Digital Sustainability for Informal Settlements
Contact: Prof. Dr. Catherine De Wolf, Circular Engineering for Architecture
Focus Country: South Africa
South Africa's urban population is rapidly growing, leading urban migrants to often settle in underserved peri-urban areas, exacerbating the challenge of insufficient sustainable housing solutions amidst a construction industry ranked high in greenhouse gas emissions. While digital technologies offer potential solutions to this challenge, particularly in terms of efficiency and sustainability, applications so far have primarily focused on upper middle-income countries, leaving questions unanswered about their applicability in informal construction, highlighting the need for further exploration of how digital fabrication tools could be effectively used in such contexts.
This project aims to develop a practical approach for introducing digital fabrication tools into informal settlements in South Africa, focusing on material reuse, while engaging the local community in design and implementation. The expected outcome is the construction of a physical demonstrator built from reused materials using digital fabrication tools, such as 3D printing. These results would be important for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers engaged in participatory development and informal settlement upgrading. This project can guide future collaborative endeavours, establishing ethical and effective strategies for leveraging digital fabrication in informal settlements.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Catherine De Wolf
Partners:
external page School of Built Environment and Development Studies - University of KwaZulu-Natal