Author(s)

Ousmane Zoungrana^1,2, Maïmouna Bologo/Traoré¹, Adamah Messan¹, Philbert Nshimiyimana^1,3*, Gautier Pirotte²

¹Laboratoire Eco-Matériaux et Habitats Durables (LEMHaD), Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement (Institut 2IE), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
²Laboratoire Observer les Mondes en Recomposition (OMER), Faculté des Sciences Humaines et Sociales, Université de Liège (ULiège), Liège, Belgique.
³Urban and Environmental Engineering (UEE), Université de Liège (ULiege), Liège, Belgique.

Compressed earth brick (CEB) is a masonry material which has the thermal properties that are better adapted to the hot and dry climate of tropical and Sahelian context like in Burkina Faso. Despite these advantages, CEB are still not largely used in the construction sector in the city of Ouagadougou. In order to better understand the obstacles linked to this low diffusion of CEB, the present empirical study proposes a deep analysis of the social representations of construction using CEB in the urban place. The results show that four main categories of social representations coexist in the construction sector using CEB: 1) the perception of CEB as the “material for the poor”, 2) the perception of CEB as “improved or precarious adobe” inherited from successive public policies to rehabilitate the material, 3) the symbolic perceptions linked to the red color of the brick and the durability of the material, and 4) the contemporary post-materialist perception (luxury materials), according to a minority of wealthy elites who have built their houses using CEB. These social representations are essential to take into consideration for the implementation of new public housing policies in general and promotion for the usage of CEB in particular. This could accompany the studies which aim at improving the technical performances of CEB and lead towards the socio-economic acceptance of the materials.

Autochthony, Burkina Faso, Compressed Earth Bock, Public Policy, Social Representation

Zoungrana, O. , Bologo/Traoré, M. , Messan, A. , Nshimiyimana, P. and Pirotte, G. (2021) The Paradox around the Social Representations of Compressed Earth Block Building Material in Burkina Faso: The Material for the Poor or the Luxury Material?. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 9, 50-65. doi: 10.4236/jss.2021.91004.