Whether individual or collective, housing has been the subject of predictions for many years about the growing role that technology will play in it. The rise of digital technology has revived the promise of a revolution in housing and lifestyles through home automation: it is no longer just robots that could take on various demanding or repetitive tasks, but digital tools that would allow remote control of automated systems, whether to adjust the temperature, activate the opening and closing of various equipment, control intrusions, or, through constantly provided measurements, enable knowledge of energy consumption practices, analyze their effects, and transform these practices. Smart homes would also help elderly people to remain in their own homes by providing them with assistance and security, enable men and women who are constantly on the move to take care of their homes from their workplace or vacation destination, and make families aware of their daily practices and the consequences, both economic and environmental, on energy consumption so that they can be better informed and optimize their use of energy.
Energy management through technology is one of the most active components of housing development. Digital technologies are combined here with those that make it possible to reduce the consumption of energy and environmental resources of all kinds. Social housing organizations are engaged in construction programs aimed at meeting the requirements of sustainable development. The buildings and housing concerned are likely to incorporate technologies and equipment whose potential (energy consumption regulation, personal and property security, home care for the elderly, etc.) adds value to the housing but also places significant demands on occupants (e.g., in terms of handling or controlling this equipment). The use of housing and equipment by residents is likely to become a key issue for project management and maintenance teams, as well as for local teams.
How do the technologies used in new buildings or renovated complexes lead to changes in the tasks assigned to the various teams and their specific work activities? How are professions affected, either profoundly or marginally? What challenges can be identified in terms of skills and skills management? These are undoubtedly the least known and least explored aspects of technological change in housing to date by social housing organizations. The research aims to conduct an initial examination of these issues and provide benchmarks for a few major job categories: project management, maintenance, and local teams. It sets out to report on how smart housing is currently manifesting itself in the work of the three categories of staff mentioned above. It seeks to determine the extent to which these more or less pronounced changes in activity are confronting these professions with shifts and reorganizations that need to be qualified: are they an extension, a shift, or a break with existing professions? At a more detailed level, it also seeks to identify skills that are beginning to emerge as challenges because they are little or not at all developed in the traditional configuration of each profession.
Keywords: Social housing; smart housing; professions; skills.
Method: The research is based on a qualitative survey approach and involves interviews and observations with representatives of three groups of professions: project management, maintenance, and local teams. Additional interviews are also conducted. They aim to document and understand:
a) the reality of the activity and how work situations confront staff with problems related to new-generation buildings and equipment;
b) how agents view these issues and incorporate them—to a greater or lesser extent, with ease or with difficulty—into their professional practices, and how they interpret them in terms of their representations and practices of the profession;
c) the scenarios and specific professional situations in which issues of mastery of the activity to be carried out and, therefore, of skills development arise. This research work provides a learning support for action research for master's level students and/or engineering students.