Sudan’s Exploring Sustainability in Providing Low-Cost Housing in Khartoum
Introduction:
The Sudanese housing policies have been comprised of two main types of programs which are based on the needs of all sectors of the population for the provision of plots through site and services schemes and the other is Incremental housing for the low-income groups. we are evaluating of sustainable design of the core units built by the public sector for low‐income families. In this paper analysis is based on four parameters like the size of the project, the target group of inhabitants, the design and building materials and technologies. In addition that parameters are compared to U.N. Habitat principles of sustainable housing. Sustainable housing includes cultural and economic impacts of housing and contributes to making healthy residential neighborhoods.
Sustainability Development:
Sustainability Development is a comprehensive process of providing development within the umbrella of the four pillars of sustainability (UNDP 2002): cultural vibrancy, economic prosperity, environmental responsibility and social justice. Social sustainability occurs when the formal and informal systems and structures that support the capacity of current and future generations are linked to create healthy and livable communities (Hodgson, 2003). In practicing sustainable community development, proposed actions and policies must be judged for their economic value as well as for their ecological and evolutionary affects, moreover following a model of sustainability requires integrating different human values with the multiple dynamics of natural systems.
One of the main factors of achieving sustainability in a community is the sufficient range, diversity and affordability of housing within a balanced housing market. Housing projects must be properly integrated into the social, cultural and economic local environments, it is important to connect housing to infrastructure networks and basic services (water supply, electricity, etc.).
The Target group of inhabitants:
In the first resettlement project‐ New Deims‐ housing authorities recognised the important role of the social sustainability; therefore, they conducted a comprehensive social survey. By doing so they emphasized the role of housing as a social structure that considers socio‐ economic interactions of the inhabitants and their social qualities. The housing authorities tried to conserve the community structure because on the social side, Old Deims comprised of well –integrated communities, sharing certain loyalties, and exchanging certain mutual obligation.
Sustainability of building materials and practices:
In New Deims houses were built with sustainable traditional materials and applied indigenous knowledge and techniques in construction of houses which are affordable and environmentally friendly as walls were built with jaloos (i.e. rammed earth or cob) and houses were roofed with timber. The construction of houses was carried out by the inhabitants themselves helping each other’s ‐public participation‐ without intervention of the housing authorities. The inhabitants were advised to collect all wood work, wooden beams and the like from their demolished houses, and to use them in their new houses, so that the building materials were recycled.
The design of the core unit:
Traditionally, the two basic types of dwellings are either houses or flats, in Khartoum the popular dwelling type is the single detached house. The choice of houses as a predominant dwelling type had led to horizontal expansion and urban sprawl of the capital, low densities, and made basic urban services unaffordable. Although flats permit vertical expansion but they were not popular because of many reasons: the climate, the great desire for privacy, the large size of families, traditional tendencies and lack of supportive basic services especially sewerage.
Conclusion:
A comprehensive housing approach should include not only economic, cultural, social and environmental but also institutional sustainability aspects. Sustainable housing projects require comprehensive plans to attain pre‐defined goals .It is clearly observed that housing policy for the poor people in Sudan has adopted a separate approach that dealing with housing problem isolated from other development issues, and ignoring the social, cultural, environmental and economic aspects of housing.
Also Read: Effect of Building Materials Cost on Housing Delivery Towards Sustainability