and mitigate the effects of potential heatwaves and other impacts of climate change.

• Santa Catarina, Brazil: Socioeconomic factors, including poverty and limited access to health services, amplify the impacts of climate-related events like floods, storms, and extreme heat. Ensuring access to health services is critical, especially with climate-induced risks such as heatwaves and vector-borne diseases. We will train a local team to collect socioeconomic data in a pilot municipality, with plans to replicate this statewide. Collaborating with Community Health Workers, the goal is to provide relevant and accessible data for municipal and state management, aiding in the formulation of policies to improve family living and health conditions.

The approach by working with these governments is to co-design each project and custom the testing and accompaniment through diagnostic sessions.

Tools Used

• KoboToolBox

• ID editor

• Tasking Manager

• Map Roulette

• RapID editor

• Mapillary

• ODK/FMTM