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

and exporting characteristics of nonrenewable natural resources, basically minerals, which, as we have already mentioned, have a great impact on the national budget and development. The new industries in development today are changing this condition opening to sustainable development, therefore, solar energy and lithium represent a new source of economic, productive, and social development, they are a new future that allows expanding the productive diversification of these arid territories, responding in a better way to the objectives of sustainable development of the UN [6].

In 1998, the lithium industry placed Chile in the first place as a world producer with known reserves in the South Atacama of about 40% of lithium in brines [7]. In the current context of energy transition toward green and clean energies, the demand for electromobility based on lithium batteries has become increasingly relevant, which represents a future development opportunity for the region, however, the biggest challenge is how to obtain lithium in an environmentally responsible manner, without devastating the fragility of the ecosystem of the Salar de Atacama basin, the destruction of its water sources, its geological, ecological and cultural heritage of the driest desert in the world (**Figures 6** and **7**) [8].

**Figure 4.** *Chuquicamata Mine, Calama Chile.*

**Figure 5.** *Trucks at work in the Chuquicamata mine.*

In extreme arid environments, inventiveness and creativity have been put to the test for the adaptation and development of new technologies, for example: The first solar desalination plant in the Domeyko Office, Canton el Boquete, near the port city of Taltal, in the Atacama Desert, built in 1906–1908, supplied the vital element to the population of the saltpeter camp (**Figure 8**) [9, 10].

How to obtain fresh water in a desert environment with no rainfall and high solar radiation for the needs of the saltpeter industry was the challenge that the Compañía Salitre de Boquete, Antofagasta, Chile, set out to solve, for which they designed an apparatus composed of a series of frames containing 1850 m<sup>2</sup> of glass. The panels are arranged in a V-shape, and under each panel is a shallow tray containing brackish water. The heat from the sun condenses the water on the sloping glass, and this freshwater flows down into a small channel and is carried into the main channel. A total of 3600 liters of fresh water can be collected daily [11].

Another of these innovations are the "fog catchers" for obtaining water in certain areas of the coastal desert. These are cloud capture systems formed by meshes that intercept the fog and, through a system of gutters, collect the water trapped by the mesh. This has allowed the development of fog oasis agriculture associated with the

### **Figure 6.**

*Lithium mining in the Salar de Atacama contrasts with the fragility of the ecological.*

**Figure 7.** *Hydric ecosystem of the Salar de Atacama basin.*

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

### **Figure 8.**

*Solar desalination plant of Oficina Domeyko, Cantón el Boquete Atacama Desert, built in 1906–1908. Photograph retrieved by Maria Telkes. Available in The Illustrated London News and other newspapers in England and the United States. las-salinas-copia1.jpg (414 234) (wordpress.com).*

various passive bioclimatic strategies of environmental conditioning, ventilation, and natural heating make it possible to live in extreme climatic conditions (**Figures 9**–**12**).

According to Cereceda**'**s study on the origin and behavior of fog in the Coastal Cordillera and inland localities of Atacama, it was found that fogs move inland toward the continent with different intensities depending on the season and time of day, and the maximum spatial extension occurred during winter and night, up to 12 km inland [12].

In the same line of the use of renewable resources, which allow the transformation and decarbonization toward a clean energy matrix, wind farm projects continue to be developed in the Atacama Desert (**Figures 13** and **14**) the next one called Horizonte of the company Colbún will be the largest in Latin America, which contemplates the installation of 140 wind turbines, which will allow an average annual generation of 2,400 Gwh, equivalent to the energy consumption of 700,000 homes. The implementation of the project will avoid the emission of 1.2 million tons of CO2 per year [13].

