Davis, Mark, Middlemiss, Lucie, Hall, Stephen orcid.org/0000-0002-1558-7081 et al. (7 more authors) (2024) Towards a Relational Sociology of Retrofit. Sociology. ISSN 1469-8684
Abstract
Decarbonisation of residential buildings (‘retrofit’) is vital if nations are to meet declared net zero targets. This challenge is especially acute in the UK, which has some of the least energy efficient homes in Europe. Yet, to date, sociology has paid relatively little attention either to the urgency of this challenge or to its potential solutions. This article uses concepts from relational sociology to propose a complete reframing of the retrofit challenge and concludes by offering suggestions to improve energy policy design and incentives. It opens new avenues for sociologically driven research into how and why people ‘retrofit’ their homes, highlighting dynamics of trust, power and emotion as meaningful barriers to retrofit at scale. We conclude that the multiple stakeholders seeking to boost energy efficiency interventions in homes should focus less upon economic incentives for ‘rational actors’ and more upon reducing, facilitating and smoothing the ‘relational work’ needed to deliver retrofit.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024. |
Keywords: | climate change,decarbonisation,emotion,home,net zero,relational sociology,relational work,retrofit,trust |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Environment and Geography (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 23 May 2025 11:10 |
Last Modified: | 30 May 2025 23:13 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385241298177 |
Status: | Published online |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/00380385241298177 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:227058 |
Download
Filename: davis-et-al-2024-towards-a-relational-sociology-of-retrofit.pdf
Description: Towards a Relational Sociology of Retrofit
Licence: CC-BY 2.5