Low-cost building material andbuilding techniques for Ethiopia

Abstract

One of the core infrastructure elements in a smart city as per the Smart City Initiative is affordable
housing, especially for the poor. Another key element is the sustainable environment. Attainment of these
elements calls for low-cost solutions to building materials and building techniques. The former typically consists
of locally sourced materials, while the latter requires prefabricated elements for construction; thus, ensuring
lower environmental footprints coupled with low-cost, thus enabling housing for the poor. Unfortunately, the
conventional construction techniques employ conventional materials and are neither environment, nor poorfriendly. The developing and underdeveloped countries typically tend to use the conventional building materials
along with conventional construction techniques. This results in high cost of construction and low availability of
affordable housing. This study investigates a number of building materials and construction technologies, with
specific emphasis on Ethiopia- a developing African country with a large population and huge lack of affordable
housing. The aim of the current work is to identify low-cost building materials and low-cost, mass-scale
construction technologies for developing economies like Ethiopia, with broader applicability to African and
Asian countries.