Cities of the Future: Green Buildings for Greener Africa
YODIT Y. SEYOUM
Sustainability Advocate | Climate Policy Consultant at Alliance Bioversity-CIAT| Founder at GOODiT | COP28 Youth Delegate *Views are my own*
"Cities are where the climate battle will be won or lost," Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UNFCCC.
By 2050, nearly 7 out of 10 people will live in cities as estimated by the World Bank —let that sink in. This amplifies the major role cities will play in determining the survivability of life as we know it.
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Welcome to this month's edition of Africa Climate Stories, where the continent broke new grounds on the movement towards a sustainable Africa.
Let's get you caught up!
Climate News Africa ~ September
The Africa Climate Calander
The challenge of African cities
As briefly explained, the path to sustainability is mainly through sustainable cities, and Africa has yet to urbanize. In fact, only about 44% of Africa has urbanized in 2021. This number is expected to jump up to 56 % by 2050. However, there is a lack of built-up areas leading to squatter settlements in high-risk areas and with the least urban infrastructure.
The role of the built environment
The built environment, where people live, work, and play, makes up the bulk of our cities — and our carbon footprint. They are responsible for about 42% of annual global CO2 emissions out of which 15% is related to embodied carbon and 27% is attributed to operations. On the other hand, cities are vulnerable to increasing climate risks like flooding and urban heat island that results from increased heat exposure as a result of built surfaces. Therefore, the built environment mutually impacts and is impacted by climate change.
Are green buildings the answer?
What are they?
Green buildings are built structures that are environmentally and culturally responsive, aesthetical, and high-performance throughout the building lifecycle from design and construction to operation and demolition. This does not necessarily imply that they ought to be these expensive smart structures with fancy appliances as understood by most. It can also be as simple as intentionally incorporating local materials, environmentally responsive building techniques, and technologies.
The historical development
Due to increased awareness as a result of the first Earth Day in the 1970s, the concept of greener built environments took root in the late 1980s with the establishment of the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). It was then solidified with the establishment of the World Green Building Council (WGBC) in 1993 . To drive innovation and collaboration in advancing green buildings, the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) was established at COP21 in 2015. Since then, GlobalABC has reached 130 members across 29 countries. In March 2020, regional roadmaps for Africa, Asia, and Latin America were launched to increase nationalized engagement. While the former has over 75 councils across the five regions of the world.
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A growing list of Green Buildings Certification
With the need for verification and the transfer of best practices around the world, the first ever Green Building rating system BREAM was created. Since then, many certifications have been developed around the world with LEED, Living Building Challenge, DGNB, and WELL certifications being widely used.
In Africa, the Green Star Certification South Africa (GBCSA) and Green Africa Building Standards and Certification are two international standards developed and used with in the continent. In response to the climate, economic, and social challenges faced on the African continent and the opportunities for sustainable buildings, the Africa Manifesto for Sustainable Cities and the Built Environment has been launched by 15 African GBCs.
Green Buildings in Africa
Concepts explored in the certifications including sourcing local materials and environmentally friendly buildings have been practiced since early settlement establishments across Africa. However, green buildings in the more contemporary concept are still in their infancy. The image, below created by World GBC, shows an open-source Certified Green Building and Initiatives in Africa.
Notable Green Buildings across Africa
Eastgate Centre Harare-Zimbabwe
Applying a technique derived from termite mounds, the Eastgate Center beautifully and efficiently demonstrates the concept of biomimicry . The shopping center has 5,600 m2 of retail space, 26,000 m2 of office space, and parking for 450 cars.
The Eastgate Center regulates its temperature naturally by storing heat in its concrete structure in the daytime and releasing it in the evening when surrounding temperatures drop. This Passive design approach has enabled the building to use 35% less energy than the average consumption of six regular complexes in the area of the energy of a conventional building its size saving $3.5 million on the total cost of the building. Watch this video to learn more .
Sandbag Houses, Freedom Park, Cape Town, South Africa
Built from Eco-Beams (made by staking sandbags) and timber structures, Sandbag houses are the perfect demonstration of how affordable green buildings can be. The homes were built using simple techniques and the active participation of its future residents lowering the cost of building them, about $6000, and creating a sense of ownership.
Sandalwood Waterfront, Karen, Kenya
The Sandalwood Waterfront villas are uniquely designed villas on a vast 28-acre land with three Artificial lakes on site. This project artistically applies nature-based solutions as a response to the topographical challenges of the site.
The project diverts rainwater collected on-site into the lakes that are integrated with the natural slopes. Moreover, sewerage treatment is done in-house solving the specific issue faced in the project area.
The state of Green Buildings in Ethiopia
Ethiopia has one of the largest populations in Africa and a rapidly growing capital city Addis Ababa. However, this growth is faced with a myriad of challenges like sprawl, waste management, housing shortages, and more. The city ranks 209th out of 231 cities according to the quality of living survey .
Despite the booming construction in cities of Ethiopia, the concept of green buildings and certification systems is very little explored. According to WGBC, there are only three buildings that are currently LEED-certified in the country. Ethiopia is also one of the members of the WGBC through the Ethiopian Green Building Council (ETGBC) founded in 2019 aiming to create a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable built environment in Ethiopia.
One promising project is the Roha Medical Campas , the first internationally accredited green hospital in Ethiopia. The project incorporates an urban forest designed with the Miyawaki forest methodology.
The case for green buildings and rating systems is well articulated in a research publication, Developing a Green Building Assessment Tool for Ethiopia . The research emphasizes the need for a comprehensive local rating system stating the necessity for contextualization and the participation of local construction experts in developing the tool.
In Sum, if African countries are to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), the early adoption of Green Building concepts will be instrumental as the continent continues to develop and urbanize. As a large continent with varied environmental and cultural contexts, more regionalized rating and verification tools that can be nationalized based on local factors like Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), will be the most beneficial.
An Economist and a Research Fellow formerly at the Brookings Institution & University of Gothenburg, and a consultant at the World Bank Group, OECD & Africa Union Comm.
1 年Thanks for putting this together!
Founder and General Manager at Exotic Ethiopian Adventures
1 年Great job!