A global building network research for advancing healthy and affordable housing

1

ABSTRACT

It is widely acknowledged that buildings that are well designed, constructed and operated can generate health, well-being and prosperity benefits. Inadequate ventilation, poor indoor air quality, chemical contaminants from indoor and outdoor environments and poor lighting can generate negative health outcomes such as cardiovascular, pulmonary, respiratory and ocular diseases. The current COVID-19 global health crisis has resulted in an increased interest in strategies that can be used to generate these outcomes. This notwithstanding fundamental research questions related to the unique built environment-related attributes that increase our vulnerability at both the local, regional, and global level are being overlooked. We need to evaluate the inherent socio-economic, environmental, and anthropogenic factors. The emerging Global Building Network seeks to address this need through efforts that transcend disciplines, sectors, and geographies.

KEYWORDS:

• Housing
• COVID-19
• transformation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Esther Obonyo

Esther Obonyo is the Director of the Global Building Network, a partnership with one of the UN Agencies. She is also a Director for Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Programs and an Associate Professor of Engineering Design and Architectural Engineering at Penn State University. She worked as a Senior Policy advisor with USAID’s Global Development Lab through being awarded a 2015/2016 US Department of State Jefferson Science Fellowship. Her industry experience includes working for several construction companies in the U.K, the U.S. and Kenya.

James Mutunga

James Mutunga is an Infectious Disease Specialist and Medical Entomologist at KEMRI/US Army Medical Research Directorate, Africa-Kenya in Kisumu. He earned his PhD in Entomology at the Prof. Jeffrey Bloomquist lab at Virginia Tech in 2011. He previously worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogen’s Institute.