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Thesis A
Josh O’Meara 2009
Deakin University, Supervisor: Dr. Robert Fuller
NOTE: This Thesis is the intellectual property of Josh O’Meara. Any use of it’s content requires the written consent of the author.
ABSTRACT
As populations of the world’s poor continue to grow exponentially, the ratio of the human population living in inadequate housing is expected to escalate from one in seven to one in three by 2030. Not only are new solutions to affordable housing imperative in realising ‘housing for all,’ but the path of development will also determine the future of the human enterprise. Chopra, Tiwari and Parikh have advised that conventional building materials will be inadequate in meeting the growing needs suggesting the urgency for a new paradigm in building materials and architecture. This report delves into the global issues of sustainability, population, poverty and material resources, gaining insights from the many leaders in these fields both past and present. Through their research and experience, the challenges, theories and solutions to housing for the poor are illuminated in both the rural and urban contexts.
KEY WORDS: Sustainability, Poverty, Architecture, Renewable Materials, Urban, Rural, Slums, Resource use, Equity
INTRODUCTION
There is a growing concern that we are fast approaching or have already surpassed the limits to which our planet can sustain.[i] The stress on our planet has been driven by a minority in which 20 per cent of the world’s population consume 80 per cent of the world’s resources.[ii] The rapid development of the remaining 80 per cent of the world’s population is believed by Murphy et al.[iii] and Watson[iv] to be the potential tipping point for the future of humanity. Compounding the problem is a growing population driven predominantly by the world’s poorest of the poor. At present 1 in 7 people live in what is deemed inadequate housing and if no drastic interventions are taken before 2030 the population growth is expected to raise this ratio to 1 in 3.[v] It is therefore apparent that there is a critical need for a new architectural paradigm which is both thermally comfortable, affordable and environmentally sustainable if these people are to ever be housed adequately. This project will provide an overview of the relevant global issues such as sustainability, population, poverty and material resources, highlighting the challenges, theories and solutions in tackle the global burgeoning housing needs for both the rural and urban contexts.
SUSTAINABILITY
The most widely used definition for Sustainable development comes from Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Whilst this encapsulates the generality of sustainability, it remains rather vague and some assumptions must be made, such as, the abilities of future generations to adapt. Avery believes that the Earth Summits Agenda 21 (1992) was slightly more direct highlighting the fundamental causes of environmental degradation attributed to “the growth of world population and production, combined with unsustainable consumption patterns, places increasingly severe stress on the life-supporting systems of our planet.”[i]
Sustainability – poverty
The combating of poverty and the need for ‘international co-operation to accelerate sustainable development in developing countries’ are regarded in both reports as pivotal in humanities goal towards sustainable development. Enrlich stresses the need for knowledge and technological acquisitions.[ii] Murphy et al. highlight that if India has no technology change they can expect emissions to multiply by a factor of 5.4 between the years 1990-2020, which the authors believe could be a tipping point in global sustainability.[iii] Not only are these measures important for the protection of the environment, but as Graziana and Fornasiero,[iv] and Avery[v] agree it is also critical for the stability and peace of the world.
Limits
The Brundlandt and Agenda 21 reports both place great significance on the relationship between economy and environment. Work done by biologists such as Enrlich, have brought awareness that an economy based on boundless consumption is thwart with danger, warning that our environment provides limits inescapable biophysical constraints.’[vi] Thus, the population in which the planet can sustain is subject to our efficiency in the use of resources. Avery states that ‘if any species, including our own, makes demands on its environment which exceeds the environment’s carrying capacity, the result is a catastrophic collapse both of the environment and the population it supports.’[vii] Deforestation, desertification, extinctions, global warming, the destruction of the ozone layer, soil degradation, vanishing non-renewable resources and famines are all indicators which Enrlich[viii] and Vitousek et al. use to highlight that ‘the size of the human economy has reached or exceeded the limits of sustainability.’[ix]
The solution…
The search for a solution towards sustainability has born to separate schools of thought. The first is believes in reducing consumption and an emphasis on low-technological solutions. In this view society needs to reprioritise its values, leading to a cultural shift, based on teachings from philosophers such as Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), and Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862).[x] The other school of thought led by McDonough and Braugart[xi] is that through technology and innovation all obstacles can be overcome, believing commerce to be ‘the driver of change.’ Both of these views are highly plausible and whilst technology is likely to play a primary role, the feasibility of implementing new technology to the world’s poor is likely to be a distant prospect, favouring low technological solutions for the immediate future.
