The Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS) is a Research Center that promotes discussion about the cities of our country and their sustainable development processes. Its main objective is to understand urban dynamics, instruments, and decision-making processes that enable equitable and sustained improvements in people’s quality of life, through recognition of the biophysical limits and social demands of Chilean cities.
The Atacama Desert Center (CDA) of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile was created in August 2006 with the objective of promoting research in the fields of architectural, urban, and landscape design, subject to the various constraints offered by the arid context of the Atacama Desert, from a multiple and interdisciplinary approach that expands the idea of project toward areas of knowledge contained in the CDA structure.
CIM UC CORMA was born as an interdisciplinary innovation engine in alliance between the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the Chilean Wood Corporation (CORMA), and has taken on the challenge of developing in Chile all the potential of being a forestry country, strengthening the characteristics of wood as a highly versatile, ecological, technological, durable, and noble material.
The mission of the UC Center for Public Policy is to contribute to the country’s development by linking the academic work of Universidad Católica with the main challenges of society. In our work, we seek to contribute with proposals and solutions that are politically, socially, and economically sustainable; we work to influence the public policy formulation process through the generation of opinion, evidence, and studies on matters of public interest, and we work collaboratively by articulating different actors in society.
The UC Cities Observatory (OCUC) aims to consolidate itself as an Applied Research Center for urban and territorial studies, establishing at the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urban Studies level an institutional collaboration platform for the development of projects and research that enable the generation and implementation of urban public policies in the country.
The Cultural Heritage Center of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile is an organization that, with the purpose of strengthening cultural identity, promotes knowledge of Heritage through interdisciplinary academic programs and actions.
Generate knowledge to prevent extreme natural events from becoming disasters. CIGIDEN has a team of researchers from different disciplines, such as earth sciences, engineering, social sciences, geography, economics, design, architecture, urban planning, and communication sciences.
The Solar Protection Laboratory (LAPSO) is an infrastructure designed and built by researchers from the UC Architecture and Façade Study Group (GEAF UC) in the context of the FONDEF ID15I10425 project “Variable Façade.” Its objective is to measure and evaluate the energy and lighting performance of solar control prototypes designed for application in building façades.
The Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES) develops collaborative research on topics related to conflict and social cohesion in Chile through a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the social sciences and humanities. COES focuses its academic and outreach activities on the analysis of the multiple manifestations of social conflict in Chile, its causes, as well as its cultural and historical context.