{"id":19659,"date":"2022-03-28T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.gstic.org\/?post_type=story&p=19659"},"modified":"2022-05-11T10:10:03","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T08:10:03","slug":"health-and-wellbeing-in-african-cities","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.gstic.org\/expert-story\/health-and-wellbeing-in-african-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Health and wellbeing in African cities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Adequate shelter, which functions as needed for the climate and other conditions it is built in, is a basic factor for general health and wellbeing. In the tropical climate of sub-Saharan Africa, traditional construction design is being challenged by the introduction of foreign-style glazed buildings. A situation which is creating unexpected problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buildings in tropical regions have long-been designed to provide protection against local climatic extremes. At the same time, they reflect an area\u2019s artistic and practical utilisation of locally available materials, such as mud, stone, thatch, bamboo, palm fronds and wood saplings. These building materials have inherent properties that are beneficial to health and wellbeing. Bamboo, for example, tolerates drought and its adaptive beauty and strength meet sheltering requirements for rich and poor alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given the successful nature of traditional constructions, there would not appear to be a need for glazed, foreign-style buildings in warm-humid and hot-dry tropical climates, such as in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo. Despite this, changing tastes and social aspirations are driving demand for these imported building types, in preference over the traditional, leading to a so-called \u201cschizophrenic architecture of confusion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n