Faulconbridge, James (2015) Mobilising sustainable building assessment models: agents, strategies and local effects. Area, 47 (2). pp. 116-123. ISSN 0004-0894
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Abstract
This paper considers how work on knowledge and policy mobilities can be used to analyse the processes behind and the local impacts of mobile sustainable building assessment models such as BREEAM and LEED. After reviewing existing concerns and critiques relating to the impacts of these models on the local sensitivity of sustainable building designs, consideration is given to the effects on local sensitivity of ‘who mobilizes’ the models, the ‘intercity issues’ associated with generating commensurability between places, and the way ‘events along the way’ are used to sell models. These questions reveal that work on knowledge and policy mobilities provides a useful framework through which to develop social science perspectives on the local impacts of mobile building assessment models. In particular, this approach highlights how processes of mobility are used to frame approaches to sustainable building design and potentially undermine attempts to render models sensitive to local challenges and solutions. It is, therefore, suggested that the knowledge and policy mobilities informed approach adopted here is beneficial as it places less emphasis on the intrinsic technical features of models and more emphasis on the powerful effects of processes of mobilisation on understandings and practices of sustainable design.