Advancing Sustainability through Smart Building Concepts in Developing Countries: Insights from Ghana

The last decade has seen a paradigm shift in building sector research from sustainable building to smart building, and it is anticipated that these two concepts will merge, meeting the increasing demands of the United Nations sustainable development goals 3, 9, 11, 13, and 17. However, it is discernible from prior studies that developing countries lack the proper means to adopt the smart building concept to achieve sustainability in the building sector, and this has received inadequate attention in existing studies. Thus, this study identifies the critical factors to adopt the smart building concept for sustainability throughout the building lifecycle stages in developing countries by considering Ghana. This is achieved through a quantitative approach comprising 227 expert surveys and data analysis tools including disparity test and criticality analysis. Twenty-one critical factors were revealed to facilitate smart building adoption for sustainability, with the top three entailing “sensors implementation to manage light level, air quality, temperature, fire alarm, and smoke detector”, “implementation of backup energy”, and “implementation of energy-efficient electrical appliances”. Seven dimensions of the critical factors to be considered in decision-making towards a holistic approach to adopt smart building for sustainability include the “building control system”, “energy management system”, “building automation system”, “IT network connectivity”, “enterprise management systems”, “green building construction” and “safety and security management systems”. These findings could influence policymaking in the building sector of developing countries towards sustainability, specifically realising the sustaianable development goals 3, 9, 11, 13, and 17. By drawing lessons from Ghana, this study adds to the knowledge body by highlighting the critical considerations for formulating a blueprint for developing countries to achieve sustainability via smart building concept in the building sector.