Life Building Exchange (LIFEBUILDINGX): Investigating the Intersection of Pro-Environmental Behavior, Place Meaning, and High-Performance Design in Residential Buildings and Communities

Julia A. Kriegh (University of Washington)

The design of the physical environment and people’s relationship with that environment are both important factors related to energy conservation andclimate change. While social scientists have developed theories to understand people’s pro-environmental behaviors and relationships to place, many have overlooked the role of the built environment in that relationship. Conversely, architects focused on high-performance net-zero design do not seek to understand how people make sense of their environments. Drawing these two approaches together, a mixed-methods study of two housing communities in the Pacific Northwest was conducted to understand people’s residential energy use, behavior, and how that relates to physical and social aspects of their environment as well as their values, identity, and place attachment. Site 1 was designated a Built-Green Community, while Site 2 was designated a Code-Built Community. Methods included the introduction of a treatment (a monitoring dashboard showing a household’s energy use) and the administration of a pre- and post-test survey, along with in-depth qualitative interviews of a sub-sample of participants.

Findings indicated that over 50% of the total residential energy use was under the direct control of household occupants. Energy data showed energy use increasing for residents in the Built-Green community. Survey results showed that biospheric values and environmental self-identity ratings increased for the Code-Built community over the same time period that their energy use decreased. Interview data suggests that people will engage in their environment in a way that is likely to be energy conserving when such behavior is supported by their residential setting, when they espouse biospheric values and are attached to and identify with their homes and communities. Based on the findings, a conceptual framework, Life-Building- Exchange, is offered that encompasses: LIFE—people’s values and place meanings; BUILDING—environmental cues; and EXCHANGE—the locus of reciprocal relationships (buildings and behavior) found in high-performance environments.