Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Unpacking the Human Side of Healthy Homes
The drive towards healthy, net-zero housing is often framed as an engineering and materials science challenge. But what if the most crucial elements lie not just in U-values and ventilation rates, but in understanding human health, behaviour, and our interaction with the spaces we inhabit? In a recent episode of "Air Quality Matters," I had the pleasure of sitting down with two fascinating "accidental interlopers" in the built environment sector: Olivia Swann , a paediatric infectious disease consultant and data scientist, and Dan Bowers , Head of Psychology at the University of South Wales. Recorded on location at a University of Strathclyde symposium on healthy net-zero housing and digitization, our conversation ventured into the often-overlooked human dimensions of creating truly healthy living spaces.
This episode offers a refreshing perspective, reminding us that buildings are fundamentally for people. Livvy and Dan bring unique insights from their respective fields, highlighting why a multidisciplinary approach, placing human health and psychology at its core, is essential to truly "move the needle" on air quality and well-being in our homes.
Key Themes We Explored:
The Paediatrician’s Perspective: Children as 'Canaries in the Coal Mine' for Housing Quality: Dr. Swan shared her compelling journey from treating children with recurrent respiratory illnesses to investigating the root causes within their home environments. She explained how her work now involves linking children's healthcare data with individual property-level data in the "Homes Heat and Healthy Kids" study. This research aims to quantify the impact of factors like under-heated homes and the unintended consequences of retrofitting (such as increased airtightness without adequate ventilation) on children's respiratory health. The conversation touched on how preschool children, due to their physiology and the amount of time spent indoors, can act as sensitive indicators of housing quality – a powerful analogy highlighting the vulnerability of this group.
The Psychology of Technology Adoption in Social Housing: Dan Bowers brought a crucial behavioural science lens, particularly focusing on the introduction of new technologies (like sensors or new heating systems) into social housing. His work explores the complexities of technology acceptance, moving beyond whether a technology works to how residents perceive, trust, and engage with it. We discussed the challenges when occupants have limited agency in choosing these technologies and the critical importance of the entire stakeholder chain – from procurement to installation and tenant liaison – in fostering understanding and acceptance.
Bridging the Data Gap: Making the Invisible Visible: A significant thread was the power of data to illuminate hidden problems. Dr. Swan memorably stated, "Data is just what makes the invisible visible." Both guests emphasized how robust data can transform anecdotal observations into actionable evidence, whether linking housing conditions to specific health outcomes or understanding the real-world use and acceptance of new building technologies. This underlined the pressing need to fill data gaps, for instance, in understanding actual ventilation performance in homes.
Communication, Trust, and Shifting Perceptions of Risk: We delved into why indoor air quality, despite its significant health burden (comparable to smoking, as some studies suggest), often doesn't receive the public attention or funding it warrants. Dan Bowers pointed out the psychological challenge: "home, psychologically, is safe," making it difficult for people to perceive their own homes as potential sources of risk. The conversation also explored how trust and effective communication are paramount, whether in a doctor-patient relationship or a landlord-tenant interaction concerning housing interventions.
Intriguing Insights from Our Conversation:
One of the most striking aspects was the discussion around agency and choice. For instance, Dan Bowers’ work highlights the distinct psychological dynamics at play when technology is introduced into social housing, where tenants might not have actively chosen it, compared to an owner-occupier making a deliberate purchase. This raises profound questions about how we engage with and support residents through such transitions.
Dr. Swan's perspective on the medical field's evolution from a "paternalistic" model to one of partnership offered a compelling parallel for the built environment. The idea that interventions, whether medical or housing-related, are more successful when individuals feel informed, trusted, and empowered, resonated strongly. Imagine the impact if we consistently involved residents from the very beginning in decisions about their living environments, much like modern medicine strives to involve patients in their care.
The conversation also touched upon the surprising lack of routine performance feedback loops in the construction and housing sector compared to medicine, where near-miss reporting and systematic reviews of outcomes are standard. As Dan pointed out, many professionals involved in deploying new housing technologies are not tech experts themselves, and the message about a technology's benefits can become diluted as it passes through multiple hands before reaching the tenant. This often leads to disengagement and a feeling of "I don’t understand what this is, I don’t really want to have it."
Hearing Livvy and Dan, as relative outsiders, reflect on the built environment sector was also illuminating. They spoke of the challenges of navigating industry-specific jargon but also the "liberating" opportunity to ask fundamental questions that can challenge ingrained assumptions. Their collaborative, mission-driven spirit was palpable, underscoring a shared desire to improve people's lives.
The depth of experience and the novel connections made by Livvy and Dan between health, psychology, and housing provided a truly enriching discussion. Their work challenges us to think more holistically and human-centrically about the buildings we design, build, and manage. While this summary touches on the core themes, the full nuance, the specific examples, and the passion in their voices can only be truly appreciated by listening to the episode.
To delve deeper into these fascinating insights and grasp the full context of this unique conversation, we encourage you to listen to the full podcast episode. Share it with colleagues who are passionate about creating healthier, more human-centric built environments.
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