From Active Houses to Active Homes: Understanding Resident Experiences of Transformational Design and Social Innovation
Active Buildings can contribute to efforts to address decarbonisation and climate change targets, and have the potential to support social aspirations for technical and infrastructural change. Yet achieving such goals is challenging. Active Homes as a type of Active Building represent a particularly...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Energies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/19/7441 |
| _version_ | 1797479393458651136 |
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| author | Fiona Shirani Kate O’Sullivan Rachel Hale Nick Pidgeon Karen Henwood |
| author_facet | Fiona Shirani Kate O’Sullivan Rachel Hale Nick Pidgeon Karen Henwood |
| author_sort | Fiona Shirani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Active Buildings can contribute to efforts to address decarbonisation and climate change targets, and have the potential to support social aspirations for technical and infrastructural change. Yet achieving such goals is challenging. Active Homes as a type of Active Building represent a particularly interesting prospect; altering how energy is produced, distributed, and consumed, but also how homes are designed, constructed, and lived in are studied. Active Homes are designed with expectations of how residents will engage with them, but residents do not always live in the homes in ways envisaged by developers. Hence, there is a risk that the homes will not be experienced as comfortable living environments, or otherwise perform as anticipated. Thus, understanding resident perspectives is crucial to the successful wider rollout of Active Homes. We draw on social science research with designers, developers, and residents to explore expectations of life in an Active Home. Our longitudinal research design enables us to contrast early expectations with post-occupancy experiences, elucidating what residents consider to be successful aspects of Active Home developments. Our research reveals instances where expectations remain unfulfilled, or where living in the homes has been experienced as challenging or disruptive. In highlighting such insights, we offer recommendations relevant for future developments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:45:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9e70a2f6214c4fc583cf472d034779ae |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:45:12Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-9e70a2f6214c4fc583cf472d034779ae2023-11-23T20:19:05ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732022-10-011519744110.3390/en15197441From Active Houses to Active Homes: Understanding Resident Experiences of Transformational Design and Social InnovationFiona Shirani0Kate O’Sullivan1Rachel Hale2Nick Pidgeon3Karen Henwood4School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII, Cardiff CF10 3WT, UKSchool of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII, Cardiff CF10 3WT, UKSchool of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, 70 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UKSchool of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, 70 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UKSchool of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII, Cardiff CF10 3WT, UKActive Buildings can contribute to efforts to address decarbonisation and climate change targets, and have the potential to support social aspirations for technical and infrastructural change. Yet achieving such goals is challenging. Active Homes as a type of Active Building represent a particularly interesting prospect; altering how energy is produced, distributed, and consumed, but also how homes are designed, constructed, and lived in are studied. Active Homes are designed with expectations of how residents will engage with them, but residents do not always live in the homes in ways envisaged by developers. Hence, there is a risk that the homes will not be experienced as comfortable living environments, or otherwise perform as anticipated. Thus, understanding resident perspectives is crucial to the successful wider rollout of Active Homes. We draw on social science research with designers, developers, and residents to explore expectations of life in an Active Home. Our longitudinal research design enables us to contrast early expectations with post-occupancy experiences, elucidating what residents consider to be successful aspects of Active Home developments. Our research reveals instances where expectations remain unfulfilled, or where living in the homes has been experienced as challenging or disruptive. In highlighting such insights, we offer recommendations relevant for future developments.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/19/7441active homeslow carbonheatingqualitative research |
| spellingShingle | Fiona Shirani Kate O’Sullivan Rachel Hale Nick Pidgeon Karen Henwood From Active Houses to Active Homes: Understanding Resident Experiences of Transformational Design and Social Innovation Energies active homes low carbon heating qualitative research |
| title | From Active Houses to Active Homes: Understanding Resident Experiences of Transformational Design and Social Innovation |
| title_full | From Active Houses to Active Homes: Understanding Resident Experiences of Transformational Design and Social Innovation |
| title_fullStr | From Active Houses to Active Homes: Understanding Resident Experiences of Transformational Design and Social Innovation |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Active Houses to Active Homes: Understanding Resident Experiences of Transformational Design and Social Innovation |
| title_short | From Active Houses to Active Homes: Understanding Resident Experiences of Transformational Design and Social Innovation |
| title_sort | from active houses to active homes understanding resident experiences of transformational design and social innovation |
| topic | active homes low carbon heating qualitative research |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/19/7441 |
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