On the other hand, the Atacama Desert concentrates most of the world**'**s astronomical observation, with two important scientific observation centers, the Cerro Paranal observatory in operation since 1996 (**Figures 15** and **16**) and the observatory at Cerro Armazones, which is under construction and will be operational in 2027. What makes this desert special is a combination of geographic and climatic factors. With an altitude of about 3,000 meters above sea level near the coast, an extremely dry environment, very low probability of rain, little water vapor in the air, an average

### **Figure 9.**

*Bank of clouds developed between 300 and 1200 meters above sea level, in the coastal mountain range, generate the "oasis of fog". In this zone, cool, moisture-laden air is trapped under a layer of warm air above.*

### **Figure 10.**

*Original structure of the macro diamond fog catcher installed in the "Los Nidos" sector of the Cordillera de la Costa, in the image its inventor Dr. Carlos Espinosa Arancibia (1924–2022) being interviewed in situ by French TV for the international exhibition "Le bord des mondes" held in Paris in 1995.*

wind speed of 25 km/h, and almost no light pollution, the Atacama Desert is the best viewpoint to the galaxies and allows the promotion of new productive activities for these desert territories of Atacama [13].

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

### **Figure 11.**

*Structure inspired by the "Atrapanieblas" corresponds to the 2011 Integrated Exercise dedicated to the design of an ecology for the coastal desert of Atacama carried out by the basic cycle workshops (Shelter, Resource, Language and Context workshops) of the School of Architecture of the Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.*

**Figure 12.** *Structure inspired by the "Atrapanieblas".*

### **Figure 13.**

*Calama and Valle de los Vientos wind farms near the city of Calama, on the RCH 23 highway that connects to San Pedro de Atacama.*

**Figure 14.** *Wind mills in the surroundings of the city of Calama.*

**Figure 15.** *Cerro Paranal Observatory.*

**Figure 16.** *Hotel for Astronomers at 2635 meters above sea level in the Cordillera de la Costa.*

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

**Figure 17.** *Solar photovoltaic plant Uribe Solar Station near the city of Antofagasta.*

The Antofagasta region in northern Chile has the highest solar radiation on the planet. Plant factors of 35% are achieved in single-axis tracking PV plants. The global average plant factor for solar PV plants was 11% in 2020. In the United States, the average was 20% between 2018 and 2020 [14].

This condition has allowed the rapid growth of the solar industry, in 6 years, Chile has quintupled its generation capacity from renewable energy sources and it is projected that, by 2030, up to 70% of its electricity matrix will be clean. The growing investment in these energies, as well as in storage and transmission infrastructure, is a clear sign of a determined transition toward a more sustainable electricity system that shows that the future prospects of the Atacama Desert are very promising for the region (**Figures 17** and **18**).

The development model of the Antofagasta Region based on the mining industry has followed a pattern of growth, making important contributions to the national GDP with a low level of local development, as evidenced by the low quality of its urban infrastructure. Currently, there has been a high investment in the solar industry that has put the region and cities in northern Chile such as Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta,

### **Figure 18.**

*The solar photovoltaic plant designed has a maximum power of 56,632,400 Wp consisting of 182,960 solar modules of 315 Wp, 336 solar trackers on an east-west axis.*

Calama, and Copiapó back on the world stage, projecting new impulses and challenges of productive development for the entire macro-region of the Atacama Desert [15].

The city of Antofagasta is the mining capital of Chile, with a population of approximately 400,000 inhabitants. Antofagasta**'**s GDP per capita is approximately US\$40,000 (nominal in 2017), a figure equivalent to that of countries such as South Korea or New Zealand. However, this is not reflected in the urban and building quality of the city of Antofagasta, this being a reality that applies to all cities in northern Chile [16].

The following perspectives, challenges, and management can be derived from this:

## **1.1 Perspectives**

Are to scale the results and contributions of the region to improve the quality and identity to improve the quality of the infrastructure of the northern cities. For this, it is key to learn from the past by taking advantage of specific design solutions for the local micro-climatic determinant.

## **1.2 Challenges**

Are to continue contributing to the country, but with greater investment and environmental responsibility, to design cities in harmony with the desert ecology and adaptation to climate change. This challenge implies a great capacity for co-creation, since unprecedented proposals must be generated that integrate the views of all relevant actors in the city to turn it into an excellent model and example of development on a human scale.

## **1.3 Management**

It is to design cities that maintain their human scale, more egalitarian, with less inequality and greater identity, with public spaces and buildings that can meet the needs of healthy and safe habitability for people and with technological conditions so that through data intelligent decisions can be made.
