Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Disruption and change: drought and the inconspicuous dynamics of garden lives.
AU - Chappells, Heather
AU - Medd, William
AU - Shove, Elizabeth
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - It is now widely agreed that there is more to sustainable consumption than persuading individuals to make green their brand of choice. Instead, the focus is on how to understand the processes of change, particularly in relation to the transformation of inconspicuous habits. A dominant approach within sustainable consumption research suggests that changing embedded habits and practices requires making them visible and subject to overt decision-making and discussion. An alternative practice-based perspective suggests that enduring change emerges through the amplification of existing social orientations and does not necessarily depend upon explicit contestation and debate. We examine these positions with reference to a detailed study of changing outdoor domestic water consumption habits during the 2006 drought in south-east England. Our analysis of variable responses to the hosepipe ban leads us to suggest that the manner in which disruption generates change in consumption practices is mediated by pre-existing social orientations and by diverse configurations of garden infrastructures and water institutions.
AB - It is now widely agreed that there is more to sustainable consumption than persuading individuals to make green their brand of choice. Instead, the focus is on how to understand the processes of change, particularly in relation to the transformation of inconspicuous habits. A dominant approach within sustainable consumption research suggests that changing embedded habits and practices requires making them visible and subject to overt decision-making and discussion. An alternative practice-based perspective suggests that enduring change emerges through the amplification of existing social orientations and does not necessarily depend upon explicit contestation and debate. We examine these positions with reference to a detailed study of changing outdoor domestic water consumption habits during the 2006 drought in south-east England. Our analysis of variable responses to the hosepipe ban leads us to suggest that the manner in which disruption generates change in consumption practices is mediated by pre-existing social orientations and by diverse configurations of garden infrastructures and water institutions.
KW - sustainable consumption
KW - practice theory
KW - garden living
KW - drought
KW - water demand
KW - CULTURES
KW - WATER
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80052979025&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14649365.2011.609944
DO - 10.1080/14649365.2011.609944
M3 - Journal article
VL - 12
SP - 701
EP - 715
JO - Social and Cultural Geography
JF - Social and Cultural Geography
SN - 1464-9365
IS - 7
ER -