The global housing gap is expected to increase significantly in coming decades. Much of the housing demand will be concentrated in the expanding cities of Asia and Africa, where millions of urban poor already live in inadequate housing conditions. In meeting commitments under the Paris Agreement, municipal and national governments must now also balance such immense infrastructural demands with consideration to environmental impacts and emerging resource limitations.
This report proposes the greater use of low-carbon building materials in addressing the low-cost housing gap in cities. It provides a framework to support material selection in the design stages for low-cost housing. This report takes a life cycle approach to material selection and minimizes the externalization of energy demands of materials throughout their life-cycle. It presents some low-carbon materials that have been successfully used for home-construction, followed by a detailed case study of two composite materials.
This report also highlights the co-benefits of a green growth approach, namely; meeting housing needs of low-income city dwellers with lower environmental impacts; promoting innovative and scalable practices for housing solutions and; supporting local economies through job creation, skills upgrading and support to micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In the later part of the report, supply chain constraints and opportunities from scaling up the use of a new construction material are discussed.
Poverty reduction and economic growth can be sustained only if natural resources are managed on a sustainable basis. Greening rural development can stimulate rural economies, create jobs, help maintain critical ecosystem services and strengthen climate resilience of the rural poor.
Cities are engines of economic growth and social change. About 85% of global GDP in 2015 was generated in cities. By 2050, two-thirds of the global population will live in urban areas.