Housing the Poor and the Sustainability Context in Brazil: A Study of the Brazilian Building Sector Challenges for the Future

Abstract

The green wave of sustainability is getting bigger everyday and as consumers’ awareness is increasing so are their demands for socio-environmental responsibility. That is the scenario the Brazilian building sector, one of the world´s biggest polluters, must face in order to continue developing. The expected investment for the next 4 years in this sector is more than US$ 165 billion in order to deal with the over $6 million housing units deficit and the growing demand due to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic games. This paper aims to present the Brazilian building sector situation towards the sustainability context and the challenges it must face to succeed. Workforce qualification, partnerships among actors, search for continuous innovation and competition, a performance-based legal and regulation framework and constant investments are the main challenges – and tools – to overcome the obstacles towards the sustainability goal.