4.4 Toward Including Social Interaction and Community-Based Approaches

In this chapter we argue that community-based approaches to stimulating energy-efficient behavior need further exploration. Human behavior is shaped by the social context in which it takes place. Review studies have shown, however, that the influences of social interaction between individuals have received little attention in comparison to studies addressing individual energy-related behavior (see, e.g., Breukers et al., 2011; Jackson, 2005; Lutzenhiser, 1993; Wilson and Dowlatabadi, 2007).

In their work about the relationship between environmental problems and human behavior, Gardner and Stern (1996) described four strategies for changing consumer behavior: (1) religious and moral approaches: changing values, beliefs, and worldviews; (2) educational interventions: changing attitudes and providing information; (3) changing the incentives; and (4) community management of the commons.

They recommend using a combination of strategies. According to the authors, a combination of education, incentives, and a community-based approach has the most potential to be successful. The fourth strategy, community management, is sometimes noted to be a “forgotten strategy.” It is said that “The dominant view in policy analysis is one that looks down on environmental problems, as from on high, and seeks to impose solutions on individuals, groups, or organizations that are presumed to be unable to solve the problems themselves.” As noted, “A large number of interventions to solve environmental problems have neglected the principles of community management . . . there may be significant room for improvement by remaking the interventions to be more congruent with those principles” (Gardner and Stern, 1996, 149–150).

A community-based approach most likely works when dealing with locally manageable resources. This is often not the case with today's environmental problems. Nevertheless, when combined with other strategies this approach can enforce an intervention's effectiveness. Community involvement in changing behavior is effective due to word-of-mouth publicity, active citizen groups or leaders, and a participatory approach in which citizens are involved in formulating activities, or at least provide information for developing an intervention program.

Considering that energy provision is expected to be organized more into microgrids connected to a larger grid, community management of the commons is applicable (Wolsink, 2011). According to Wolsink, such an approach would additionally improve the technologies' social acceptance.

Similarly, Heiskanen et al. (2010) argued that many behavior change programs do not address the socially grounded nature of human behavior. They elaborated barriers to behavior change that call for solutions at the community level rather than individual level, and investigate how a number of low-carbon communities can achieve lasting behavior change. They considered a community-based approach to be a solution for four persistent problems in energy demand-side management: social dilemmas, social conventions, sociotechnical infrastructures, and the helplessness of individuals when faced with the enormity of the climate challenge.

A complementary perspective on the influence of social context on behavior change is social innovation. Jégou and Manzini (2008) described it as follows:

The term social innovation refers to changes in the way individuals or communities act to solve a problem or to generate new opportunities. These innovations are driven more by changes in behavior than by changes in technology or the market and they typically emerge from bottom-up rather than top-down processes.

Collaborative communities, as they call these groups of people, come up with ways to fulfill their daily life needs by organizing themselves differently. For instance, in one case a lack of safe roads and proper public transport leads to a “walking bus”: Parents take turns in walking a group of children to school. The role of design in these initiatives is to facilitate the adoption of these solutions by a broader public. In order to establish a sustainable society, the authors argue that designers should, rather than translate new technology to end users, learn from end users for new directions of technology development. Design could fulfill a role in fostering collaborative communities. This approach is similar to the recommendation of Gardner and Stern (1996) of involving the community in the development of interventions.

Facilitating interaction between community members is key to the success of interventions and activities. The question is, now, if and in what ways design can provide “enabling solutions.”