Towards regenerative affordable housing: integrating nature-based and socio-technical innovations

Affordable housing in many Global South contexts remains constrained by resource-intensive construction, infrastructure dependency, climate vulnerability, and rising lifecycle costs, limiting its contribution to Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11). While net-zero housing has improved operational energy performance, limited research has integrated nature-based solutions, circular resource systems, and socio-technical innovations within full-scale affordable housing or conceptualised their transition towards regenerative housing systems. This study develops and evaluates a full-scale regenerative affordable housing prototype in South Africa to investigate how these strategies can be integrated within affordable housing. The prototype combines climate-responsive design, a hybrid nature-based prefabricated envelope using bio-based materials, decentralised energy and water systems, productive landscapes, and adaptive monitoring technologies. Performance was evaluated through operational monitoring, whole-life carbon assessment (WLCA), and life-cycle cost assessment (LCCA). The prototype achieved substantial reductions in energy demand, water consumption, whole-life carbon emissions, and lifecycle costs while maintaining thermal comfort, operational functionality, and resilience under varying climatic and infrastructural conditions. The study also develops a Regenerative Socio-Ecological Affordable Housing Framework that provides an empirically grounded pathway for transitioning from conventional and net-zero housing towards regenerative housing systems that support resource regeneration, whole-life affordability, climate resilience, and sustainable urban development.