Table 1
Study sample.
| DWELLING TYPEa | PEOPLE INTERVIEWED | INTERVIEW CODING |
|---|---|---|
| Terraced house (T) | 11 | T1–T11 |
| Semi-detached house (S) | 10 | S1–S10 |
| Detached house (D) | 7 | D1–D7 |
| Flat (F) | 8 | F1–F8 |
| Bungalow (B) | 4 | B1–B4 |
[i] Note: aBased on the English Housing Survey (EHS) 2021 (DLUHC 2021).
There was an even sample spread: Age (years): 18–34; 35–44 (three to four families with children); 45–54 (three to four families with children); 55–74; and ≥ 74. Tenure: owner-occupied; local authority; housing association; and private rented. Location: Bristol, Bath, Swindon and Reading.
Figure 1
Theme 1: Enjoyment and misery—a collage of participants’ photos showing positive visions of cool.
Table 2
Theme 1: Enjoyment and misery—illustrative quotations.
| SUBTHEME | QUOTATION |
|---|---|
| Health management | ‘I had to change my medication [it] wasn’t great in the heat. […] I had a very small heart attack earlier in the year, [heat] does affect the blood thinner […] rather than taking one big dose, I had to divide it […] because of the heat. You really need to be aware of that’ (F6) |
| Social isolation and lethargy | ‘It made me very lethargic. I didn’t really see friends, we all suffered in the heat. […] I kept mostly to myself […] I had so little energy […] it was almost depressing’ (T5) |
| Productivity loss | ‘I found the working from home hardest, being in meetings […] hard to concentrate […] all I’m thinking is my head hurts, I need to cool myself down, I need another drink, I need this meeting to hurry up and be over’ (F5) |
| Air-conditioned (AC) third spaces | ‘I was in a workspace which is air conditioned, and it was the happiest day of my week. I didn’t want to leave at the end of the day’ (F8) |
| Care needs and domestic constraints | ‘I live with my son who’s 19, he’s got disabilities […] he’s up in the attic […] it gets very, very hot up there […] the heat rises, he’s got a computer that is constantly on and that kicks out quite a lot of heat […] there was no wind. […] I had to go out and buy him […] in addition to [a fan], a big industrial floor blower [fan …]’ (D2) |
Figure 2
Theme 2: Responsibility and consumption—a collage of participants’ photos.
Table 3
Theme 2: Responsibility and consumption—illustrative quotations.
| SUBTHEME | QUOTATION |
|---|---|
| Adapting daily routines | ‘My dog needs a walk, even in that intense heat, I was getting up at four o’clock in the morning, taking her for a walk […] she didn’t cope very well in that heat’ (S10) |
| Accessible consumption | ‘That’s a Dyson fan […] something we purchased […] in-between AC [air-conditioning] and a cheap fan […] we’re a Dyson family’ (S1) |
| Urban greening and emotional connection to nature | ‘We have a small terrace in the flat, we made an overhang there with a pergola and lots of plants. […] It stopped a lot of direct sunlight coming in between 11:00 and 3:00 […] felt like a forest’ (F3) |
| Limited access to air-conditioning (AC) | ‘I did look at AC units, but I couldn’t get hold of one, or the prices were really inflated. My brother ordered an AC unit […] I remember being really jealous […] he said it made such a difference’ (F7) |
| Experiential knowledge | ‘I spent a lot of time in the Americas as a child, I know how to keep cool […] create plenty of shade […] pale coloured materials to reflect light rather than absorb it […] don’t let lots of hot air in, keep the cool air in and circulate it’ (F6) |
| Social networks | ‘I’m fortunate in my daughter lives two doors up so we weren’t left on our own. She always made sure we were ok. She’s forever nagging, ‘have you had enough to drink today?’’ (B2) |
Figure 3
Theme 3: Precarity and inadequacy—a collage of participants’ photos.
Table 4
Theme 3: Precarity and inadequacy—illustrative quotations.
| SUBTHEME | QUOTATION |
|---|---|
| Novel challenges | ‘I remember just how unbearable it was, horrible […] that desperate feeling “what can we do to cool down?”, how can we get away from this?’ (S8) |
| Unsettled knowledge and communication | ‘We never knew what to do for the best [to cool down the home]. Do we shut the curtains? Leave the windows open? Leave them closed?’ (S5) ‘the BBC ran some articles on their news site, which were a bit bonkers […] telling people to fill up buckets of ice and put a fan over the ice. I mean, it will have a very small effect, and probably create more problems […] people running around trying to get buckets of ice, it doesn’t really work’ (F6) |
| Media polarisation of heat | ‘one minute, it’s going to be great because we’re all going to have a lovely summer holiday, the next minute, we’re all going to die, it’s too hot’ (S3) |
| Tenure-driven inequalities | ‘Will my housing association give me permission to do shading changes if I could afford it? Probably not […] or I’d have to take them off when I leave’ (T6) |
| Diverse working conditions | ‘When I was working from home, I’m up at 5:00. I would start almost straight away rather than do my normal routine. […] I would start earlier, I can work the hours I need’ (D7) |
Table 5
Theme 4: Normalising air-conditioned futures—illustrative quotations.
| SUBTHEME | QUOTATION |
|---|---|
| Normalisation of air-conditioned futures | ‘I don’t see anything else [other than AC], I mean if it’s like that again, and you know, it will be, won’t it? AC is the only way […] to manage’ (S2) ‘things like AC will be normal […] years ago they wouldn’t have a radio […] TV […] now they have a TV […] we don’t have any air con, but I think in the years to come, we will’ (T11) ‘If we’re going to be facing these types of temperatures going forward […] AC’s just going to be one of those necessary things. It [heat] might be new to us, but it’s not something that we’ve got no idea how to deal with it. You look at the other hot countries and how they deal with? They have AC’ (D5) |
| Aspirational framing of AC | ‘When my daughter lived in the Middle East they had AC units mounted on the wall in every room. Something like that would be ok’ (B4) |
| Cultural critique of an air-conditioned life | ‘I hated the way life was, totally closed off from the outside world’ (F6) |
| Expectations for air-conditioned access | ‘Hopefully the Government will make it that we build new homes with AC in them […] existing homes will have to have some kind of AC, the local councils would have to sort that out’ (D3) |
[i] Note: AC = air-conditioning.