This handbook enriches the literature on quality of life, environment, and climate change by examining their interrelationships from a Latin American territorial perspective. It brings together theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, offering a multifaceted examination of environmental and territorial challenges and their implications for quality of life across different scales and contexts. It integrates insights from a broad range of disciplines, including geography, sociology, ecology, history, political science, urban studies, tourism studies, and others. The chapters address issues related to quality of life, environmental and territorial transformations, and climate change, drawing on multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches. They combine diverse methodologies, including quantitative and qualitative analyses, territorial studies, participatory research, perceptual analyses, legal approaches, and public policy proposals. The handbook provides conceptual, methodological, and empirical perspectives for understanding the complex relationships among environmental change, territorial dynamics, and quality of life in Latin America. The contributions will be particularly valuable to academics and researchers engaged in multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary studies, as well as students and scholars working in environmental studies, geography, sustainability, quality-of-life research, urban and territorial studies, and climate change. They will also be valuable to practitioners and policymakers working in related fields.

María Laura Zulaica is Professor at the Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño (FAUD) and the Facultad de Humanidades (FH) of the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP). Additionally, she is a researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), affiliated with the Instituto del Hábitat y del Ambiente (IHAM, FAUD, UNMdP). She holds a Ph.D. in Geography, a Master's degree and a Specialist degree in Environmental Management, and a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Diagnosis and Management. She is a member of the Executive Committee of IHAM. She is Director of the Grupo de Estudios Ambientales Urbanos y Periurbanos at IHAM, FAUD, UNMdP, and a professor of postgraduate courses in different academic fields. Her participation in interdisciplinary and interinstitutional projects is particularly noteworthy. Her research, outreach, and applied projects focus on environmental sustainability and habitat-related issues, with particular emphasis on environmental, urban, and peri-urban management. She has published numerous scientific articles in journals and books with national and international impact. She also acts as a consultant on projects related to habitat, environmental, and sustainability issues, collaborating with national and provincial government agencies and various municipalities. Previously, she served as an environmental promoter for the Neighborhood Improvement Program of the Inter-American Development Bank. She is currently working as a consultant for government agencies on urban and territorial planning programs.

Jhonatan Clausen is a tenured Assistant Professor in the Departamento de Economía at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and serves as the Director of the Instituto de Desarrollo Humano de América Latina (IDHAL-PUCP). He earned a PhD in International Development from the University of Bath. He also holds master’s degrees in Economics and Human Development from PUCP. His teaching and research focus on the capability approach, multidimensional poverty, wellbeing, and their policy implications in Latin America. Clausen has published a substantial body of peer-reviewed work. His scholarship is complemented by policy briefs and Spanish-language book chapters that disseminate capability-based research to wider audiences. In Peru, Clausen advises the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI) on poverty measurement and regularly collaborates with civil-society organisations on multidimensional poverty diagnostics.