Planning for City Resilience: Barriers and Incentives for Energy Transitions in High- and Middle-Income Neighborhoods in Latin America

As urban inequality and climate vulnerability intensify across Latin America, it has become critical to planning for resilience to understand the differentiated capacities of urban neighborhoods to adopt energy-efficient technologies. High-income new neighborhoods (HINNs) and middle-income traditional neighborhoods (MITNs) in Ecuador are among the country's largest energy consumers. Despite the high-income sectors having access to these technologies, adoption remains limited. This notable difference motivates the study's focus on Ecuador's HINN and MITN because they offer the greatest potential for targeted interventions in similar contexts. This research builds on previous studies in the US Midwest and extends this framework to urban neighborhoods in South America, particularly in Ecuador. To do so, researchers employed a qualitative approach and conducted 35 interviews across high-income new neighborhoods and middle-income traditional neighborhoods. The questions explored the incentives and barriers to adopting technologies such as smart thermostats, efficient air conditioning, LED lighting, solar panels, induction stoves, and energy-efficient appliances. Our findings reveal a range of barriers and motivations for adopting energy-efficient technologies in these neighborhoods, including economic, environmental, informational, social, and governance-related factors. By centering resident experiences and contextual conditions, this research advances understanding of how stratification shapes access to sustainable technologies. These findings contribute to urban resilience scholarship and offer insight into the uneven dynamics of energy transitions in the Global South.