Danny Westerink

Architecture & Dwelling, Advanced Housing Design

Image of the dwelling complex. Location: Merwehaven, Rotterdam

A Recipe for Sustainable Living: An Architectural Recipe for Nudging Towards Pro-Environmental Behavior in Housing

The rapidly changing climate and its negative impact on the natural environment is attributable to human behaviour. The current unsustainable way of living can be changed into a more desired, sustainable lifestyle by using the concept of nudging, a deliberate and predictable method of changing people’s behaviour by modifying the cues in the physical and/or social context in which they act. This project explores how sustainable buildings can act as a supportive environment for shaping pro-environmental behaviour by integrating a Comprehensive Model for Nudging towards Sustainable Household Behaviour in Architecture. This framework is used to show how small changes in the decision-making process of individuals create demand for systematic changes and can lead to a bottom-up approach to sustainable development. By creating a supportive environment for eliciting sustainable behaviour, architects can improve people’s lives and promote sustainable behaviour that mitigates the current societal and environmental challenges.