Research Article
Sustainable Building Materials for Low-cost Housing and the Challenges Facing their Technological Developments: Examples and Lessons Regarding Bamboo, Earth-Block Technologies, Building Blocks of Recycled Materials, and Improved Concrete Panels
Jan Bredenoord*
International Urban Planner/Housing Researcher, Amerikaring 26, 3823 HT Amersfoort, The Netherlands
- *Corresponding Author:
- Jan Bredenoord
Researcher, Housing Research Group
Utrecht University, Amerikaring 26
3823 HT Amersfoort, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 6 22446251
E-mail: janbredenoord@planet.nl
Received Date: March 21, 2017; Accepted Date: March 23, 2017; Published Date: March 30, 2017
Citation: Bredenoord J (2017) Sustainable Building Materials for Low-cost Housing and the Challenges Facing their Technological Developments: Examples and Lessons Regarding Bamboo, Earth-Block Technologies, Building Blocks of Recycled Materials, and Improved Concrete Panels. J Archit Eng Tech 6: 187. doi: 10.4172/2168-9717.1000187
Copyright: © 2017 Bredenoord J. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
There is a huge demand for affordable urban housing in the countries of the Global South. Using locally available and/or produced building materials for housing can reduce the buildings impact on the environment. Climate conditions and natural disaster risks, which differ by region, determine the applicability of the sustainable building materials and building structures. This article focuses on five groups of building materials: bamboo, compressed earth blocks and stabilized soil blocks, interlocking blocks of recycled materials, and improved concrete panels. In all cases, technological development and exchange of knowledge with local communities are desired. In order to produce more sustainable building materials, local communities can be trained and educated with regard to house building. Making use of a local workforce and involving local resident’s in house building is beneficial for the communities. This article summarizes the main benefits and limitations of the materials and focuses on their applications in urban areas.
