Occupants’ motivation to protect residential building stock from climate-related overheating: A study in southern England

Abstract

Temperate zones including the UK and mainland Europe continue to be exposed to increasing temperatures and more frequent heatwaves as global warming continues. The built environment can mitigate the public health risk of overheating and recommendations for precautionary actions on homes have been published by government and industry. A key player in improving resilience is the householder, who can determine whether precautionary measures will be installed in their home. Previous research on flooding has applied Protection Motivation Theory to examine determinants of householder response to risk. However, flooding risks differ from those of overheating in several ways. The current study builds on this work to address the gap on understanding householder propensity to install precautionary measures against overheating. A large-scale survey (n = 1007) of householders was conducted in the south of England and regression analyses applied to the data. While threat appraisal (perception of threat risk and severity) had an influence on motivation to take action, coping appraisal (perception of ability to make changes, of the effectiveness of the changes and of convenience) was a stronger predictor, particularly for flat dwellers. Previous experience of overheating did not directly influence protection motivation. Age was negatively related to intentions to act but income was not a significant factor. Recommendations for policy and practice include focusing on enhancing coping appraisal, targeting older citizens, customising initiatives by type of property and occupancy, and framing mitigating actions in ways other than protection from overheating.