Research Article
Sustainable Housing and Building Materials for Low-income Households
Bredenoord J*International Urban Planner/Housing Researcher, Housing Research Group, The Netherlands
- *Corresponding Asuthor:
- Bredenoord J
International Urban Planner/Housing Researcher
Housing Research Group, Utrecht
NL. Amerikaring 263823 HT Amersfoort, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 6 22446251
E-mail: janbredenoord@planet.nl
Received date: February 01, 2016; Accepted date: February 23, 2016; Published date: March 15, 2016
Citation: Bredenoord J (2016) Sustainable Housing and Building Materials for Lowincome Households. J Archit Eng Tech 5: 158. doi:10.4172/2168-9717.1000158
Copyright: © 2016 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
The access to affordable housing in the Global South is very limited for millions. Many households have chosen for incremental ; herewith sustainability does not have the highest priority. The main question is whether affordable housing for the urban poor and the need for sustainable housing and urban development can be combined. Transference of knowledge to (self) builders is a key issue, as is the role of assistance in self-help housing. It is argued in this paper that sustainable goals for low-cost housing and applications are achievable. Measures concerning the physical development of neighbourhoods, such as urban density and connectivity are equally as important as measures concerning community development. The latter include support for communitybased organizations, small housing cooperatives (or similar forms of cooperation) and individual households – or small groups – that build and improve their houses incrementally. Adequate planning and social organization and cooperation are preconditions for achieving sustainability in incremental housing.
