Sustainability is a concept that has monopolised a large number of the scientific debates in a wide range of spheres connected not only with architecture, urban planning and construction, but also with the product market, tourism, culture, etc. However, sustainability is indissolubly linked to vernacular architecture and the lessons this architecture of the past can teach us for the future. The concept of sustainability as it is presented is wide-reaching and encompasses not only environmental issues but also sociocultural and socioeconomic questions. The lessons we can learn from studying vernacular architecture in these three broad spheres are manifold, and can help us not only to further the conservation and retrieval of this architecture already in existence but to rethink new architecture in the light of what we have learned. Vernacular Architecture: Towards a Sustainable Future will be a valuable source of information for academics and professionals in the fields of Environmental Science, Civil Engineering, Construction and Building Engineering and Architecture.

Earthen architecture is widespread all over the world and demonstrates a significant richness of varieties both in application and in materials used. This book discusses and debates the lessons that can be learned from earthen architecture to create sustainable architecture today, both for the conservation of traditional existing buildings and the design and construction of new ones. It deals with the study of earthen architecture around the world in order to preserve our earthen built heritage and proposes these building techniques as a sustainable option for building a new architecture of the future. Earthen Architecture: Past, Present and Future will be a valuable source of information for academics and professionals in the fields of Civil Engineering, Construction and Building Engineering and Architecture.