**1. Introduction**

The energy industrial revolution in the Atacama Desert has a relevant milestone with the inauguration in June 2021 of Cerro Dominador, the first solar thermal plant in Latin America. This circumstance documented by the report by the journalist Nick Miroff of The Washington Post, on March 31, 2017, allows us to dimension the value of solar energy for Chile, classified as the "Solar Saudi Arabia" [1].

The Atacama Desert is located in northern Chile, administratively between the Antofagasta Region to the north and the Atacama Region to the south, with an extension of more than 1000 km between latitudes 19°S and 30°S. As indicated by researcher Rodrigo Palma, the potential of the Atacama Desert to generate electricity thanks to the high solar radiation could supply 60 times the consumption of Chile and 20% of the world" (**Figures 1** and **2**) [2].

The altitudinal component determines the different environments and characteristics of aridity according to altitude and distance from the sea, three ecological floors can be distinguished, such as: the coastal desert, strip of territory between the marine plains and the Cordillera de la Costa, this area with oceanic influence and the cold Humboldt current, leave a region with high atmospheric humidity and saline coastal environment. The intermediate desert includes the intermediate depression characterized by low relative humidity and clear skies, recognized as the ecological floor of the pampas, it is the driest and most arid area of the planet. It is the driest and most arid zone on the planet. Here there is an important rain shadow, which prevents the advection of humidity to a great extent. The interior deserts, considered the premountain range and high plateau of the Andes Mountains, in this area are the first vestiges, a culture of hunter-gatherers, the natural shelter of the ravines gives rise to human settlements and microclimatic oasis, ideal for subsistence agriculture and livestock.

Technological innovation and the industrial revolution have been fundamental to create a productive infrastructure that financed road works and public facilities, favoring the growth of urban centers [3]. The connection between mining and industry in the Atacama Desert has been key to build the habitability of mining settlements and promotes the development of these extremely arid territories, with an

### **Figure 1.**

*Cerro Dominador: The first Concentrated Solar Power Plant in Latin America with 10,600 mirrors (heliostats) of 140 m<sup>2</sup> each and more than 1,000 hectares, it is capable of avoiding the emission of about 640,000 tons of CO2 per year and supplying a city of approximately 380,000 homes, located near the saltpeter office of Maria Elena in the Atacama Desert, Chile.*

*Impacts of the Industrial and Technological Revolution on Territories and Cities… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108743*

**Figure 2.** *Cerro Dominador solar platform view in Atacama Desert landscape.*

architecture that integrates passive elements of environmental conditioning and prefabrication and modulation technology.

The exploitation of natural resources and their management allowed the growth of port cities, the exploitation of saltpeter between 1880 and 1930 allowed the occupation and urbanization of the central strip or intermediate plain of the Atacama Desert, it is here, in the middle of the saltpeter pampas, in extremely arid and dry environmental conditions, where the "saltpeter cities" are located (**Figure 3**). The railroad industry with the first steam trains allowed the penetration and conquest of these new uninhabited and unexplored landscapes, incorporating them to this day to the productive map of the region, connecting the industrial enclaves from the coast of Antofagasta with the desert of the altiplano to Uyuni in Bolivia [4]. There were 118 saltpeter offices, in which more than 46,470 workers worked, this generated an unprecedented population of men and women, developing their daily lives and cultural development in these inhospitable environments, mining settlements, and workers who knew how to adapt to the working conditions of great physical effort of the mining work and the environmental conditions of high solar radiation, low humidity, water shortages, and high-temperature differences day-night, with all this created a culture and society with heterogeneous and complex pampino identity. Its unity is given by the shared space: the pampa calichera in the middle of the driest desert in the world, and by the work, linked in all its aspects to the nitrate mining operations.

Technological innovation and the industrial revolution have been fundamental to create a productive infrastructure that financed road works and public facilities, favoring the growth of urban centers [3]. The connection between mining and industry in the Atacama Desert has been key to build the habitability of mining settlements

### **Figure 3.**

*Desert Cities: Arturo Prat Saltpeter Office, in abandoned ruins in the "Cantón Central" sector of the Atacama Desert, Sierra Gorda.*

and promotes the development of these extremely arid territories, with an architecture that integrates passive elements of environmental conditioning and prefabrication and modulation technology.

The exploitation of natural resources and their management allowed the growth of port cities, the exploitation of saltpeter between 1880 and 1930 allowed the occupation and urbanization of the central strip or intermediate plain of the Atacama Desert, it is here, in the middle of the saltpeter pampas, in extremely arid and dry environmental conditions, where the "saltpeter cities" are located (**Figure 3**). The railway industry with the first steam trains allowed the penetration and conquest of these new uninhabited and unexplored landscapes, incorporating them until today to the productive map of the region, connecting the industrial enclaves from the coast of Antofagasta with the desert of the altiplano to Uyuni in Bolivia [4]. There were 118 saltpeter offices, where more than 46,470 workers were employed, which generated an unprecedented population of men and women, developing their daily lives and cultural development in these inhospitable environments, mining settlements, and workers who knew how to adapt to the labor conditions of great physical effort of mining work and the environmental conditions of high solar radiation, low humidity, water shortages, and high-temperature differences day-night, with all this created a culture and society with heterogeneous and complex pampina identity. Its unity is given by the shared space: the pampa calichera in the middle of the driest desert in the world, and by work, linked in all its aspects to nitrate mining (**Figures 4** and **5**).

Undoubtedly, the copper industry has been fundamental in projecting perspectives, in defining the challenges and management processes of the Atacama Desert, driving territorial transformations, the natural landscape, infrastructure, and quality of life in the cities, but it has also been a source of environmental conflicts associated with the use of water that has affected the flora and fauna of the salt flats and the subsistence agricultural economies of the region [5]. Andean communities. However, a challenge for the development of the region is represented by its mono-productive
