Patricia Pastén Valdés
Patricia Pastén Valdés is Arsht-Rock’s Chief Heat Officer in Santiago de Chile. She is a climate expert who has advanced changes within Santiago to protect people from extreme heat and integrate nature-based solutions across the city. Among the initiatives that she is spearheading is the Regional Government’s Pocket Forests Program, which has led to the creation of 33 forests with the Miyawaki technique, marking a milestone in the way of implementing vegetation cover in local territories.
She is also the president of the Extreme Heat Table in the “Mediterranean Climate Action Partnership,” which advances the collaboration among cities to share knowledge, plans, programs and sources of financing for extreme heat resilience.
Pastén Valdés has over 17 years of experience as an urban architect, working with various ministries, including Chile’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and Ministry of Health. She has previously worked as an urban advisor, offering guidance on urban development initiatives, spearheading the coordination of the update of the Constitución Communal Regulatory Plan (PRCC), strategizing its development and managing collaborative efforts with key stakeholders, including public institutions and academic entities like the University of Chile’s Faculty of Architecture.
Pastén Valdés earned her degrees in Architecture from the Universidad La República and a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of Chile.