Local building cultures for sustainable & resilient habitats

CAIMI, Annalisa, MOLES, Olivier (coordinateur), CRÉTÉ, Eugénie (coordinateur), et al., 2017. Local building cultures for sustainable & resilient habitats: examples of local good practices and technical solutions. Villefontaine : CRAterre. 178 p. ISBN 979-10-96446-13-1.

This booklet has been prepared by CRAterre, IFRC and SC-CF and several of their partners. It is part of a set of tools now developed within the framework of a working group (leaded by CARE and CRAterre) withinthe Global Shelter Cluster to enhance the appreciation of local practices developed by communities to adapt their housing / settlements to their specific environment, including risk preparedness. It presents a series of worldwide examples of local techniques, know-how and knowledge that can be used in reducing housing vulnerability. Though, rather than being a catalogue, it has been conceived as an eye-opener for field operators. The idea is that, with these examples in mind, they will have a sharpened capacity to identify such local solutions during preliminary field inspections.

With basic information on why and how these practices are relevant, it is expected that at least those with higher potential are fully reused in habitat projects, both in post disaster and preparedness situations. These solutions being local, they can be implemented with local resources and so, offer large potential for wide application. Overall, that process gives more chance to provide durable benefits and enhanced resilience capacity for local communities while making sure that the qualities of local architecture are preserved. Moreover, it is also hoped that the scientific community will be encouraged to work on their understanding and retro-engineering  for adaptation to today’s socio-economic, cultural and environmental context so as to go further in building back safer processes towards more efficiency in recovery and further, sustainable development.