The paradox around the social Representations of Compressed Earth Block Building Material in Burkina Faso: the Material for the Poor or the luxury Material?

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.