Research project Sustainable housing 2.0?
The role of eco-innovations and policy networks in the wood based housing sector in Sweden.
Following the envisioning of the green industrialization and the promotion of the green economy at the United Nations’ 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the solution to sustainable development has come to be spelled out as “green growth”. This is reflected in public policymaking where eco-innovation and “smart” solutions are positioned as crucial strategies for the delivery of sustainable development. Especially in the housing sector, which is put under immense pressure due to increasing urbanization are the demands for new, smart, sustainable and economically viable solutions particularly sought after.
Researcher
Ida Andersson
Project description
Focusing on the housing sector, the aim of this research is to investigate how policy networks and public-private partnerships impacts the development of eco-innovation and green growth. Here, theory on innovation and green economy are brought into dialogue with literature on urban policy mobilities in order to research and understand the interactive processes between policy networks and eco-innovation, and how these in turn have affected the development of sustainable housing. My research will have a particular emphasis on the corporate sphere (housing industry) and the policy-making sphere on various geographical scales (national, regional, local), and how these interact. The research will mainly cover a Swedish perspective, with some outlooks towards European housing policies in relation to sustainable urban development and green growth.