The Awareness of Sustainability Principles in the Practice of Architecture in the Developing World: A Survey of South-South Nigeria

Contemporary Nigerian architecture seems to lack the ‘green’ in architecture due mainly to inadequate knowledge of the principles of sustainability; a serious environmental and sustainability problem. The objective of this paper therefore is to examine the degree of the spread of the knowledge of sustainable (green) architecture in the South-South Region of Nigeria. The result shall be used to judge what obtains in Nigeria and by extension, in most developing world countries, especially in Africa, south of the Sahara. This study will also create greater awareness among the practitioners of the profession. The study was done through the questionnaire/interview (technique), which sought to find how much the architects in the south-south of Nigeria knew about sustainable architecture. The analysis involved the use of means and percentages. The results of the analysis show that all the respondents agreed that the application of the principles of green architecture is very important in the practice of architecture in Nigeria, but only 12.5 % have clients who are knowledgeable about sustainability in the practice of architecture, The outcome of the analysis paved way for the conclusion and recommendations that, 1) many architects from Nigeria are yet to practice green architecture; a step they have to take if they must catch up with their counterparts from the developed nations, 2) Nigerian architects should be encouraged to train and retrain in the concepts and application of green architecture, 3) codes for sustainable building and designs should be introduced into building codes for use by all, 4) Governments and private organizations should encourage serious projects and researches on green architecture by providing funds and other necessary logistics.