Speaker
Description
In November 2021, the Irish housing minister announced the most ambitious building programme in the history of the State. Housing for All promised to deliver 30,000 new homes per year to the end of the decade, and thus resolve once and for all Ireland’s emblematic post-recession ‘crisis’ (DHLGH, 2021). The same month, the government’s Climate Action Plan was released, providing a roadmap to the legally binding Paris Agreement target of net-zero emissions by 2050 (DECC, 2021). Embodied in these two documents is perhaps the most fundamental question in contemporary politics - how do we meet the needs of society today without jeopardising those of tomorrow? Just three years on, the housing target has doubled to 60,000 units per annum. Meanwhile, buildings and construction remain one of the most carbon intensive sectors of the global economy, accounting for nearly 40% of total carbon emissions (Irish Green Building Council, 2019).
This PhD study explores the inherent tension between sustainability goals and housing needs in aspiring climate-neutral cities, and how this takes form through the practical implementation of planning and environmental policy. Taking Dublin, Ireland as a case study, it examines how housing policy is currently formulated and how its effectiveness is evaluated. Starting from the assumption that current approaches to housing provision in Dublin are both inequitable and unsustainable, the initial research question considers how policy conflicts are actually governed in practice: In whose interest(s) do state agencies act when developing & implementing housing policy – ie. do the planning & regulatory systems principally benefit the public (‘end user’), the environment, or the construction industry?
The principal aim of the project is to develop a well-evidenced argument focused on the limitations of current market-led mechanisms in addressing the dual challenges of housing people and safeguarding the environment, and to introduce this argument into public discourse via C-NEWTRAL, a new Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Network. To this end, the key objectives of the project are to a) systematically map housing sustainability & affordability policy goals in order to identify points of overlap / conflict; b) develop a diagnostic tool to examine such conflicts and measure the effectiveness of policies in producing satisfactory resolutions; c) deploy that tool in a pilot/case study to analyse path dependencies or barriers to effective decision-making around housing, and; d) thereby evidence the mechanisms by which professional expertise facilitates the uptake of new ideas and practices into frameworks of governance, and thus determines the terms of reference for debates around housing in Ireland.
The core argument will be advanced through an empirical study of housing provision in Dublin, comprising an in-depth review and critical analysis of current planning policy (as outlined above) coupled with an ethnographic account of stakeholders to the development process on the chosen case study site(s). Using empirical observations gathered during a proposed period of fieldwork at the Irish Housing Agency, the state body tasked with overseeing the delivery of Housing for All, I will attempt to illustrate how policy responses are currently shaped by sectoral interests and institutional cultures, and thus ask whether this is the most effective or transparent means of policymaking. I will consider whether broader public participation in the process would lead to more sustainable and/or equitable outcomes, as is often argued by scholars and activists, and I will examine the role of professional experts (architects, engineers, surveyors, planners, etc) in implementing policy. Finally, I will consider how the privileged position of such knowledge-keepers might be harnessed to improve decision-making in order to deliver truly sustainable housing equitability.
References
Adorno, T. (1991) ‘Culture and administration’, in The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture. London: Routledge, pp. 93–113.
Byrne, M. (2021) ‘Understanding Ireland’s housing challenge in the light of Housing for All’. University College Dublin. Available at: https://publicpolicy.ie/perspectives/understanding-irelands-housing-challenge-in-the-light-of-housing-for-all/.
De Carlo, G. (2005) ‘Architecture’s public’, in P. Blundell Jones, D. Petrescu, and J. Till (eds) Architecture & Participation. Abingdon: Spon Press.
Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (2021) ‘Climate Action Plan 2021’. Government of Ireland. Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/6223e-climate-action-plan-2021/.
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (2021) ‘Housing for All’. Government of Ireland. Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/ef5ec-housing-for-all-a-new-housing-plan-for-ireland/ (Accessed: 1 December 2021).
Graeber, D. (2001) ‘Three Ways of Talking about Value’, in Toward an anthropological theory of value: the false coin of our own dreams. New York: Palgrave, pp. 1–22.
Irish Green Building Council (2019) ‘New report: the building and construction sector can reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050’, Irish Green Building Council, 24 September. Available at: https://www.igbc.ie/new-report-the-building-and-construction-sector-can-reach-net-zero-carbon-emissions-by-2050 (Accessed: 31 January 2025).
Krivý, M. and Kaminer, T. (2013) ‘Introduction: The Participatory Turn in Urbanism’, Footprint, 7(13), pp. 1–6.
Till, J. (2005) ‘The negotiation of hope’, in P. Blundell Jones and D. Petrescu (eds) Architecture and Participation. Abingdon: Spon Press, pp. 19–40.
| Keywords | Key words: housing, affordability, climate justice, values, expertise |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
