BOOK
Sustainability & Scarcity: A Handbook for Green Design
and Construction in Developing Countries
A Handbook for Green Design and Construction
in Developing Countries addresses a gap in the
literature on green building recognized by many in
the fields of international development, architecture,
construction, housing and sustainability. Rather than
being based on the experiences of more economicallydeveloped countries,
this book describes the
nature of green building
in the developing
world, elaborating the
main issues that define
sustainability in those
particular contexts.
Through more than 30
years of development
work in design and
construction in Africa
and the Middle East,
the author has seen
well-intentioned
development projects,
both in theory and in
practice, that ultimately
do not contribute
to sustainable
development. Starting
from the basis of
green building rating
tools used in the more
economically-developed
countries, the author
draws from his own
experiences to make
available to other
practitioners green building strategies relevant to
the developing country context that promise effective
solutions to their need for sustainable green design.
The book looks in detail at examples of buildings
in Tanzania, Madagascar, Nepal, Haiti, and Vietnam,
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illustrating the application of the green building
strategies described. Fully illustrated with drawings
and full colour photos, the book is a practical guide
for practitioners and policy-makers working in
the poorest regions of the world. Sustainability &
Scarcity is quite simply an essential handbook for
anyone concerned with
sustainable design and
building in the developing
world.
REVIEWS
“Sustainability and
Scarcity provides a
thoughtful design
guide highlighting key
principles required
to create low impact
building projects that
are sustainable within
the realities of the
LDR setting. Through
case studies, Ozolins
provides a context for
holistic design principles
that leverage existing
sustainability practices
with the intangibles such
as labor and poverty
alleviation to address
the broader issues
of sustainability. An
indispensable tool to aid
designers in creating truly
sustainable buildings in
LDRs.” – Christine Fiori,
Myers-Lawson School of Construction, Virginia
Tech, USA
“Peter Ozolins addresses a critical question that
concerns those of us in the field of international