Living-With Others, Living-With an ‘Eco-Home’: From Frustration to Transformation in an Eco-Development

Abstract

This paper considers how 'ordinary' families and individuals who would not consider themselves to have 'environmental values' or undertake sustainable practices are being transformed through 'living-with' eco-homes. The transformative process is unpicked, showing that frustrations with eco-developments not being 'eco-enough' may be more influential on the evolution of environmental values than the components of an eco-home which are prescribed and assessed by policy-makers. The findings are based on a single case study-the extension of Allerton Bywater in West Yorkshire, England. As a Millennium Community, the 520 dwellings were designed to the BRE EcoHomes standard 'Excellent'. The development was first inhabited in 2007 and the fieldwork for this research was conducted in 2007-2008 while inhabitants were getting acquainted with their eco-homes and adjusting to new ways of living. While other research focuses on scripting, appropriation and normalization, this research proposes the concept of 'living-with' as a model for understanding transformation in sustainable practices. The in-depth interviews were undertaken with couples and neighbours who shed new light on how individuals incentivize and motivate one another in the uptake of new sustainable practices, thus demonstrating the contingent and contextual embeddedness of sustainable practices.

Critically Interrogating Eco‐Homes

“…Living in eco‐homes can transform how people relate, and feel about, their homes and consequently their identities. This has been expressed as positive, incentivizing collective changes in daily practices (Jones, ) but also, through the perceptions of children, in more negative ways where eco‐homes were thought to be ‘weird' and clashed with architectural conservatisms (Kraftl, ; Horton et al ., ). The feelings and emotions that children had about eco‐homes were articulated through misconceptions, myths and rumours, but ultimately involved the rejection of these homes as being liveable.…”

“…The feelings and emotions that children had about eco‐homes were articulated through misconceptions, myths and rumours, but ultimately involved the rejection of these homes as being liveable. Relatively little is known about how eco‐homes impact occupants' social identities and how this might be stratified according to tenancy (Palmer et al ., ), context (as in whether the homes are part of a broader eco‐community, with Jones [] being one of the few to have explored this), and previous commitment to ecological practices.…”

“…Yet because such practices are inconspicuous, habitual and oft‐repeated, their environmental consequences can be considerable. Moreover, there is the potential for past practices to be embodied, carried, remembered and performed through ‘practice memory' as people change countries and experience new climates, thereby repeating practices which might be ill‐suited (in terms of resource use) to new places (Fuller and Bulkeley, ; Maller and Strengers, ; Jones, ).…”