Encinas, Felipe; Vergara-Perucich, Francisco; Aguirre-Nuñez, Carlos; Freed, Carmen; Soto, Katia; (2022) Individualism as public policy: the energy poverty threat by incremental housing. Presented at: 3rd International Conference on Energy Research & Social Science, Manchester, UK.

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Abstract

The anarchist self-construction proposal of the Englishman John F. C. Turner of the 1960s has found new energy in the neoliberal Chile of recent decades, afflicted by a high housing deficit. Although the original concept was based on the difficulty that the most vulnerable households have in accessing a formal solution, the incremental model provides a minimum dwelling so that families, with their means, literally complete their homes. In this way, it constitutes a public policy based not only on the individual economic effort of each family but also on their own technical, architectural and management skills to build their home. Taking as a case study an incremental housing case designed by Elemental in Santiago de Chile in 2010, we followed up for a whole year, monitoring its environmental performance, interviewing neighbours and identifying architectural modifications in the houses. Our findings show a further deterioration in environmental comfort and indoor air quality as incrementality increases. The figures are critical. In some dwellings, the 700 ppm CO2 standard is exceeded more than 70% of the time, with peaks above 2000 ppm CO2. These results represent a new type of vulnerability: ranging from not having a home to having one without the minimum architectural conditions to respond to climatic requirements. This situation produces an over-expenditure on heating, generating a very hard to tackle the issue of hidden energy poverty. The evidence indicates that inhabitants’ health is seriously threatened, which may undermine the social cohesion of communities. These findings emphasize the need to rethink the incremental housing policy. Proper housing requires constant technical and architectural design support and a collective approach that allows them to take advantage of the collaboration and mutual support in communities without undermining their health.

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