New Conceptions of Sufficient Home Size in High-Income Countries: Are We Approaching a Sustainable Consumption Transition?

Cohen, Maurie J.

doi:10.1080/14036096.2020.1722218

Cited by 81 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 166 publications

(130 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…that would permit more multifamily would also encourage smaller single-family (Gray & Furth 2019), there are other dynamics such as household preferences (Estiri 2014) and industry structure (Carlyle 2016) which are part of the explanation for the growth in size of new single-family homes. More research is needed to better understand the growth in size of new single-family homes, and identify strategies to reduce the average size of new housing (Cohen 2021). The results shown in Figure 4 illuminate the difficulty of substantially reducing floor area per person by building smaller new housing alone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material flows and GHG emissions from housing stock evolution in US counties, 2020–60

Berrill

Hertwich

2021

Buildings and Cities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The evolution of housing stocks determines demand for construction materials and energy, and associated emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs). The contribution of construction to building life-cycle emissions is growing as buildings become more energy efficient and the energy supply decarbonizes. A housing stock model is developed for counties in the United States using dynamic vacancy rates which endogenously influence stock out-and inflows. Stocks of three house types and 10 construction cohorts are projected for all contiguous US counties for the period 2020-60. Inflows and outflows of construction materials are then estimated along with GHG emissions associated with material production and construction activities in scenarios defined by stock turnover rates, population share by house type, and floor area characteristics of new houses. The results provide new insights into the drivers of construction-related emissions at local and national levels, and identify opportunities for their reduction. Demolition material flows grow in relation to construction material flows over the analysis period. Increasing the stock turnover rate increases future floor area per person, material requirements, and emissions from construction. Scenarios with reduced floor area and more multifamily homes in new construction have lower floor area growth, material requirements, and emissions from construction.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material flows and GHG emissions from housing stock evolution in US counties, 2020–60

Berrill

Hertwich

2021

Buildings and Cities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To add to this, UN studies estimate that food systems account for over a third of total GHG emissions (Crippa et al, 2021), and calculate that a third of food is wasted (FAO, 2011(FAO, , 2019, which taken together, indicates the vast scope for more sustainable food practices. Others highlight the emissions associated with the size of housing (Bierwirth & Thomas, 2019;Brown, 2018;Cohen, 2020;Ropke & Jensen, 2018), which is significant, not least due to the additional consumption that living 'larger' facilitates (e.g. energy and water use, appliances, etc.).…”

Section: The Potential Of Behaviour Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling behaviour change for a 1.5 degree world: Challenges and opportunities

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Non-technical summary. Scaling sustainable behaviour change means addressing politics, power and social justice to tackle the uneven distribution of responsibility and agency for climate action, within and between societies. This requires a holistic understanding of behaviour that bridges the 'individual' and 'systemic', and acknowledges the need for absolute emissions reductions, especially by high-consuming groups, and in key 'hotspots' of polluting activity, namely, travel, diet and housing. It counters the dominant focus on individuals and households, in favour of a differentiated, but collective approach, driven by bold climate governance and social mobilisation to reorient institutions and behaviour towards just transitions, sufficiency and wellbeing. Technical summary. Sustainable behaviour change has been rising up the climate policy agenda as it becomes increasingly clear that far-reaching changes in lifestyles will be required, alongside shifts in policy, service provision and technological innovation, if we are to avoid dangerous levels of global heating. In this paper, we review different approaches to behaviour change from economics, psychology, sociology and political economy, to explore the neglected question of scalability, and identify critical points of leverage that challenge the dominant emphasis on individual responsibility. Although politically contentious and challenging to implement, in order to achieve the ambitious target of keeping warming below 1.5 degrees, we propose urgent structural interventions are necessary at all points within an ecosystem of transformation, and highlight five key spheres for action: a 'strong' sustainability pathway; pursuing just transitions (via changes to work, income and infrastructure); rebalancing political institutions to expand spaces for citizens vis-à-vis elite incumbents; focusing on high polluting actors and activities; and supporting social mobilisation. We call for a move away from linear and 'shallow' understandings of behaviour change, dominated by traditional behavioural and mainstreaming approaches, towards a 'deep', contextualised and dynamic view of scaling as a transformative process of multiple feedbacks and learning loops between individuals and systems, engaged in a mutually reinforcing 'spiral of sustainability'. Social media summary box. Scaling behaviour change means addressing power and politics: challenging polluter elites and providing affordable and sustainable services for all.COVID-19 lockdowns have temporarily reduced emissions and pollution. But carbon dioxide levels are still at record highsand rising. […] This is a moment of truth for people and planet alike. […] Every individual must also do their part. [..] More and more people are understanding the need for their own daily choices to reduce their carbon footprint and respect planetary boundaries.

show abstract

“…An elderly woman reacted with a comment in a newspaper where she argued that the debate disregarded the wellbeing of older people because they spend most of their time at home and for this reason their wellbeing depends on having enough space to move around. Suggestions of minimal residence size informed primarily by environmental aspects are, as a rule, not congruent with those informed primarily by considering what people do in their homes (for Switzerland the latter is regulated with a view to subsidies; 6 for the debate see also Cohen 2020). The challenge is to build a bridge between resources, satisfiers, and needs that is theoretically and empirically sound.…”

Section: Determining Corridors Of Consumption: Theoretical Challenges To Addressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building the bridge between Protected Needs and consumption corridors

Giulio

Defila

2021

Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The concept of consumption corridors (CC) provides a fundament for developing sustainable consumption policies. It suggests to determine minima and maxima of consumption. Its implementation would lead to numerous policies covering a broad range of dimensions of consumption. To serve this purpose, the concept must proceed from a broad conceptualization of consumption that convincingly links a human-action lens and a natural-environment lens. The concept of CC is informed by the goal of ensuring quality of life for every human being living now and in the future. Accordingly, quality of life should be the criterion used to justify and determine corridors of consumption. This necessitates firmly linking consumption and a salutogenic definition of quality of life. This article explores how the theory of Protected Needs (PN), a quality-of-life-theory that has been specifically developed for the context of sustainability, contributes to advancing the concept of CC. In addition, drawing on the results of a Swiss survey, we show that embracing the existence of universal and incontestable human needs and endorsing the idea of limiting consumption might be part of the same worldview. The article concludes by identifying conceptual challenges to approach with a view to building a robust bridge from needs to lower and upper limits of consumption.

show abstract

New Conceptions of Sufficient Home Size in High-Income Countries: Are We Approaching a Sustainable Consumption Transition?

Cited by 81 publications

References 166 publications

Material flows and GHG emissions from housing stock evolution in US counties, 2020–60

Material flows and GHG emissions from housing stock evolution in US counties, 2020–60

Scaling behaviour change for a 1.5 degree world: Challenges and opportunities

Building the bridge between Protected Needs and consumption corridors

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About