Ten questions concerning housing sufficiency

• Ten relevant questions concerning housing sufficiency are posed. • Consumption corridors determine decent living standards and ecological housing limits. • Housing sufficiency in developed and developing countries is reviewed. • Design, occupancy models, and policies for housing sufficiency are provided. Housing sufficiency is an emerging concept in the provision of environmentally sustainable housing. It aims for demand-side strategies that reduce excessive, aggregate consumption levels to promote efficient resource utilization and sustainability in the construction sector while providing everyone with a decent standard of housing. However, it is challenging to implement as it interferes with housing-related social and cultural norms. This paper poses and answers ten questions that highlight the challenges, opportunities, and examples of sufficiency strategies in the context of housing provision and the environmental crisis. Question 1 discusses the need for sufficiency as a tool to complement supply-side strategies including efficiency and renewable energy strategies in providing housing. Question 2 examines the concept of housing sufficiency from different perspectives, such as ecological economics and social ecology. Question 3 summarizes the methods used to measure housing sufficiency, with specific focus on the upper and lower limits that respect planetary boundaries and basic human needs. Questions 4 and 5 describe the benefits, potential drawbacks, and rebound effects of housing sufficiency. Questions 6 and 7 examine housing sufficiency in developed and developing countries, respectively. Questions 8 and 9 discuss design strategies, housing occupancy, and tenure models that are needed for housing sufficiency. Finally, Question 10 provides a summary of policies and regulations that are needed to systematically support the implementation of sufficiency strategies. The questions and answers provide insights for wider application of housing sufficiency in research and practice.

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Publication Details

Journal
Building and Environment
Published
2025-03-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112941
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
13.25

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article

Ten questions concerning housing sufficiency

Hannah Villeneuve, Benoît Schmaltz, Shoshanna Saxe, Aldrick Arceo et al.
6 citations
Building and Environment
Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism
13.25
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Ten questions concerning housing sufficiency

Hannah Villeneuve, Benoît Schmaltz, Shoshanna Saxe, Aldrick Arceo, Matan Mayer, Ruth Tamas, Jeetika Malik, Terri Peters, William O’Brien, Marianne F. Touchie, Tianzhen Hong
article en
6 citations

Abstract

• Ten relevant questions concerning housing sufficiency are posed. • Consumption corridors determine decent living standards and ecological housing limits. • Housing sufficiency in developed and developing countries is reviewed. • Design, occupancy models, and policies for housing sufficiency are provided. Housing sufficiency is an emerging concept in the provision of environmentally sustainable housing. It aims for demand-side strategies that reduce excessive, aggregate consumption levels to promote efficient resource utilization and sustainability in the construction sector while providing everyone with a decent standard of housing. However, it is challenging to implement as it interferes with housing-related social and cultural norms. This paper poses and answers ten questions that highlight the challenges, opportunities, and examples of sufficiency strategies in the context of housing provision and the environmental crisis. Question 1 discusses the need for sufficiency as a tool to complement supply-side strategies including efficiency and renewable energy strategies in providing housing. Question 2 examines the concept of housing sufficiency from different perspectives, such as ecological economics and social ecology. Question 3 summarizes the methods used to measure housing sufficiency, with specific focus on the upper and lower limits that respect planetary boundaries and basic human needs. Questions 4 and 5 describe the benefits, potential drawbacks, and rebound effects of housing sufficiency. Questions 6 and 7 examine housing sufficiency in developed and developing countries, respectively. Questions 8 and 9 discuss design strategies, housing occupancy, and tenure models that are needed for housing sufficiency. Finally, Question 10 provides a summary of policies and regulations that are needed to systematically support the implementation of sufficiency strategies. The questions and answers provide insights for wider application of housing sufficiency in research and practice.

Building and EnvironmentVol. 277
IE University (ES), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US), University of Toronto (CA), Toronto Metropolitan University (CA), Carleton University (CA), Université Jean Monnet (FR)
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism
13.25
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