Lise Desvallée will
defend her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Olivier Coutard and co-supervisor Jonathan Rutherford on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 (room A017, Bienvenüe Building).
Problematization, politicization, and reduction of energy vulnerabilities: between the right to energy and control of the practices of the poor in Porto and Barcelona
50 million Europeans face financial difficulties in heating, cooking, or lighting their homes. Households that go without these services due to insufficient income, or that devote a significant portion of their budget to this expense, are in a situation of energy vulnerability. European legislation requires member states to establish policies to measure and reduce this problem. This is a complex objective because energy vulnerability is at the intersection of a set of factors addressed by distinct sectoral policies: energy prices, energy efficiency in housing, and social assistance.
This thesis examines the conditions under which the issue of energy vulnerability emerges on national and local public agendas, using an urban political ecology approach. The comparative study is conducted in two cities (Porto and Barcelona) where the issue is significant and addressed in different ways. Our analysis proposes to study the factors that combine to create situations of vulnerability and bring them to the fore as a public issue. It focuses on legislation, local innovations, and media coverage of the issue. We compare these forms of collective action with a study of the concrete conditions of energy vulnerability experienced by precarious households receiving social assistance and support from charitable organizations.
The main finding of the thesis is that situations of energy vulnerability are politicized, involving both new and traditional actors in energy governance and resulting in two types of responses. We also show how the activism of community groups is giving rise to a right to energy, which is not enshrined in national legislation and which, under pressure from new social movements, is becoming an imperative for local authorities. Finally, we show how a model of interventions targeting households is being rolled out with the aim of reducing consumption in order to lower bills and limit the number of unpaid energy bills. This experimental and inexpensive model is in the interests of civil society organizations, local authorities, and energy suppliers, even though it requires vulnerable households to make further efforts to reduce their energy bills. Keywords:
energy vulnerabilities, energy poverty, urban political ecology, urban energy transition, Spain, Portugal
Composition of the jury:
- Stefan Bouzarovski, Professor, University of Manchester (Rapporteur)
- Olivier Coutard, Director of Research, CNRS (LATTS) (Thesis supervisor)
- Sylvy Jaglin, University Professor, University of Paris Est Marne la Vallée (Chair of the jury)
- Hélène Reigner, University Professor, Aix-Marseille University (Rapporteur)
- Jonathan Rutherford, Research Fellow, École des Ponts Paris Tech (Co-supervisor of the thesis)
- David Saurí, University Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona