The regenerative development potential of the construction sector in the informal city: The cases of Bangkok, Nairobi and Cape Town

Our society is facing the urge of resolving two primary challenges. On the one hand climate change, triggered by unsustainable production and consumption patterns, results in the imminent threat of environmental collapse. On the other hand, a severe raising housing gap in the global south induces the sprawling of inadequate undignified informal urbanization. These challenges are intertwined since the housing construction sector significantly contributes to the societal environmental impact, adding to the burden of the climate change emergency. Given this context, the current dissertation aims to unfold and operationalize the regenerative potential of the housing sector within the informal city, therefore conceiving the housing construction as a trigger for holistic sustainable development. To achieve the stated objective, this work is articulated around three case studies utilized to assess the impact of housing construction-related actions on the project societal dimension within a specific project scale. These are: shelters within the post-disaster reconstruction context, assessed at the material level; the informal city of Bangkok, assessed at the building unit level; and the informal city of Nairobi, assessed at the territorial level. A fourth case study is then introduced to combine the three scales within an integrated assessment: the informal city of Cape Town. This is also utilized to identify specific construction-related actions capable of impacting the societal project outcome and sustainability as intended within the regenerative approach. The methods utilized to assess the case studies are mixed and include data collection on the field through semi-structured interviews, mapping, stakeholder assessment as well as supply chain mapping, technical assessments, and social network analysis. A theoretical framework is then proposed to assess the housing construction regenerative potential, expressed as contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. The framework is based on the learning from the case studies and their stakeholders’ based multilevel approach, and is proposed as the basis for an operative tool for project management and post-evaluation, serving the humanitarian actors active within the construction sector. The present dissertation demonstrates the relevance of looking at the housing construction sector in the informal city as an opportunity to restore local economies, wellbeing and ecosystems through tailored strategies, varying from material production to management schemes. It shows the validity of adopting a regenerative approach within the informal settlements upgrading and affordable housing delivery to target at once the achievement of social and environmental justice.