Sustainable Urban Housing: A Systematic Review of Low-Carbon Design Practices

Abstract

Low-carbon design practices for sustainable urban housing are essential for mitigating climate change and enhancing urban resilience. However, a comprehensive and consistent overview of this field's state-of-the-art, best practices, challenges, and gaps is lacking. This paper aims to fill this gap by conducting a systematic review of existing literature on low-carbon design practices for sustainable urban housing in Nigeria and other countries. The review followed the PRISMA guidelines and used various analytical methods to synthesize data from 48 articles selected from 219 articles downloaded from Scopus and Web of Science databases, covering a period of 24 years (1997–2021). The results revealed four main themes of low-carbon design practices: energy efficiency, renewable energy, low-carbon materials, and sustainability assessment. The review also identified positive impacts, trade-offs, challenges, opportunities, and trends related to these practices. The paper discusses the implications, limitations, and recommendations for theory, practice, policy, and research on low-carbon design practices for sustainable urban housing. The paper contributes valuable insights for advancing knowledge in this area and guiding the development of sustainable urban housing solutions with low-carbon design practices. Keywords: Sustainable Urban Housing, Low-Carbon Design Practices, Best Practices, Challenges, Practitioners. DOI: 10.7176/ADS/106-03 Publication date: August 31 st 2023