Tom Hargreaves

Practice-ing behaviour change: Applying social practice theory to pro-environmental behaviour change:

This article applies the insights of social practice theory to the study of proenvironmental behaviour change through an ethnographic case study (nine months of participant observation and 38 semi-structured interviews) of a behaviour change initiative — Environment Champions — that occurred in a workplace. In contrast to conventional, individualistic and rationalist approaches to behaviour change, social practice theory de-centres individuals from analyses, and turns attention instead towards the social and collective organization of practices — broad cultural entities that shape individuals’ perceptions, interpretations and actions within the world. By considering the planning and delivery of the Environment Champions initiative, the article suggests that practice theory provides a more holistic and grounded perspective on behaviour change processes as they occur in situ. In so doing, it offers up a wide range of mundane footholds for behavioural change, over and above individuals’ attitudes or values. At the same time, it reveals the profound difficulties encountered in attempts to challenge and change practices, difficulties that extend far beyond the removal of contextual ‘barriers’ to change and instead implicate the organization of normal everyday life. The article concludes by considering the benefits and shortcomings of a practice-based approach emphasizing a need for it to develop a greater understanding of the role of social interactions and power relations in the grounded performance of practices.

Smart homes and their users: a systematic analysis and key challenges

Published research on smart homes and their users is growing exponentially, yet a clear understanding of who these users are and how they might use smart home technologies is missing from a field being overwhelmingly pushed by technology developers. Through a systematic analysis of peer-reviewed literature on smart homes and their users, this paper takes stock of the dominant research themes and the linkages and disconnects between them. Key findings within each of nine themes are analysed, grouped into three: (1) views of the smart home—functional, instrumental, socio-technical; (2) users and the use of the smart home—prospective users, interactions and decisions, using technologies in the home; and (3) challenges for realising the smart home—hardware and software, design, domestication. These themes are integrated into an organising framework for future research that identifies the presence or absence of cross-cutting relationships between different understandings of smart homes and their users. The usefulness of the organising framework is illustrated in relation to two major concerns—privacy and control—that have been narrowly interpreted to date, precluding deeper insights and potential solutions. Future research on smart homes and their users can benefit by exploring and developing cross-cutting relationships between the research themes identified.

Exploring the Social Dynamics of Proenvironmental Behavior Change A Comparative Study of Intervention Processes at Home and Work

This article explores the intrinsic role of context in shaping the course and outcomes of interventions aimed at changing environmentally significant behavior in home and workplace settings. Drawing on sociological theories of symbolic interactionism, we evaluate the social dynamics and mechanisms of two similar, team-based behavior change interventions at work (Environment Champions) and at home (EcoTeams). The analysis shows that the interventions open up different levels of opportunity for reviewing and renegotiating new environmentally friendly behaviors against the reactions and expectations of the immediate peer group, existing workplace or domestic roles, and the situation-specific definitions of what counts as appropriate behavior in the home and the workplace. We argue that policy studies should pay greater attention to the processes of behavior change, or the contextually sensitive relationship between interventions and outcomes, as a step toward refining or streamlining interventions aimed at changing environmentally significant behavior.

Up, Down, round and round: Connecting Regimes and Practices in Innovation for Sustainability

The multilevel perspective and social practice theory have emerged as competing approaches for understanding the complexity of sociotechnical change. The relationship between these two different camps has, on occasions, been antagonistic, but we argue that they are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, through empirical analysis of two different case studies of sustainability innovation, we show that analyses that adopt only one of these theoretical lenses risk blindness to critical innovation dynamics. In particular, we identify various points of intersection between regimes and practices that can serve to prevent (or potentially facilitate) sustainability transitions. We conclude by suggesting some possible directions for further research that place these crossovers and intersections at the centre of analyses.

Making the most of community energies: Three perspectives on grassroots innovation:

Grassroots innovations for sustainability are attracting increasing policy attention. Drawing upon a wide range of empirical research into community energy in the UK, and taking recent support from national government as a case study, we apply three distinct analytical perspectives: strategic niche management, niche policy advocacy, and critical niches. Whilst the first and second perspectives appear to explain policy influence in grassroots innovation adequately, each also shuts out more transformational possibilities. We therefore argue that, if grassroots innovation is to realise its full potential, then we need to also pursue a third, critical niches perspective, and open up debate about more socially transformative pathways to sustainability.

Social experiments in sustainable consumption: an evidence-based approach with potential for engaging low-income communities

This paper considers the potential of Global Action Plan UKs (GAP) facilitated team-based approach to changing consumption practices for working with low-income communities. It outlines the two dominant approaches for encouraging sustainable consumption in UK policy: attitude–behaviour connection models (A–Bc) and consumer motivation theories. It then contrasts these with GAPs group-based approach and presents quantitative evidence for its effectiveness in reducing waste and electricity consumption. We suggest that three features of GAPs approach (i) measurement and feedback, (ii) contextualised knowledge production, and (iii) a supportive social context are critical to its success because they enable individuals to expose their taken-for-granted routines and behaviours to reflexive scrutiny in a trusted community. We argue that these factors make GAPs approach sensitive to the needs of low-income communities, but that such innovative social experiments require more support to build on their experiences, expand in size, and maintain a focus on both sustainable consumption and inequality.

