Join us for the first session of week 2, where we will discuss a range of papers considering the roles of nature, urban environments, and energy efficiency.  The full abstracts are below.

Presentations from these authors and a live Q&A session are available to all HSA members. Book here

1.  David Clapham Houses, people and nature

The paper will review recent approaches in geography and other disciplines that have sought to illuminate the relationships between humans and nature without privileging the human element. Examples are Actor-Network Theory and Assemblage approaches. The aim is to assess their worth in applying to studies of housing which have tended to focus on ideas of sustainability that have become unfocused and partial in their coverage of the impact of housing and housing policies on the natural environment.

2.  Sadhana Jagannath and Birgitta Gatersleben Residential Satisfaction and Well-being in Urban Housing – a Person-Environment Fit approach

Feeling happiness and satisfaction at homes is important for attaining a good quality of life. The quality of a residential home can have a significant impact on residential satisfaction and resident well-being. But the meaning of environmental quality will differ between residents. In this study we took a person-environment fit approach to examine whether a good fit between the characteristics of a home and the personality of residents predicts residential satisfaction and well-being and whether personalisation and modification of the environment improves person-environment fit and subsequently satisfaction and well-being. A survey study was carried out in the UK (N=107). The study was conducted as an online questionnaire survey where a new measure for person-environment fit was developed and tested. It was found that feelings of satisfaction and positive affect at home was explained by person-environment fit. Residential satisfaction and well-being were also significantly influenced by personalisation of the living spaces and the resident’s perceived ability to make changes to their homes. These findings suggest that influencing design or policies on housing that enables and encourages residents to modify or personalise their homes to fit their preferences and needs could help create better housing for a larger number of people with different needs.

3.  Anna Zsofia Bajomi Contextualizing household energy efficiency in the frame of the theory of Energy Justice - a literature review

In the context of energy transition, it is crucial to guarantee that the situation of vulnerable groups, such as energy poor households, do not worsen and  that they also benefit from the process. Inefficient homes are one the most important causes of energy poverty, while investments in energy efficiency of the housing stock is a key element of the current energy transition. Involving energy poor households’ dwellings in the large-scale renovation program would offer large co-benefits in terms of carbon emission reduction and alleviation of energy poverty. Though, to guarantee that energy efficiency funding arrives to energy poor households too, a policy attention is needed, and it raises important questions in terms of justice. This paper is a literature review and first, it aims to contextualise household energy efficiency in the conceptual framework of energy justice. Then explores works on spatial patters of energy poverty in Europe as well as on the (lack) of policy responses in the field of energy efficiency at national levels in the European Union. All this, to highlight further aspects of inequalities that are relevant in the context of energy justice. The most striking result to emerge from this review is that EU energy efficiency policies have not been adequately analysed yet in the context of energy justice and their capacity of energy poverty alleviation. This present study therefore lays the groundwork for future research in the field of exploiting co-benefits of household energy efficiency policies in terms of energy transition and energy poverty alleviation.





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