IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i12p5559-d1680708.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resilience in Social Housing Projects from Architecture Competitions in Portugal and Brazil (2013–2023): Evaluating Flexibility, Environmental Adequacy, and Comfort

Author

Listed:
  • Heitor Silva

    (Department of Architecture, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-900, Brazil)

  • Clara Rodrigues

    (Department of Architecture, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-900, Brazil)

  • Hugo Farias

    (CIAUD, Research Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Design, Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-063 Lisboa, Portugal)

  • Felipe Silva

    (Department of Architecture, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-900, Brazil)

  • Maria Silva

    (Department of Architecture, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-900, Brazil)

Abstract

This study investigates the integration of resilience attributes—flexibility, environmental comfort, and ecological adequacy—into social housing projects developed between 2013 and 2023 in architectural competitions in Brazil and Portugal. The research aims to evaluate the presence and quality of these attributes in awarded proposals and to assess the alignment between design solutions and the Terms of Reference (TRs) of the competitions, identifying regulatory gaps and providing recommendations to enhance future guidelines. Methodologically, the study applies a multi-criteria matrix, adapted to different climatic and socio-cultural contexts, to conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of 120 projects. The results show average to good performance in categories such as Environmental Comfort and Typologies, but significant weaknesses in Water and Waste Management, Energy Efficiency, and the use of Low-Impact Materials. The findings highlight the need for TRs to incorporate more specific resilience guidelines, including strategies for water reuse, energy efficiency, and adaptive capacity. The main contribution of this research is to provide a detailed diagnostic and propose evidence-based recommendations to improve architectural competitions for social housing, fostering more resilient and sustainable solutions aligned with contemporary challenges. The originality lies in the systematic analysis of how resilience concepts can be operationalized from the early design stages.

