Unveiling women’s ventilation practices and comfort in Jordan: video diaries as method for post-occupancy evaluation

Abstract

Understanding occupants’ behaviour and thermal preferences is key to designing less energy-intensive buildings. However, qualitative research methods to understand behaviour can be time-consuming and limited by participants’ recall bias and interpretations. This paper introduces a participatory method of ‘video diaries’ for interrogating occupants’ post-occupancy behaviour and energy use with their own mobile phones. The method is applied to understand middleclass women’s domestic and comfort practices in Amman, Jordan, focusing on their use of windows, fans and air-conditioning (AC). The study demonstrates the method’s effectiveness in capturing interrelated domestic energy-dependent practices, adaptive comfort and the materiality of homes. In particular, the video diaries reveal: (1) overlapping and ‘messy’ practices tied to the use of domestic technologies (e.g. AC and fans) in unexpected ways (e.g. always ventilating while cooking or exercising) that challenge conventional building simulation approaches that account for only thermally motivated actions; (2) diverse perceptions of comfort negotiated through gendered bodies and practices; and (3) the usefulness of video dairies as a form of self-reflection and increased awareness that may result in behavioural change. The study argues for using video diaries to supplement methods such as surveys and field measurements, particularly in post-occupancy evaluations or simulations for domestic energy use.