Sustainability and Society - ISAAC
The Sustainability and society team supports the transition towards a more sustainable society, following a socio-technical approach. The availability of innovative and efficient technologies is not, in fact, a guarantee of achieving the energy and climate transition goals set by the international community: the implementation of sustainable, low-carbon societies also requires a significant change in individual and collective daily practices, towards the adoption of principles of sufficiency, inclusion, and social equity, capable of ensuring greater individual well-being and social justice, while preserving natural resources.
To support the transition and create tangible impact, the team conducts applied research projects with transformative goals, based on dialogue and transdisciplinary collaboration between local stakeholders and experts from various fields, using participatory techniques such as living labs and co-creation.
The team promotes socio-technical innovation through field interventions, often of an experimental nature, evaluating their effectiveness using rigorous impact assessment techniques. To this end, it employs research methods from the social sciences, using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed analyses depending on the needs.
The application areas the team has concentrated on over the last decade, with the ultimate goal of supporting the mitigation of ongoing climate change, include energy consumption in buildings, local mobility, and long-distance mobility.
The application areas the team has concentrated on over the last decade, with the ultimate goal of supporting the mitigation of ongoing climate change, include energy consumption in buildings, local mobility, and long-distance mobility.