IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York
Abstract
The Smart Meter Implementation Program in the UK aims to install a smart meter in every domestic home by 2025. Imagined smart meter futures position individuals not only as consumers of energy but as prosumers, able to make greater choices in using, producing and selling energy based on price signals. But, how do these imagined futures fit into the everyday lives of people who experience inequalities in access to energy and digital technologies? This research-in-progress paper charts the development of an infrastructural and place-based methodology designed to support people to co-ideate alternative smart meter futures. Participants who are linked through communities in single geographical locations with some alternative energy infrastructures are invited to take part in a participatory group mapping exercise. Through the foregrounding of infrastructure, this research highlights the relationships between individuals and their material, everyday experiences of energy infrastructure. It asks; when given the opportunity to engage in co-ideation of smart meter futures through these methods, what role do people imagine for themselves and their households and to what extent are they concerned with questions of equality and justice? Data from pilot workshops indicate justice concerns are present and further investigation is required.
I am a PhD student at the University of Brighton undertaking a research project entitled “Smart(er) Energy Justice: Embedding Equality into Smart Technology Use and Design”. This ESRC South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership funded project uses participatory mapping methods to understand the justice concerns of the general public; and aims to use this data to make policy recommendations to mitigate potential injustices. I am interested in developing research methods that can support the public to have meaningful participation in the decision-making process surrounding energy infrastructure.
3:15 pm - 4:45 pm
Friday 16th June, 2023