Growth of Developing Nations
Whilst these findings suggest a serious need to alter human behaviour to reverse the trends, the UN’s latest population projections of 9.2 billion people by 2050[xii] and the rapidly expanding global economy are likely to make this challenge increasingly difficult. In fact, in the immediate future the trend appears likely to worsen as Enrlich suggests; ‘the poor aspire and plan to consume as the rich do’ with Szenasy highlighting that ‘from the outside this looks very attractive.’[xiii] Whilst this is a growing concern, there is also a fundamental need for many developing nations to expand their economies as I will later discuss in detail. Glaring inequalities around the world indicate that the developed world needs to show leadership on the issue, accepting that ‘we are living beyond our means’[xiv] and insuring that the developed world avoids the same mistakes. The authors of Sustainable Cities and Ehrlich suggest that for the developing world to meet their needs the developed world will be required to ‘curb on their consumption and share with the developed nations,’[xv] which Sustainable Cities regards to be essential for the long-term prosperity of all. Graziana and Fornasiero highlight that ‘the limited availability of resources makes urgent the adoption of suitable strategies in the raw materials and energy sectors.’[xvi]
The role of buildings on sustainability and the material direction
As an individual sector the construction industry is likely to play the largest influence on sustainability. For example, in India, Parikh and Gokarn found the sector to be the biggest carbon emitter accounting for 17% of national emissions,[xvii] of which, Tiwari attributes largely to energy intensive materials.[xviii] Buildings also consume vast quantities of energy in their use and Murphy et al. calculated households to consume 12% of India’s energy.[xix] Whilst indicating significant contributions consumption percentages are again higher in the developed world, accounting for an estimated 23% of Australian greenhouse gas emissions[xx] and household energy consumptions of nearly 30%.[xxi] The developed world’s higher percentages indicates a striking disparity as the total emissions per capita are also significantly higher further re-iterating the need for a new path. The construction sector also represents a primary consumer of material resources. Shortages as well as increasing costs have led Chopra,[xxii] Tiwari and Parikh[xxiii] and Subrahmanyam et al.[xxiv] to advice that if developing nations are to ever realise ‘housing for all’ alternative materials are needed to complement or entirely replace the more conventional materials such as cement, steel, bricks and aggregates.[xxv] In Tiwari and Parikh’s work discovered that meeting criteria for affordable housing and sustainability were ‘interlinked’[xxvi] and could be addressed simultaneously, the solution to both, they found is the use of low-cost, locally available materials.
Sustainable Architecture?
Hardoy et al criteria towards sustainable development for architecture is ‘the minimization of non-renewable resources, sustainable use of renewable resources, staying within the absorptive capacity of local and global waste absorption limits and meeting basic human needs.’[xxvii]
POVERTY
The World Bank estimate that half the world – nearly 3 billion people – lives on less than US$2 per day. Of the 3 billion, 1.2 billion live on less than US$1 per day which they consider to be living in extreme poverty.[xxviii]
Malthus’ dismal science and the UN’s goal to combat poverty
In 1798 Thomas Robert Malthus published a book discussing poverty and population. Malthus argued that poverty was inevitable arguing that the poorest would always be in a struggle between survival and starvation, whereby prosperous times result in more births, consequently demanding more food and resources, thus, perpetuating the population’s struggle against starvation and poverty. Contemporaries such as Avery and Enrlich acknowledge the role in which population plays on improving living standards, signalling a need to reduce populations. Enrlich suggests that ‘most fundamentally important is the education of women, because that education is then applied to improving the health, nutrition, and well-being of families, which in turn results in lower infant and child mortality. And increased survival of children reduces the pressure to overproduce as insurance for support in old age.’[xxix] Educational facilities for females could therefore play an important role in a nation’s development and could be the focus of an architect’s work.
In competition to Malthus’ view, the UN in their Millennium Declaration indicate that combating poverty whilst a long-term goal, is possible. There appears two ways in which this can be made possible, the first that the inequalities in resource consumption are smoothed, or in the long-term, technology allows sustainable economic growth.
