Sustainable materials for urban infrastructure construction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63618/omd/revinvlid/v3/n3/54Keywords:
sustainable construction, urban infrastructure, recycled materials, life cycle analysis, circular economyAbstract
Urban expansion and the high environmental footprint of construction highlighted the need to evaluate sustainable materials applicable to urban infrastructure in Ecuador and Latin America. The study aimed to analyze their sustainability thru environmental, technical, economic, and social dimensions, as well as to relate the recycled content to emissions, strength, lifespan, cost, and adoption conditions. A qualitative, documentary, non-experimental, and retrospective longitudinal study was conducted, based on literature published between 2020 and 2025, selected from scientific databases and institutional repositories. The results showed that the reduction of cement and the incorporation of supplementary cementitious materials offered more consistent advantages than the isolated increase of recycled aggregates; moreover, the global warming potential of concrete ranged between 278.35 and 524.44 kg of CO₂ equivalent per m³, while the bamboo system represented between 53% and 64% of the impact of reinforced masonry. The interpretation revealed that performance depended on strength, quality, transportation, durability, and institutional capacity. It was concluded that sustainable adoption requires comprehensive, traceable, and contextualized evaluations, rather than decisions based solely on recycled content.
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