Showing papers by "Elizabeth Shove published in 2019"

Cold chains in Hanoi and Bangkok:changing systems of provision and practice

Abstract: We know that patterns of domestic consumption are situated within broader systems of provision and that home appliances like the fridge freezer bridge between practices of cooking, shopping and eating, on the one hand, and increasingly global systems of food production, distribution and diet on the other In analysing uses of fridge freezers in Hanoi and Bangkok as expressions, in microcosm, of complex and evolving processes of urbanisation and food provisioning this paper provides new insight into how specific configurations, dependencies and patterns of consumption take hold and how they vary and change Our analysis of systems and practices in flux has the dual function of showing how household strategies reflect and contribute to more extensive transformations, and of demonstrating how these are shaped by ongoing tensions and relations between new and established forms of urban food supply and associated concepts of freshness and safety The result is a subtle account of the multiple routes through which consumer ‘needs’ evolve

Energy fables:Challenging Ideas in the Energy Sector

Abstract: Energy Fables: Challenging Ideas in the Energy Sector takes a fresh look at key terms and concepts around which energy research and policy are organised. Drawing on recent research in energy and transport studies, and combining this with concepts from sociology, economics, social theory and technology studies, the chapters in this collection review and challenge different aspects of received wisdom. Brief but critical introductions to classic notions like those of ‘energy efficiency’; ‘elasticity’, ‘energy services’ and the ‘energy trilemma’, together with discussions and analyses of well-worn phrases about ‘low hanging fruit’ and ‘keeping the lights on’, articulate aspects of the energy debate that are often taken for granted. In re-working these established themes and adding twists to familiar tales, this book develops a repertoire of new ideas about the fundamentals of energy demand and carbon reduction. This book presents a valuable and thought-provoking resource for students, researchers and policy-makers interested in energy demand, politics and policy.

How Are Infrastructures and Publics Related and Why Should We Care? An Email Conversation

Abstract: What follows is a moderated and slightly edited email conversation on the relation of infrastructures and publics that started in July 2017. Over the course of several months and in a considered follow-up of emails Sigrid Baringhorst (Professor of Political Science, University of Siegen), Noortje Marres (Associate Professor in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick), Elizabeth Shove (Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University/DEMAND Centre), and Volker Wulf (Professor of Information Systems and New Media, University of Siegen) discussed how infrastructures and publics are related. During their conversation they touched on both scholarly and current political issues.