Suggested Citation

  • Heitor Silva & Clara Rodrigues & Hugo Farias & Felipe Silva & Maria Silva, 2025. "Resilience in Social Housing Projects from Architecture Competitions in Portugal and Brazil (2013–2023): Evaluating Flexibility, Environmental Adequacy, and Comfort," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-21, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5559-:d:1680708
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5559/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5559/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jerry L. Holechek & Hatim M. E. Geli & Mohammed N. Sawalhah & Raul Valdez, 2022. "A Global Assessment: Can Renewable Energy Replace Fossil Fuels by 2050?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Pinar Mert Cuce & Erdem Cuce & Mattheos Santamouris, 2025. "Towards Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Cities: Mitigating Urban Heat Islands Through Green Infrastructure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-23, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Harutyunyan, Artur & Badyda, Krzysztof & Wołowicz, Marcin, 2025. "Analyzing of different repowering methods on the example of 300 MW existing steam cycle power plant using gatecycle™ software," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    2. Wei Wang & Leonid Melnyk & Oleksandra Kubatko & Bohdan Kovalov & Luc Hens, 2023. "Economic and Technological Efficiency of Renewable Energy Technologies Implementation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, May.
    3. Hugo Gaspar Hernandez-Palma & Dairo J. Novoa & Jorge Enrique Taboada à lvarez, 2024. "New Trends in Green Projects Aimed at Clean Energy: An Analysis of the Scientific Literature," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(6), pages 278-286, November.
    4. Zhang, Chao & Zhao, Yangsheng & Feng, Zijun & Meng, Qiaorong & Wang, Lei & Lu, Yang, 2023. "Thermal maturity and chemical structure evolution of lump long-flame coal during superheated water vapor–based in situ pyrolysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PC).
    5. Ahmed Hussain Elmetwaly & Ramy Adel Younis & Abdelazeem Abdallah Abdelsalam & Ahmed Ibrahim Omar & Mohamed Metwally Mahmoud & Faisal Alsaif & Adel El-Shahat & Mohamed Attya Saad, 2023. "Modeling, Simulation, and Experimental Validation of a Novel MPPT for Hybrid Renewable Sources Integrated with UPQC: An Application of Jellyfish Search Optimizer," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-30, March.
    6. Elfarra, Barakat & Yasmeen, Rizwana & Shah, Wasi Ul Hassan, 2024. "The impact of energy security, energy mix, technological advancement, trade openness, and political stability on energy efficiency: Evidence from Arab countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    7. Abdol Aziz Shahraki & Hossein Mollashahi, 2025. "House building techniques for achieving sustainable development goals," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2), pages 1859-1879, May.
    8. Jining Wang & Xuewei Zhao & Lei Wang, 2024. "Prediction of China’s Carbon Price Based on the Genetic Algorithm–Particle Swarm Optimization–Back Propagation Neural Network Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-18, December.
    9. Min Wang & Yuqing Su & Jieqiong Wang, 2025. "How to Improve Blue–Green–Gray Infrastructure to Optimize River Cooling Island Effect on Riparian Zone for Outdoor Activities in Summer," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-34, June.
    10. Hagreaves Kumba & Oludolapo A. Olanrewaju & Ratidzo Pasipamire, 2024. "Integration of Renewable Energy Technologies for Sustainable Development in South Africa: A Focus on Grid-Connected PV Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-22, June.
    11. Ramesh Chitharaj & Hariprasad Perumal & Mohammed Almeshaal & P. Manoj Kumar, 2025. "Optimizing Performance of a Solar Flat Plate Collector for Sustainable Operation Using Box–Behnken Design (BBD)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-23, January.
    12. Daiva Makutėnienė & Algirdas Justinas Staugaitis & Bernardas Vaznonis & Gunta Grīnberga-Zālīte, 2023. "The Relationship between Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in the Baltic Countries’ Agriculture: A Non-Linear Framework," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-22, February.
    13. Junqiu Fan & Jing Zhang & Long Yuan & Rujing Yan & Yu He & Weixing Zhao & Nang Nin, 2024. "Deep Low-Carbon Economic Optimization Using CCUS and Two-Stage P2G with Multiple Hydrogen Utilizations for an Integrated Energy System with a High Penetration Level of Renewables," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-20, July.
    14. Chen Fu & Cong Chen & Zhitao Fu, 2025. "Seasonal Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Gradients of the Urban Heat Island Effect in Subtropical Furnace Megacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-18, April.
    15. Georgios Giakoumakis & Dimitrios Sidiras, 2025. "Production and Storage of Hydrogen from Biomass and Other Sources: Technologies and Policies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-41, January.
    16. Evgeny Chupakhin & Olga Babich & Stanislav Sukhikh & Svetlana Ivanova & Ekaterina Budenkova & Olga Kalashnikova & Alexander Prosekov & Olga Kriger & Vyacheslav Dolganyuk, 2022. "Bioengineering and Molecular Biology of Miscanthus," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-14, July.
    17. Asif Raihan & Sadman Anjum Joarder & Tapan Sarker & Blanka Gosik & Dariusz Kusz & Grzegorz Zimon, 2024. "Renewable Energy in Nepal: Current State and Future Outlook," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(6), pages 395-407, November.
    18. Zhang, Xiao & Xue, Rui & Zhou, Runfa & Xia, Fan & Yu, Yadong & Zhang, Xiaosong, 2025. "Research on the optimal absorption refrigeration configurations of screened low-GWP organic working fluids via pinch technology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    19. Sinha, Shruti & Sankar Rao, Chinta & Kumar, Abhishankar & Venkata Surya, Dadi & Basak, Tanmay, 2024. "Exploring and understanding the microwave-assisted pyrolysis of waste lignocellulose biomass using gradient boosting regression machine learning model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    20. Simona Domazetovska & Vladimir Strezov & Risto V. Filkoski & Tao Kan, 2023. "Exploring the Potential of Biomass Pyrolysis for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Production: A Comparative Study of Corn Cob, Vine Rod, and Sunflower," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-14, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5559-:d:1680708. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.