Five mechanisms for advancing sufficiency policies: A comparative case-study of two urban housing policy processes

Abstract

The German housing sector is faced with the urgent twin challenges of providing adequate housing for all while reducing ecological impacts. Sufficiency policies describe ways to address both the ecological- and the housing crisis by changes in social practices to reduce consumption and production levels and satisfy human needs. Over the past decades, scarcity of housing and ecological impacts of housing have both been driven by increases in the average use of floor space per capita. Substantial reductions are necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from housing to levels consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°. Sufficiency policies are necessary for redistributing housing space to better match needs for adequate housing while reducing ecological impacts. Proposals for policies abound but adoption of far-reaching policies remain scarce. Powerful coalitions of actors with interests in the continued growth of consumption and production levels regularly oppose sufficiency policies. There is an urgent need for understanding how to spark policy changes for sufficiency despite barriers and resistance. This study investigates when policy processes lead to decisions in favour of sufficiency. The study presents a comparative case study of two German urban housing policy processes with decisions for sufficiency policies: the redevelopment of the industrial port Hafen-Ost in Flensburg, and the Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen campaign to socialize the assets of large housing companies in Berlin. Based on the advocacy coalition framework and process tracing methods, the study proposes five mechanisms to understand how actors support or oppose sufficiency policies in urban housing policy processes: (1) creating support, (2) (de)legitimizing, (3) weakening opposition, (4) delaying the process, and (5) pursuing anchoring decisions. By defining actionable mechanisms, the study contributes to filling a knowledge gap in the literature on sufficiency. The mechanisms and their explanation of political dynamics are intended to support policy actors who advocate for sufficiency.