A Multiscalar Assessment of Energy Poverty and Territorial Energy Vulnerability in a Medium-Sized City in the Global South: The Case of Temperate-Rainy Valdivia, Chile

This study aims to assess how census-block territorial conditions, represented by Territorial Energy Vulnerability (TEV), are associated with household-level Energy Poverty (EP) and its intra-urban distribution in Valdivia, Chile. The study also identifies priority areas where territorial vulnerability and household deprivation overlap. Valdivia is a medium-sized city in the Global South characterized by a temperate rainy climate and cold, wet winters, where climatic conditions, housing quality, and socioeconomic inequalities create substantial challenges for the provision of adequate domestic energy services. Using a multiscalar urban-geographical approach, the study combines a census-block TEV indicator constructed in 2022 from the most recent spatially consistent data available for each criterion with a household-level three-dimensional EP indicator derived from 382 face-to-face surveys conducted between October and November 2022. The TEV indicator integrates infrastructure and socioeconomic, climatic, and territorial dimensions, while the EP indicator captures household experiences of energy-service deprivation. The results show that 42.9% of surveyed households experience EP, with marked concentrations in the CORVI and Barrios Bajos sectors. EP prevalence increased from 20.0% in very-low-TEV blocks to 64.7% in very-high-TEV blocks, and a weak but statistically significant positive association was found between TEV level and household EP status (Spearman’s ρ = 0.167, p = 0.001). These spatial patterns are associated with historically uneven urban development and the persistence of pre-regulation housing stock constructed before 2001. The findings demonstrate that territorial vulnerability contributes to, but does not fully determine, household energy deprivation and provides a spatially explicit framework for prioritizing coordinated housing, energy, and climate-adaptation interventions in intermediate cities in the Global South.