Green Building Literacy and University Students' Housing Choice in Ghana

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Abstract Green buildings are part of the global strategy to achieve sustainable development. Efforts towards this goal are however hampered by the lack of awareness and high illiteracy about green building. Focusing on the youth, this paper measures the level of green building literacy among Ghanaian university students, how it differs according to their demographics, and its relationship with their housing choice. Following a comprehensive literature review, we used a structured questionnaire survey to gather data from 763 university students. After statistical tests, the study analysed the dataset principally using mean scoring, Chi-square test and regression techniques. The results suggest that most university students have no or basic knowledge in green buildings. This low level of green building literacy is attributable in part to their demographic features including age, gender, level of education, level of study, employment status, income level of respondents, and whether the person had previously lived in a house with green features. Further analyses show that male student and built environment students have more knowledge of green buildings and are more likely to have lived in or are currently living in a building with green features, and also more likely to choose a house with green features in the future. Policy-wise, the study shows that educating the youth about green buildings could alter their housing outcomes and preferences in favour of sustainable ones and hence, contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities.

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