Invasive aquatic plants as a regenerative construction material: from material overview to territorial capacity

Abstract

The ongoing growth of the urban population, especially in the Global South, necessitates the construction of additional housing and infrastructure. To fulfill this need, it is necessary to identify new, suitable, and environmentally sustainable construction materials that maximize environmental and socioeconomic benefits. As current sustainable practices have been shown to be insufficient to combat global warming, a shift to a regenerative approach that promotes synergies between people and the environment is required.
In Thailand, and further regions in the Global South, the invasive aquatic plant, Water Hyacinth (WH), causes severe environmental degradations while clogging fresh waterways enhances further negative impacts on local communities. Harvesting this plant has proven to be the only effective control method with no other consequences to the ecosystem. In order to expand the potential uses of the harvested plant, this thesis analyzes the regenerative potential of using WHs as a building material for the lowcost building sector.
Based on the investigations of preexisting research projects, an evaluation of the properties of the WH and a comparative assessment of possible WH-based building technologies were conducted. Additionally, a multi-criteria assessment was developed to compare the regenerative potential of WHbased technologies and frequently used building materials in Thailand’s successful informal settlement
upgrading program, Baan Mankong.
Therefore, the thesis provided both a methodological result, consisting of the multi-criteria evaluation and specific findings for the case study of the Baan Mankong program. The developed method for analyzing the regeneration potential of construction components can be adapted and expanded to different contexts. The results show that the regenerative potential of WHbased building technologies significantly depends on the additional materials mixed with the WH. Noncementitious WH insulation boards, which do not require an additional binder, have been found to have the highest regeneration potential. Since most WH technologies have low mechanical properties and low fire resistance, a combination of WH technologies and current building materials is particularly well suited to increase regeneration potential.