Low cost or affordable construction technologies and materials are often touted as a panacea in meeting the ever-growing demand for rapid housing delivery in developing economies. As with most of the developing world, from both historical perspectives and global trends in rural to urban migration, Mozambique suffers an enormous service backlog and massive delivery challenges in addressing its millennium development goals in the provision of housing and shelter.

It is generally acknowledged that there has recently been serious focus and growth towards the use of eco-materials and sustainable architecture in both developed and developing countries, drawn primarily as a response to global warming concerns.

However, the paradox of the third world remains; that most populations remain steeped in traditional construction methods, which using today’s modern scientific carbon ‘footprint’ analytic tools and relative to western comparisons qualify as low cost, green or ecological construction technologies. Ironically the biggest challenge facing the widespread use of low-cost construction technologies in a modern economy today is primarily not sustainability but compliance with current norms in building standards and their ability to provide what we have come to characterize as reasonable shelter. This is often the basis of social acceptance and sustainable adoption of innovative low-cost solutions.

Tabassum Rahmani