A Holistic Materials Design Requirements Framework (HoMDReF) For Future Housing Materials

There is an unmet demand for affordable and sustainable walling materials for owner-builders in poor urban areas of the least economically developed countries (LEDCs). To ensure new materials meet needs, a Holistic Materials Design Requirements Framework (HoMDReF) is proposed which can assist researchers in new materials development. Many rapidly growing countries in Asia and Africa have low economic development, with urban dwellers often living in inadequate housing. The lack of affordable, practical and sustainable construction materials is a significant barrier to achieving sustainable development. Although several innovative materials have been developed that are more affordable and sustainable than “conventional” modern building materials, adoption has been very limited. Social science researchers have identified strong social, economic and cultural factors influencing the housing decisions by poor urban dwellers and these must be considered in addition to the technical and environmental factors usually focused on by researchers when developing innovative construction materials. A multidisciplinary approach was used to identify the critical issues for walling materials for owner-builders in poor urban areas. Issues are presented in the HoMDReF under technical, environmental, economic and socio-cultural categories. This problem-first approach has confirmed that the current techno-environmental focus of researchers is insufficient. Researchers must consider early on in the design how new materials will fit in with people’s values and the urban economic context.

[1]  Un Habitat.  State of the world’s cities 2012/2013 , 2012 .

[2]  Kofi Agyekum,et al.  Perceptions on Barriers to the Use of Burnt Clay Bricks for Housing Construction , 2014 .

[3]  Wells Jn.  Population, settlements and the environment: The provision of organic materials for shelter: A literature review , 1995 .

[4]  Ian E. A. Yeboah.  Housing the Urban Poor in Twenty-First Century Sub-Saharan Africa: Policy Mismatch and a Way Forward for Ghana , 2005 .

[5]  D. D. Trabajo,et al.  Housing and wellbeing: evidence from the informal settlements of Buenos Aires , 2016 .

[6]  Tade Akin Aina.  The construction of housing for the urban poor of Lagos , 1988 .

[7]  D. Okpala,et al.  Housing production systems and technologies in developing countries: a review of the experiences and possible future trends/prospects , 1992 .

[8]  Wells Jn,et al.  Housing and building materials in low-income settlements in Dar es Salaam , 1998 .

[9]  Heather Cruickshank,et al.  Environmental impacts and embodied energy of construction methods and materials in low-income tropical housing , 2015 .

[10]  Monto Mani,et al.  Embodied and operational energy of urban residential buildings in India , 2016 .

[11]  B. Wekesa,et al.  A review of physical and socio-economic characteristics and intervention approaches of informal settlements , 2011 .

[12]  Keith Nurse,et al.  Culture as the Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development , 2006 .

[13]  Unchs.  Building Materials for housing, report of the executive director, United Nations Commission on Human settlements , 1993 .

[14]  M. McCarron,et al.  Affordable housing options for all in a context of developing capitalism: can housing transformations play a role in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana? , 2016 .

[15]  Jill Wells,et al.  Informality in the construction sector in developing countries , 2007 .

[16]  R. Mlinga,et al.  Collaboration between formal and informal enterprises in the construction sector in Tanzania , 2002 .

[17]  C. D. Plessis.  Nr . 2 / 01 PAA-Priority Theme 1 Sustainable Construction Agenda 21 For Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries , 2001 .