Submit a Manuscript to the Journal
Housing Studies
For a Special Issue on
The Proliferation of Housing Decarbonization as Field of Capital Accumulation
Abstract deadline
Manuscript deadline
Special Issue Editor(s)
Lisa Vollmer,
Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, Erkner Germany
lisa.vollmer@leibniz-irs.de
Melissa García-Lamarca,
Lund University
melissa.garcia@lucsus.lu.se
Justin Kadi,
University of Cambridge
jk914@cam.ac.uk
The Proliferation of Housing Decarbonization as Field of Capital Accumulation
This special issue aims to disentangle the multiple intersections between state strategies to decarbonize housing on the one hand and the proliferation of housing as a field of capital accumulation on the other. Bridging these two so far largely separate literature strands, the papers will advance critical readings at the intersection of housing studies and sustainability transitions.
Thematic outline for the special issue
Twenty-seven percent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions stem from the building sector (UNEP 2020). Hence, the decarbonization of housing provision – its construction and operation – is essential to counter climate change. At the same time, housing provision is in a deep affordability and accessibility crisis. The extraction of profit from housing through commodification and financialization contradicts its function as basic need and as place of reproduction and care, (re)producing social inequalities. In this context, governments at various levels have introduced measures to foster housing decarbonization. Yet rather than improving living conditions for those in poorly insulated housing, these measures often drive inequalities, e.g. through green/low-carbon gentrification that benefits middle and upper classes, while excluding working class/racialized residents (Bouzarovski et al 2018, Anguelovski et al 2019).
The dynamics around housing decarbonization go beyond the unequal distribution of costs and benefits, however. Real estate, the construction sector, energy providers and other capital fractions increasingly view housing decarbonization as a means to extract profit and rent. They use the “greening” of housing to maximize returns, drawing on existing regulatory frameworks or pushing for new ones. These strategies cover different aspects of housing, from construction, management strategies and maintenance practices, to financial instruments in financing and securitization: retrofitting that enables the closure of commodification gaps (Edwards and Bulkeley 2017, Großmann 2019, Knuth 2019), the outsourcing of heat provision to heat contractors, the integration of sustainability into risk calculations through ESG-investment (Parish 2025), the targeting of “green” new housing to higher-income groups, new financial instruments to promote “greening” (Taylor and Knuth 2025), or the establishment of decarbonization as an investment product (Knuth 2016). Tightly interwoven with regulatory measures, housing decarbonization is thus proliferating as a novel field of capital accumulation.
The special issue aims for papers on one of the following themes (or their interconnection): 1. How (new) regulatory frameworks enable capital accumulation though housing decarbonization. 2. How companies adapt their business models or create new accumulation strategies around housing decarbonization. 3. How emerging conflicts around/and resistance against housing decarbonization is impacting capital accumulation.
What makes this SI distinctive is its interdisciplinary nature: it expands on debates on financialization in housing studies, contributes to the conceptualization of the housing question as a socio-ecological one, and advances much needed critical readings of sustainability transitions in this field.
Within the above themes, papers may address one or more of the following questions as well as other aspects of housing decarbonization as field of capital accumulation:
- How do (changing) regulatory frameworks of housing decarbonization influence the opportunities of capital accumulation?
- What are the social and ecological outcomes of housing decarbonization when approached as a field of capital accumulation?
- What are the effects of the introduction of new regulatory frameworks for housing decarbonization (e.g. mandatory Energy Performance Certificates) on the real estate sector and retrofit industry?
- How is the ecological transformation of housing related to financialization? What role do large scale investors and landlords play in establishing housing decarbonization as field of capital accumulation?
- How is the ecological transformation of housing related to financialization? What role do large scale investors and landlords play in establishing housing decarbonization as field of capital accumulation?
- To what extent do current housing decarbonisation strategies reproduce or deepen inequalities in access to affordable housing? How are these processes contested by residents?
- How does the current movement against climate measures by (right-wing) governments affect the ability of capital accumulation in housing decarbonization? What are the broader political/geo-political challenges for housing decarbonization?
- How do residents (tenants, owner-occupiers) respond to capital accumulation through decarbonization?
We are aiming at empirical and theoretical contributions and are particularly interested in how the above plays out in different geographies. Single case studies and comparative papers are welcome.
References
Anguelovski, Isabelle, James J. T. Connolly, Melissa Garcia-Lamarca, Helen Cole, and Hamil Pearsall. 2019. “New scholarly pathways on green gentrification: What does the urban ‘green turn’ mean and where is it going?” Progress in Human Geography 43 (6): 1064-86.
Bouzarovski, Stefan, Jan Frankowski, and Sergio Tirado Herrero. 2018. “Low‐Carbon Gentrification: When Climate Change Encounters Residential Displacement.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 42 (5): 845-63.
Edwards, Gareth A. S. / Bulkeley, Harriet (2017): Urban political ecologies of housing and climate change: The ‘Coolest Block’ Contest in Philadelphia. In: Urban Studies 54/5, 1126-1141.
Grossmann, Katrin (2019): Using conflicts to uncover injustices in energy transitions: The case of social impacts of energy efficiency policies in the housing sector in Germany. In: Global Transitions 1, 148-156.
Knuth, Sarah. 2016. “Seeing Green in San Francisco: City as Resource Frontier.” Antipode 48 (3): 626-44.
Knuth, Sarah (2019): Cities and planetary repair: The problem with climate retrofitting. In: Environment and Planning A 51/2, 487-504.
Parish, Jessica (2025) Reinventing renting? ESG investing and the new landlordism of build-to-rent housing financialization. Environment and Planning A 57(6): 739-756.
Taylor, Zac J., and Sarah E. Knuth. 2025. “Financing “climate-proof” housing? The premises and pitfalls of PACE finance in Florida.” Journal of Urban Affairs 47 (1): 53-69.
Submission Instructions
Titles and abstracts (300 words max.), along with full contact details, should be submitted to Lisa Vollmer (lisa.vollmer@leibniz-irs.de) no later than 15 September 2026.
- 15 September 2026: Abstract deadline
- 30 September 2026: Notification of abstract selection
- 15 January 2027: Paper submission to guest editors
- 28 February 2027: Feedback by guest editors to authors
- 15 April 2027: Submission to journal