Sustainable Solutions for Mass-Housing Design in Africa: Energy and Cost Assessment for the Somali Context

Abstract

Today, the main issue of providing adequate and affordable housing is to go beyond the mere offer of basic shelters, intending to create sustainable and durable settlements. Due to the fragile and uncertain nature of its social, political and economic context, characterized by the lack of common shared legislative references and business strategies in the housing sector, Somalia is a challenging reality to be explored and improved. This paper describes the outcomes of the BECOMe project, intending to propose sustainable solutions for mass-housing design for new sustainable settlements in Mogadishu, involving local entrepreneurs, social organizations and renewable energy. In detail, social, environmental and economic key sustainability requirements (KSRs) for mass-housing are identified first. Then, the most appropriate climate-responsive design and construction technologies at the building level, tailored to the Mogadishu context, are selected; the outcomes are applied to a specific case-study building, assessing energy and cost performances to pave the way for implementation projects in Somalia.