REVIEW

Review of economic and environmental benefits of earthen materials for housing in Africa

  • Olumuyiwa Bayode Adegun , 1,2 ,
  • Yomi Michael Daisiowa Adedeji , 1
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  • 1. Department of Architecture, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
  • 2. School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Received date: 01 Mar 2017

Revised date: 28 Aug 2017

Accepted date: 29 Aug 2017

Published date: 18 Jan 2018

Copyright

2017 2017 Higher Education Press Limited Company. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Abstract

Solutions to housing problems must deal with the issue of building materials – especially advancing those which lower construction cost and costs to the environment. This paper aggregates and reviews empirical evidences to show the advantages and disadvantages of earthen construction materials in terms of cost, energy and thermal properties. We reviewed 136 academic outputs from 17 African countries. Apart from a few studies that differ, literature concurs that earthen construction materials are generally cheaper, cleaner and more thermally comfortable. Notwithstanding the advantages, the level of uptake is presently low. Earthen materials’ strength and durability are key limitations. We identify possible areas for future research and present specific recommendations that can promote the uptake of earthen materials for housing construction in African cities.

Cite this article

Olumuyiwa Bayode Adegun , Yomi Michael Daisiowa Adedeji . Review of economic and environmental benefits of earthen materials for housing in Africa[J]. Frontiers of Architectural Research, 2017 , 6(4) : 519 -528 . DOI: 10.1016/j.foar.2017.08.003

Outlines

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