Abstract
Purpose
In compliance with the COP21 Paris Agreement of addressing global climate change by 2050, the reuse of waste materials for geopolymer development has tremendously grown worldwide but little is known about the trend of geopolymer development in the Southern African built environment. Geopolymer is pioneered as a sustainable green construction material and third-generation binder. The present study aims to examine the current trend in geopolymer development in the Southern Africa region from 2013 to 2023 which is prone to rapid urbanization, housing challenges, and an influx of industrial waste in landfills.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the objective of the present study, a bibliometric analysis based on bibliographic data retrieved from Scopus was used to identify the geopolymer development trends and projections for future research in Southern Africa. VOSviewer software was used for network visualization of the bibliographic data.
Findings
The findings indicate that Construction and Building Materials, Materials, and the Journal of Cleaner Production are the top publication journals. However, the Journal of Environmental Management has the top citation number. Geopolymers and Inorganic polymers are the most occurring keywords. At a global scale, geopolymer research in the Southern African region is still in its infancy as it contributes less than 1% of global geopolymer publications implying the need for greater support, funding, curricula, policies, and continued research to sustain the new binder development for the built environment.
Research limitations/implications
Only the Scopus database was used for retrieving bibliographic data written in English thus excluding data written in other languages. Therefore, further studies can be done using different databases, languages, and network mapping software.
Originality/value of paper
This paper delineates the geopolymer knowledge domain and identifies future research areas for the sustainability of the built environment in Southern Africa. Furthermore, this paper fosters up-to-date innovative collaboration in geopolymer research and reduction of environmental impact through the reuse of industrial waste materials in line with the circular economy and sustainable development goals (SDGs) 9, 11, 12, and 13. Emerging researchers in the geopolymer field will be guided by the output of the present study to focus on trending research areas that will further facilitate the adoption of geopolymers in Southern Africa’s built environment for sustainable infrastructural development.