The Practices, the Built Environment and Sustainability (PBES) network is a community of early career researchers with an interest in theories of practice and the built environment, who are keen to move away from the 'ABC' and technological deterministic mentality that dominates building- and infrastructure-related studies.
It formed in 2014, following an application process, with two summer events taking place in Cambridge in association with the British Sociological Association's Climate Change Study Group. We're grateful for the support that they provided, and to the GSI for funding the network events.
The network was initially created as part of a collaboration between Anglia Ruskin University's Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) and Aalborg University's Center for Design, Innovation and Sustainable Transitions (DIST). Chris Foulds (GSI) and Charlotte Jensen (DIST) jointly led this initiative.
Network members were given the challenging task of delivering three-page notes, which succinctly tackled potential (usually conceptual) future developments and/or 'sticking points' in the PBES field. These notes cover a wide range of topics ranging from time, narrative and codes and standards, to know-how, feedback and communities of practice.
Thinking Note Collection (2014)
We asked experts to respond to the original PBES Thinking Note Collection. Their responses cover a wide range of topical points of debate, some of which have endured throughout the development of theories of practice, with others only starting to emerge more recently. The responses have been ordered into four thematic parts:
Foulds et al (2015) Responses to the PBES Thinking Note Collection