Making space for disability in eco-homes and eco-communities

There is continued failure to build homes for diverse and disabled occupancy. We use three eco‐communities in England to explore how their eco‐houses and wider community spaces accommodate the complex disability of hypotonic cerebral palsy. Using site visits, video footage, spatial mapping, field diary observations, surveys and interviews, this paper argues that little attention has been paid to making eco‐communities and eco‐houses accessible. There are, we argue, three useful and productive ways to interrogate accessibility in eco‐communities, through understandings of legislation, barriers and mobility. These have three significant consequences for eco‐communities and disabled access: ecological living as practised by these eco‐communities relies upon particular bodily capacities, and thus excludes many disabled people; disabled access was only considered in relation to the house and its thresholds, not to the much broader space of the home; and eco‐communities need to be, and would benefit from being, spaces of diverse interaction

Bodies, building and bricks: Women architects and builders in eight eco-communities in Argentina, Britain, Spain, Thailand and USA

Eco-building is a male domain where men are presumed to be better builders and designers, more men than women build and women find their design ideas and contributions to eco-building are belittled. This article suggests that a focus on bodies, embodiment and the ‘doing’ of building is a potentially productive way to move beyond current gender discrimination. This article makes three key interventions using empirical material from eight case studies of eco-communities in Britain, Thailand, Spain, the USA and Argentina. First, it uses a focus on eco-communities to illustrate the enduring persistence of gender divisions in architecture and building. Second, by using multi-site examples of eco-communities from diverse countries this article finds more commonalities than differences in gender discrimination across cultures and nationalities. Third, it outlines three spaces of opportunity through which more gender-neutral approaches are being developed in eco-building: (1) in challenging the need for ‘strong’ bodies, (2) by practising more embodied ways of building and (3) by making visible women's bodies in building. The ‘doing’ and manual aspect of eco-building is unfamiliar for many (not just women) and interviewees commented on the need to (re)learn how to be practical and to understand the physical possibilities (and limitations) of their bodies

Beyond electoralism: reflections on anarchy, populism and the crisis of electoral politics

This paper is comprised of a series of short, conversational or polemical interventions reflecting on the political ‘moment’ that has emerged in the wake of the rise of right-populist politics, particularly in the Global North. We position the UK’s ‘Brexit’ vote and the election of Donald Trump as US President as emblematic of this shift, which has a longer genesis and a wider scale than these events alone. In particular, we draw on anarchist principles and approaches to consider opportunities for re-energising and re-orienting our academic and activist priorities in the wake of these turbulent times. Following a short introductory section, in which we collectively discuss key questions, challenges and tensions, each contributor individually draws from their own research or perspective to explore the possibilities of a politics beyond electoralism

Perspectives on “Giving Back”: A Conversation Between Researcher and Refugee

Our chapter—“Perspectives on ‘giving back’: A conversation between researcher and refugee”—offers personal reflections on the ethics of research with refugees and what it means for researchers to “give back” to refugee participants beyond “policy impact”. Written as a dialogue between an academic and a Rohingya refugee youth leader, we explore the blurry lines between academic work and advocacy when the issues of refugee protection are pressing, as well as the appropriateness of researchers giving monetary donations and volunteering for refugee causes as payback for data. In this chapter, we also examine what it means to build trust and relationships between researchers and refugees, and how too often researchers fail to develop meaningful research interactions with refugee participants who share their time, energy and personal stories of vulnerability

Cold comfort? Reconceiving the practices of bathing in British self-build eco-homes

Living sustainably involves a broad spectrum of practices, from relying on a technological fix to a deep green vision. The latter is often articulated by advocates and critics alike as involving shifting to a simpler lifestyle that dispenses with some of the (perceived) frivolous or environmentally damaging attachments to luxury or convenience. This article explores practices of reconceiving comfort in the context of the social and material architectures of eco-housing. Comfort is defined as an ongoing process, a negotiation between different elements (e.g., climate, materials and bodies) in a particular place. This article uses three case studies of self-built eco-communities in Britain (Green Hills, Landmatters, and Tinkers Bubble) and analyzes their bathrooms and bathing practices. In the eco-communities' bathing practices, comfort was reconceived as not being reliant on particular facilities, furniture, or temperature, as not private but as collective and shared, and as an embodied relation. This article demonstrates the relationality of comfort, how it is therefore possible to reconceive comfort, and how comfort can be understood as a practice. This focus on practices also challenges social practice theories to more purposefully engage with those already living a highly ecological lifestyle to understand how radical change is navigated