Adoption of a network approach to sustainable building standard process, not product: a response column to “A political-ecology of the built environment: LEED certification for green buildings”, Cidell, 2009, Local Environment, 14(7), pp. 621–633

Abstract

Cidell's (2009) A political-ecology of the built environment: LEED certification for green buildings (Local Environment, 14 (7), 621–633) presented a political-ecology approach to analyse and champion LEED. In this response column, I propose that a network approach is a more appropriate conceptual framework. Using elements found in actor-network theory, I present a more complete conceptualisation of socio-material hybridity, enabling a deconstruction of the processes of sustainable building as opposed to a focus on the products of sustainable building certification. I propose that a risk associated with reifying social actor agency and specialist techno-ecological knowledge, as Cidell's (2009) work implies, is the black boxing of sustainable buildings. I contend that researchers should approach sustainable building standards such as LEED as the mobilisers of network actions instead of the inputs and outputs of epistemic engagements. In relation, I also present the concepts of boundary object and translation as alternative concepts for analysis.

Keywords:

• LEED
• actor-network theory
• hybridity
• boundary objects
• networks
• sustainable building