The PEIRE project

PEIRE (People-Environment-Indoor-Renovation-Energy) is a transdisciplinary research project with the aim to contribute to sustainable housing development with good indoor environments in balance with energy use. The project has a system theory approach in which tenants, indoor environments and energy needs constitute a complex socio-technical system. Empirical studies were carried out in a residential area in Lund built in the late 1960s. Comprehensive measurements of factors related to the indoor environment and tenants’ activities were measured in ten selected flats during three consecutive heating seasons (before and after a renovation, and at follow up one year later), together with interviews with the tenants. A post-renovation survey in the area, as well as focus groups interviews in three comparable residential areas, complemented data from the ten flats. The results are presented in a series of articles. The studies confirm the need for transdisciplinarity in studies of complex systems to reach beyond what could be achieved otherwise.