Living well within consumption corridors
What if we defined corridors for consumption – with minimum standards that secure good lives for all, and maximum limits that respect planetary boundaries? A new concept has emerged in the sustainable consumption literature in recent years: “Consumption corridors” provide guidance on how little and how much we can consume of energy, water, and other essential services in relation to housing.
Housing stands at the center of the challenge: in Europe, it is energy- and material-intensive, and living space is unequally distributed. But wellbeing requires more than just "housing". Drawing on theories of human needs, Sahakian shows how wellbeing emerges from social practices that extend far beyond our front doors, to mobility, food, and other services we use every day.
Consumption corridors are designed by and for the collective through participatory approaches. But who gains and who loses when we change how we live? Sahakian brings empirical examples from housing models worldwide to explore how collectively defined limits can reduce both environmental impacts and inequality, if we get the justice question right.
A research agenda in action
The lecture builds on a recently awarded four-year research project on Consumption corridors for housing, between the University of Geneva and the Technical University of Eindhoven. The project seeks to imagine and experiment with alternative ways of living by further developing the concept of consumption corridors for housing and beyond.
About Marlyne Sahakian
Marlyne Sahakian is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Geneva, where she brings a sociological lens to consumption studies and sustainability. She has coordinated research projects on energy, food, urban comfort, and wellbeing, often working with inter- and trans-disciplinary teams. She co-founded SCORAI Europe, is former co-chair of the European Sociological Association’s Consumption network, and current co-editor of Consumption & Society with Bristol University Press.
Hal Wilhite Memorial Lecture
The Hal Wilhite Memorial Lecture is organised annually in memory of Professor Harold L. Wilhite. Hal is best known as an anthropologist, but always with a strong interdisciplinary orientation. At the Centre for Development the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, he led groundbreaking research on sustainable consumption and energy.
Hal’s research has had a great impact internationally. His numerous publications based on fieldwork in Asia, Latin America and Norway, are widely read. Hal insisted on the importance of understanding human action in its social and economic context. He was particularly critical towards the idea of a green transition which did not involve reducing consumption, and considered a low carbon society impossible to realise in a growth-oriented economy. He was deeply passionate about environmental issues, and lived according to his own high standards regarding sustainable consumption.
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The event is free and open to everyone.
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Organiser
Centre for Global Sustainability