Presentation short abstract

The project examines how extreme heat disproportionately affects marginalized communities in Rio de Janeiro, showing how colonial and racialized power shape heat exposure, and how feminist, decolonial, and community practices can inform more just urban climate policies.

Presentation long abstract

Extreme heat is distributed unevenly and disproportionately affects socio-economically marginalized communities, especially in (post)colonial regions where environmental degradation and global inequities are starkly visible. Drawing on Critical Heat Studies, the project examines how embodied, social, and spatial experiences of urban heat are shaped by colonial and capitalist exploitation, extractivism, and racialized violence. Although many regions in the so-called Global South are most affected by climate impacts—particularly extreme heat—research still concentrates on high-income regions. This contrasts with lived realities in the Global South, where large populations in informal settlements face heightened vulnerability to extreme heat, yet their experiences remain insufficiently documented. Mazzone (2024) therefore calls for examining the “decolonisation of thermal comfort” (15) to better understand inequalities in heat exposure and in how different bodies experience, adapt to, and access cooling.

This project focuses on Rio de Janeiro, where perceived temperatures often exceed 60 °C and favelas face acute thermal insecurity shaped by racialized violence, territorial stigma, and infrastructural neglect. It analyzes how heat is embodied, and politically structured, and how domestic and community-based practices generate localized cooling and care. The project also assesses state-led adaptation measures and their potential to reinforce or mitigate inequities.

Centering feminist, decolonial, and care-oriented perspectives, the research shows how everyday adaptation practices can inform more just urban climate policies and improve equitable access to thermal comfort across Latin American cities.