Learning to live in a smart home

ABSTRACT Smart homes promise to significantly enhance domestic comfort, convenience, security and leisure whilst simultaneously reducing energy use through optimized home energy management. Their ability to achieve these multiple aims rests fundamentally on how they are used by householders, yet very little is currently known about this topic. The few studies that have explored the use of smart homes have tended to focus on special-interest groups and be quite short-term. This paper reports on new in-depth qualitative data that explore the domestication of a range of smart home technologies in 10 households participating in a nine-month field trial. Four core themes emerge: (1) smart home technologies are both technically and socially disruptive; (2) smart homes require forms of adaptation and familiarization from householders that can limit their use; (3) learning to use smart home technologies is a demanding and time-consuming task for which there is currently very little support available; and (4) there is little evidence that smart home technologies will generate substantial energy savings and, indeed, there is a risk that they may generate forms of energy intensification. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for policy, design and further research.

Diagramming social practice theory: An interdisciplinary experiment exploring practices as networks

Achieving a transition to a low-carbon energy system is now widely recognised as a key challenge facing humanity. To date, the vast majority of research addressing this challenge has been conducted within the disciplines of science, engineering and economics utilising quantitative and modelling techniques. However, there is growing awareness that meeting energy challenges requires fundamentally sociotechnical solutions and that the social sciences have an important role to play. This is an interdisciplinary challenge but, to date, there remain very few explorations of, or reflections on, interdisciplinary energy research in practice. This paper seeks to change that by reporting on an interdisciplinary experiment to build new models of energy demand on the basis of cutting-edge social science understandings. The process encouraged the social scientists to communicate their ideas more simply, whilst allowing engineers to think critically about the embedded assumptions in their models in relation to society and social change. To do this, the paper uses a particular set of theoretical approaches to energy use behaviour known collectively as social practice theory – and explores the potential of more quantitative forms of network analysis to provide a formal framework by means of which to diagram and visualise practices. The aim of this is to gain insight into the relationships between the elements of a practice, so increasing the ultimate understanding of how practices operate. Graphs of practice networks are populated based on new empirical data drawn from a survey of different types (or variants) of laundry practice. The resulting practice networks are analysed to reveal characteristics of elements and variants of practice, such as which elements could be considered core to the practice, or how elements between variants overlap, or can be shared. This promises insights into energy intensity, flexibility and the rootedness of practices (i.e. how entrenched/established they are) and so opens up new questions and possibilities for intervention. The novelty of this approach is that it allows practice data to be represented graphically using a quantitative format without being overly reductive. Its usefulness is that it is readily applied to large datasets, provides the capacity to interpret social practices in new ways and serves to open up potential links with energy modelling. More broadly, a significant dimension of novelty has been the interdisciplinary approach, radically different to that normally seen in energy research. This paper is relevant to a broad audience of social scientists and engineers interested in integrating social practices with energy engineering.

Beyond energy feedback

ABSTRACT The aims of this commentary are to generate thought and discussion about the potential role and value of energy feedback in future energy transitions. There is now a global research and policy effort devoted to developing energy feedback (e.g. from improved bills, metering or displays) in order to change energy-use behaviour and reduce demand. Within this, calls to go beyond conventional energy feedback through the use of disaggregation are increasingly common. An alternative approach is presented for how to go beyond energy feedback. Instead of focusing solely on generating larger energy savings, it is argued that new approaches need to consider how conventional energy feedback frames energy problems and shapes the agency and engagement of different actors. Three potential routes are highlighted for going beyond conventional approaches to energy feedback through emerging work on practice feedback, policy feedback and speculative design. Three core challenges for future work on energy feedback are: recognizing the multiple forms of energy-related feedback that shape everyday life; engaging with a much wider range of actors involved in shaping energy feedback loops; and using new approaches to energy-related feedback to reframe energy problems and establish new roles for actors engaged in energy transitions.

Smart Homes and Their Users

Smart home technologies promise to transform domestic comfort, convenience, security and leisure while also reducing energy use. But delivering on these potentially conflicting promises depends on how are adopted and used in homes. This book is one of the first attempts to explore systematically how and why people use smart home technologies, and what impact this has on different aspects of domestic life. The book starts by developing a new analytical framework for understanding smart homes and their users. Drawing on a range of new empirical research combining both qualitative and quantitative data, the book then explores how smart home technologies are perceived by potential users, how they can be used to link domestic energy use to common daily activities, how they may (or may not) be integrated into everyday life by actual users, and how they serve to change the nature of control within households and the home. The book concludes by synthesising a range of evidence-based insights, and posing a series of challenges for industry, policy, and research that need addressing if a smart home future is to be realised. This book should appeal to an audience of researchers, policy makers, and practitioners including smart home technology developers, designers, manufacturers, and retailers. For researchers, the book is targeted at those with interest in the areas of energy social science, human-computer interaction and user-centred design. The book demonstrates the value of cross-cutting, integrative research questions and approaches across these disciplines. For policymakers and practitioners, the book is targeted at those with interest in the development and diffusion of smart home technologies, including those focused on the potential contribution of smart homes to a smarter, more efficient energy system.