Green building research in South Africa: A scoping review and future roadmaps

Abstract

The construction industry is recognised to pose serious environmental threats due to its anthropogenic activities. To confront this challenge, green building has been famed as an auspicious strategy to alleviate energy-related carbon emissions alongside climate change mitigation. Consequently, it has birthed diverse empirical studies and holistic reviews by the research community. However, these previous studies have been carried out from a global and continental viewpoint regardless of the green building development specifically in emerging economies. This present study seeks to fill the sparse research upshots on the synthesis of green building research at the country level with core focus on South Africa. In this light, the current study provides a scoping overview of the intellectual exploration on green building research in the South African context. The study's findings highlight the varying growth regarding the subject matter, the drivers, drawbacks, and socio-economic issues confronting in developing green building projects in the country. To optimize the advancement of green building in the region, this study recommends the implementation of financing schemes, utilization of advanced digital technologies, and promotion of green and sustainable building curricula across the institutions as well as post-occupancy-related studies within the green building spectrum towards a safe and salutogenic built-environment in the country.