Engaging residents in sustainable renovation by simplifying complexity

Abstract

The energy transition holds significant importance across various sectors of our lives, and the housing sector is no exception. While constructing CO2-efficient buildings can substantially reduce emissions, the renovation of older structures is equally important. Renovation plans for the latter are predominantly focussed in increasing the thermal quality of the building and integrating green energy sources. Besides this climate goal, this challenge is also pushed by a social goal. Renovation is in some cases also vital to address the increasing number of households living in energy poverty. Households within this category have both high energy bills which is likely caused by the poor insulation and in addition to this, receive a generally low income.

Participation and engagement within this process is recognised as an important factor for successfully navigating the renovation journey. However, this is not alway an easy task since VvE boards are already carrying the heavy load of the practical renovation tasks. My research looked in the context for the barriers that hold participation back and for potential drivers that proved to be efficient in this context to stimulate participation. The six themes found are: position, trust in officials, knowledge, social cohesion, practical factors and personal factors. These themes overlap and influence each other.

Therefore, to explore and evaluate possible solutions to address the problem definition, I used the method Research through Design to observe how a design is responded to in the context. The five directions that I explored were around a vision building workshop, public discussion starters, serious gaming and interactive and visual knowledge tools.

The project concludes with an embodied design solution that addresses the problem using an interactive and visually engaging approach. The design aims to reduce barriers related to the four of the six themes found: position, knowledge, social cohesion and practical factors. Ultimately, to enable residents to engage and interact with the available information to let them experience the influence they can have in shaping the sustainable renovation process of their own homes.