Strategies for sustainable social housing in Colombia

The housing deficit in Colombia is a reality being faced from a lot of generations now, this deficit accounts for quantity and quality, being quantity the main focus of the construction sector, having an specific economic interest over a social interest or even a consciousness in the environmental issues; this housing deficit is being handled trough the development of a large proportion of accessible social housing that presents low quality and disregards the negative impact on the environment. In a concerned world for climate change and social inequality, Colombia moves slowly towards sustainability and in response to the vast number of construction projects being created, it has attempted to encourage sustainability practices with regulations and initiatives such as guides for sustainable design; this strategies fall short as there is a lack of incentives for the implementation of sustainable construction strategies, an absence of definition of sustainable criteria for buildings of all uses including social housing (which for the existent regulations, sustainable criteria is not mandatory); this creates an even bigger distance between social housing and sustainability; the dissociation of both of this elements contributes to a social, economic and environmental negative impact; that way, thinking social housing from a sustainable perspective is a crucial component to tackle housing deficit and an environmental crisis. In that sense, the question focuses in how social housing meets sustainability. This work will implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework that supports the encounter between social housing and sustainability, this will be done by understanding the interactions of social housing that is referred to in target 11.1 with other targets, in order to create mutual advance and avoid negative impacts. The thesis is divided in six chapters, in which the first one regards the context of Colombia, housing and environmental issues and the need for sustainable social housing. The second chapter introduces the Sustainable Development Goals as the framework of the thesis, the dimensions and complexity of its implementation and the importance of its understanding and use. The third chapter describes the social housing system in the country and its development from a critical point of view, arriving to the conclusion that is a failing housing system that is not approached from the correct point of view. The fourth chapter regards sustainability in Colombia and the related regulations in the construction and architecture sector, in this chapter the guides for sustainable design are analyzed in order to choose the more complete for further implementation. In the fifth chapter are analyzed the reference projects at a national and international level in order to identify the lessons learned and the strategies that can be applicable for a sustainable housing project, the chapter closes with a graphic summary of all the strategies and good practices to implement. In the final chapter the proposed project is developed with specific focus on the positive interactions of target 11.1 with other six related targets from the SDGs. The project is explained and design according to the topics suggested by the Colombian guide for sustainable buildings and the strategies extracted from the reference cases. The aim is to compile a series of strategies and good practices that should be implemented when creating social housing projects in order to have quality outcomes