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Taking care of heating, ventilation and air conditioning in times of energy transition: or how repair and maintenance shape energy infrastructures
Type
fundamental research project
Start Date
01 January 2018
End Date
31 December 2020
Acronym
Heating Repair
Status
ongoing
Description
An ethnographic research project on repair and maintenance of energy transition infrastructures conditions of repair and maintenance work spatial and social implications of repair and maintenance.
The project investigates repair and maintenance of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems which, although an important facet of infrastructural transformation and social change, has received little attention so far.
The project aims to document and describe technical routine and emergency interventions of service technicians, and the interactions with users, dwellers, property owners, work colleagues, specialists and superiors that characterize this domain of work. How do workers of selected facility management service providers and HVAC-specialised SMEs address requirements of indoor climate, comfort, and quality of life they are confronted with in their daily work? How are problems dealt with, which technical adjustments are made? Furthermore, to what extent does repair and maintenance contribute to a sustainable cohesion of urban landscapes?
The findings of this projects are of interest for industry, government, and civil society, more specifically for
- policy and decision makers favouring new technologies and which are interested not only in ecological, but also social implications of the energy transition
- institutions and user groups directly affected by infrastructural change
- industry actors conscious of the relations between technical work and social cohesion which must adjust their work procedures in light of new technologies and social developments
- designers and planners convinced of the creative potential of repairability and repair work
- interest groups monitoring the re-organisation of working conditions in the facility management sector
- education initiatives valuing the contribution of low-income classes to the quality of life of rural and urban settlements
- consumers and users preferring repair instead of throw-away
- researchers interested in the effects and implications of maintenance and repair in and for society
The project investigates repair and maintenance of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems which, although an important facet of infrastructural transformation and social change, has received little attention so far.
The project aims to document and describe technical routine and emergency interventions of service technicians, and the interactions with users, dwellers, property owners, work colleagues, specialists and superiors that characterize this domain of work. How do workers of selected facility management service providers and HVAC-specialised SMEs address requirements of indoor climate, comfort, and quality of life they are confronted with in their daily work? How are problems dealt with, which technical adjustments are made? Furthermore, to what extent does repair and maintenance contribute to a sustainable cohesion of urban landscapes?
The findings of this projects are of interest for industry, government, and civil society, more specifically for
- policy and decision makers favouring new technologies and which are interested not only in ecological, but also social implications of the energy transition
- institutions and user groups directly affected by infrastructural change
- industry actors conscious of the relations between technical work and social cohesion which must adjust their work procedures in light of new technologies and social developments
- designers and planners convinced of the creative potential of repairability and repair work
- interest groups monitoring the re-organisation of working conditions in the facility management sector
- education initiatives valuing the contribution of low-income classes to the quality of life of rural and urban settlements
- consumers and users preferring repair instead of throw-away
- researchers interested in the effects and implications of maintenance and repair in and for society
Leader contributor(s)
Ruegg, Jean
Member contributor(s)
Bovet, Alain
Loloum, Tristan
Fürst, Moritz F.
Funder(s)
Notes
On request of the Swiss National Science Foundation, the role of PI was transfered to Prof. Dr. Jean Ruegg (University of Lausanne) when PI Ignaz Strebel moved to PRF-FF, University of St. Gallen on 1. August 2019.
Division(s)
Eprints ID
247759
Reference Number
165718
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PublicationRepair Work Ethnographies: Revisiting Breakdown, Relocating MaterialityThis pioneering book homes in on repair as an everyday practice. Bringing together exemplary ethnographies of repair work around the world, it examines the politics of repair, its work settings and intricate networks, in and across a wide range of situations, lay and professional. The book evidences the topical relevance of situated inquiry into breakdown, repair, and maintenance for engaging with the contemporary world more broadly. Airplanes and artworks, bicycles and buildings, cars and computers, medical devices and mobile phones, as virtually any commodity, infrastructure or technical artifact, have in common their occasional breakdown, if not inbuilt obsolescence. Hence the point and purpose of closely examining how and when they are fixed.Type: book