As Amélie Pinel recalls in the journal Urban Environment, "At the beginning of sustainable development, developing countries were not considered key players in the fight against the major dangers that threaten the entire planet." Yet UN-Habitat experts today say that concerted policy measures, as well as collaborative multilateral interventions, will make it possible to look to the future in a more optimistic way and address the challenges of urbanization in the countries of the Global South. It should be noted, for example, that the African population is expected to reach 2.4 billion by 2050, and that 80% of this population growth will occur in cities. So sustainable construction is attracting growing interest. In some countries of the Global South, the trend is also toward building spaces that are energy, resource and water-efficient, as well as healthier and more comfortable. Local materials and ancestral building methods In the Global South, as in the North, sustainable building requires economical use of water and natural resources, as well as choosing to use building materials that are sourced or manufactured as close as possible to the place of construction. The objective is to reduce transport costs while relying on local expertise. Dario Ibargüengoitia, Founding President of Sustentabilidad para Mexico, gives the example of Latin America, where local and traditional materials are gradually returning, in combination with ancestral design methods. Instead of using concrete blocks, the manufacture of which is water-intensive and requires cement with a high carbon footprint – even if lowcarbon cements and concretes are now increasingly being developed – adobe bricks, which are essentially raw earth compressed and dried in the sun, are being used. This material is inexpensive and ideal for hygrometric regulation and thermal insulation. To avoid heat loss in winter, in the southern hemisphere, the walls facing south – and possibly east and west – are insulated. The north face, which is exposed to the sun, acts as a mass wall, storing the heat of solar radiation during the day and diffusing it indoors at night. In summer, the inertia of the wall delays the rise in temperature during the day and a ventilation system expels the stored heat to the outside during the night. In Thailand, Bundit Pradabsook, Commissioner of The Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage, demonstrates the same logic of thermal and financial optimization, this time with the use of gypsum drywall in high-rise buildings. This material is durable because it is lightweight, energy efficient, locally produced and recyclable. The Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction and the United NationsEnvironment Programme recommend that publicauthorities adopt energy codes that draw on vernacular building practices while incorporating the strictest international standards. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + > 41 CONSTRUCTING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
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