Governing comfort in France

This article intends to present the notion of comfort as a central element in housing policies. Comfort is liable to an analysis in terms of governance and enrichment of the Housing Regimes theory. Thereby it develops in the first part a socio-historical ana- lysis of housing standards production patterns in France from the 19th century to current day. It distinguishes the hygienist period, the modernist period and the environmental period. For the lat- ter, it shows how private and institutional stakeholders operate. In the second part it analyses the results of a qualitative and quantitative survey of one thousand French homeowners. It reveals the various acceptations of the notion of comfort and the diverse integration of the energy conservation targets in practices. A new social differentiation appears through the capabilities to use new technologies and control the environment.

Link to this article: doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2018.1509947

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