Mensah Sarfo, Laryea Samuel
Department of Building Technology, Kumasi Technical University, P. O. Box 854, Kumasi, Ghana.
School of Economics and Construction Management, University of the Witwatersrand, P. O. Box 20, Wits 2050, South Africa.
Heliyon. 2023 Jul 1;9(7):e17645. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17645. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Judicious use of Indigenous Construction Materials (ICM) contributes to sustainability of a local construction industry. Why has the use of ICMs not contributed to the sustainability of the Ghanaian Construction Industry (GCI), and how can the use of ICMs engender the sustainability of GCI and that of similar developing countries? This paper uses bounded rationality and mixed-method strategy to explain the ICM usage rate in the GCI, and describes measures for improving the sustainability of the local construction industry through ICMs use. Relatively high ICM cost and non-availability of alternatives have been found as factors largely responsible for constrained ICMs usage. This paper is one of the first to draw on a synergy of the bounded rationality theory and empirical findings to give advanced insight into factors constraining the use of ICMs, as well as provide a measured usage rate of local building materials using real building projects cases. The research has carved a path for nurturing sustainable construction industry in developing countries through indigenous resources.
明智地使用本土建筑材料有助于当地建筑业的可持续发展。为什么本土建筑材料的使用没有促进加纳建筑业（GCI）的可持续发展，以及本土建筑材料的使用如何能够促进加纳建筑业以及类似发展中国家建筑业的可持续发展？本文运用有限理性和混合方法策略来解释加纳建筑业中本土建筑材料的使用率，并描述通过使用本土建筑材料提高当地建筑业可持续性的措施。研究发现，相对较高的本土建筑材料成本和缺乏替代材料是导致本土建筑材料使用受限的主要因素。本文率先将有限理性理论与实证研究结果相结合，深入洞察限制本土建筑材料使用的因素，并通过实际建筑项目案例给出当地建筑材料的实测使用率。该研究为利用本土资源培育发展中国家的可持续建筑业开辟了一条道路。
