Livable Cities - London AMPS | City, University of London Page 61 MAPPING SOLAR SOLUTIONS OF UNDER-RESOURCED LARGER TROPIC OF CAPRICORN AND GLOBAL SOUTH COMMUNITIES Author: ANDREW BURGESS, ANN MORRISON, STACY VALLIS, PRISCILA BESEN, SANGEETA KARMOKAR, ESTHER AIGWI, ALEKSANDRA NOVIKOVA, URVA PATEL, IMELDA PIRI Affiliation: HURI TE AO SCHOOL OF FUTURE ENVIRONMENTS, AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, NEW ZEALAND INTRODUCTION How the Global South and the larger Tropic of Capricorn region communities and cultures respond to climate change varies significantly. These communities have contributed little to impacting factors but are directly affected by them. They share many similar challenges to their climatic and environmental conditions. Concerns for these vulnerable populations include socioeconomic circumstances, post- colonial cultural identities, and access to technology that impact housing shortages, food sovereignty, water, coastal and energy insecurity, and environmental imbalance. We are investigating and mapping how we can make connections between similar-enough solutions to support vulnerable communities across the larger Tropic of Capricorn region. We began by mapping the physical location of solar projects. We did this to examine how communities adapt local, global, traditional, indigenous, and contemporary technologies. The focus is on finding examples of efficient use and re-use of at-hand physical and cultural resources that would improve well- being outcomes. In this contribution, we focus on visualising the creative approaches that communities are adopting to solar energy generation. Specifically, we are interested in tracing the flow of ideas and technologies and other resources across the Global North and Global South. The longer-term investigation aims to develop ecological regenerative solutions to improve quality of life and contribute to a broader understanding of this under-researched and isolated region. Using solar solutions as a focal point, we explore how solutions are created with attention to local initiatives and wider nuances and implications of implementations and dissemination. THE LARGER TROPIC OF CAPRICORN REGION “Global South” is a concept used to describe regions 61arginalizati by shared socio-economic and political challenges. Many have historic legacies of 61arginalizat.1 This term transcends geographical definition and includes regions in the Northern Hemisphere, 61arginaliza a shared experience of economic challenges, 61arginalization, and lack of equitable representation in global decision-making. The Global South includes diverse nations in Latin America Africa, and parts of Asia, commonly navigating issues such as poverty, limited access to resources, technologies, and systemic inequalities.