Poverty and Housing
Yeh highlights that ‘income is the most important determinant of housing characteristics.’[xxx] The UN are critical of policies which have traditionally not dealt with this underlying cause, placing greater attention to the surface issues rather than developing economically sustainable solutions.[xxxi] The fundamental dilemma of the housing problem as Yeh describes ‘is that, on the one hand, the community and government cannot afford the resources commensurate with the housing need, and, on the other hand, the great majority of the urban population is too poor to build adequate housing without public assistance.’[xxxii] The solution must therefore either be growing the nation’s economy or providing more affordable alternatives. The latter obviously results in more immediate outcomes. Despite the obvious benefits of such alternatives these appears to undergo a high degree of opposition. Fathy[xxxiii] and Wegelin[xxxiv] both describe the lucrative nature of the construction industry, who because of their invested interests, build walls, ensuring governments direct their money to conventional projects. This indicates that there are many forces at work and often the optimum solution will be made impossible due to internal and hidden factors indicating a greater need for individual interests to be put aside. The opposite view is highlighted by Yeh that ‘an effective housing program can serve as an incubator for positive social and economic change.’[xxxv] Whilst conventional building are likely to bring greater benefits to the economy, Fathy criticises the experts who ‘postulate alternatives that they know don’t exist,’[xxxvi] fully aware that conventional building is beyond the means of many governments and poor. Tiwari highlights that despite having less benefits to the economy, low-cost techniques are often labour intensive providing greater per rupee employment, in other words jobs for the poor.[xxxvii]
‘Urbanisation of poverty’
The UN describes the current phenomenon of unprecedented global urbanisation as the ‘urbanisation of poverty.’[xxxviii] In 1996 the UN estimated that people living in life- and health-threatening urban environments accounted for 600 million people, with this number expected to triple by 2025.[xxxix] The UN’s 2003 report states that ‘almost 1 billion people, or 32 per cent of the world’s urban population, live in slums,’ and in the least developed nations this percentage can be as high as 78.2 per cent.’[xl] The UN believes that ‘urbanisation holds out both the bright promise of an unequalled future and the grave threat of unparalleled disaster,’[xli] and this will be dependent on the interventions taken.
Slums
The perception of slums has developed from the ‘tendency to evaluate them according to inappropriate middle-class values and standards’[xlii] to a greater understanding of their ‘dynamism and high potential for self development.’[xliii] Turner played a pivotal role in evolving society’s stereotypes of slums writing in the 1960s that ‘alongside shacks and shanties, squatter neighbourhoods also had virtually ‘standard’ houses. The UN recognises that this has led to policies evolving from largely ‘negative such as forced eviction, benign neglect and involuntary resettlement, to more positive policies such as self-help and in-situ upgrading, enabling and rights-based policies.’[xliv] Skinner[xlv] and Ward[xlvi] agree that one of the most critical factors in slum self development is the ownership of land or the feeling of security as they highlight that occupants are unlikely to invest their time and money if there is the threat of eviction. Delago suggests that not all slums are progressive and all slums generally suffer from factors which contribute to inadequate housing as listed in the UN’s The Challenge of Slums.[xlvii] The UN describes efforts to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers to be feeble and incoherent over the last decade or so’ and as the phenomenon grows exponentially unprecedented co-operative efforts will be required. Furthermore Wijkman and Timberlake suggest that ‘political economic structures are such that hardships are always passed onto the oppressed’[xlviii] suggesting that as resources become more scarce it will be the poor who are affected first, perhaps suggesting a need for greater self-sufficiency. The complexity of the issues involved are epitomised by Skinner, who highlights that upgrading, which would appear utterly beneficial often leads to people being unable to afford official prices and rent gains. Skinner suggests that governments must flood the market to ensure the poor residents are more secure.[xlix]
Planning and designing for the poor
Yeh highlights that when planning and designing for the poor, ‘there is really no useful model to follow from either Europe or America.’ Yeh attributes this to the peculiar socioeconomic conditions and constraints’ often involved.[l] Fathy also suggests that an architect designing for the poor must essentially abandon all that they have been learnt through ‘the system of private urban building,’ and develop more affordable systems free from costly ‘building contractors and sophisticated materials.’[li] Whilst Fathy successfully implemented alternative systems in a rural environment, the challenges are likely to be again greater within the urban context. Another economic consideration is the relationship between the cost of labour and materials, which could have profound implication on design and construction methods. For example, due to India’s abundance of available labour Tiwari has labour intensity as an objective,[lii] which is quite opposite to the objectives in developed countries where labour is expensive. Tiwari also highlights that on-site energy consumption in construction of housing in India is very low between 0-10%, whereas in developed countries it is closer to 30%,[liii] again suggesting that decisions be based on local circumstances.
