Title:  HSB Living Lab – the journey towards sustainable housing

Abstract: HSB Living Lab is a full-scale living lab that explores the future of housing. Located in Gothenburg, on the Chalmers campus, it’s more than just a building—it’s a living laboratory where about 40 residents and scientists collaborate to shape the housing of tomorrow. During our first eight years we started over 200 projects and tests. Welcome to share our insights and learning so far.

Bio: Emma Sarin is the Manager of HSB Living Lab. She works for HSB, the largest housing cooperative in Sweden, and has been a part of the process of forming this living laboratory since 2015. In this session she is going to share the experiences on how to get the most out of partnerships, project portfolio and cooperation between a broad group of actors, how to take results into impact and why there is a need for free zones like living labs.

Title: Effective performance of low energy and zero energy buildings: the example of the living lab UNIZEB

Abstract: Different types of experiments that can be carried out in buildings for energy and IEQ (Indoor Environmental Quality) point of view. There are two opposite tests that can be done: special test rooms and mock-ups, where detailed analyses can be done, but in certain conditions, and real monitoring activities which are influenced by instruments errors and user behaviours, where precise figures and analyses may be difficult to obtain. Experiences in past researches will be shown and the overview of the living lab UniZEB of the University of Padova will be shown.

Bio: Michele De Carli is responsible of Betalab (Building Energy & Technology Assessment Research) Group in the University of Padova (Italy). He is an engineer and expert in energy and comfort in buildings. He is the responsible of Core-Care (COntrolled room for building Environmental Comfort Assessment and subjective human Response Evaluation) laboratory and the living lab UniZEB (Zero Energy Building Laboratory). His activities are also related to building simulations and UBEM (Urban Building Energy Models).

Title: IHBI-Lab – Using physical and virtual experience to find sustainable technology in buildings

Abstract: Intelligent Human-Buildings Interactions lab (IHBI) at Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University, aims to explore the interaction among energy, energy-efficient measures and occupant behaviour using lab experiment. As a new research domain, IHBI conducts cutting-edge research on immersive built environment, data-driven modelling and machine learning, intelligent indoor environment for evidence-informed decision-making.

Bio: Thomas Olofsson is a professor in energy efficiency, with a focus on buildings. His research focuses on reducing building energy end-use with improved indoor comfort. The scope is to propose, implement and evaluate strategies for increased energy performance and thermal comfort, evaluations of building energy efficiency, and parameter identification. Methods include laboratory and flied experiments as well as analytical modelling, using forward as well as data-driven approaches. Further, the investigations have a user and stakeholder perspective to map behaviour, perception, adaptation, and attitudes. Studies include HVAC systems and indoor climate, building components and building construction systems.

Title: Promobilia MoveAbility Lab – a lab for human movement 

Abstract: The ability to move is fundamental for humans. The Promobilia MoveAbility Lab is a physical research infrastructure for analysing human movement and working with state-of-the-art tools for biomechanical and physiological measurement. The lab is located centrally in the main campus of KTH. The Promobilia MoveAbility Lab houses a variety of equipment used in the study of human movement and in the development of technologies and methods to help people improve their mobility. As a result, the lab is often visited by patients participating in the research team's various studies. During the talk, some of the research projects will be shared.

Bio: Ruoli Wang received her B. Eng in Mechanical Engineering from Southeast University (China) and PhD in Engineering Mechanics from KTH. She completed her postdoc training in Paediatric Neurology at Karolinska Institutet and in Computational Biology at KTH. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the Promobilia MoveAbility Lab, and Docent specialized in Biomechanics. Her research interests include medical imaging, wearable sensors, and experimental measurement and computational approaches development in the biomechanics of human movement. 

Title: Ethics of care, gender and smart home technology in the green transition

Abstract: We need a green transition of the energy systems, and we want it to be a just transition as well. The perspective of ethics of care, originally developed by feminist scholars, can provide new input for what this mean for the energy system. At the same time recent research on smart home technology give insights on how gender is at play in the home when new technology is employed. Together these issues raise new questions of what types of new smart technology is needed.

Bio: Professor Gram-Hanssen is leading the research group on Sustainable Cities and Everyday Practices at Aalborg University. Her research throughout 30 years is centered on housing, everyday life, new technology and consumption from a climate and energy perspective. She is a frequent speaker at national and international events and have been project leader of research project financed by Danish and European research councils, including having received an ERC-advanced grant.

Title: Who gets to change society? Solar energy, social norms, and inclusion. 

Abstract: Transitioning to a sustainable society is urgent and requires everyone to be onboard. However, existing cultural and social norms impact who is invited to participate in the transition, essentially excluding groups of people despite their interest, competences, and willingness. The solar energy sector plays a key role in the transition but is one example where social norms are currently hindering people to fully participate. I will talk about how social and gender norms impact who is viewed as a solar energy customer as well as solar energy expert, how this creates unnecessary barriers for women to engage in solar energy, and what actors like solar energy companies can do to remove those barriers.

Bio: Maria Håkansson is a researcher at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. She has a background in human-computer interaction (HCI) and is interested in the intersection of people, technology, and sustainability. Maria’s current research includes norm-critical and justice perspectives on solar energy; household energy resilience; and energy sufficiency as a complement to energy efficiency.

Title: Eco-Modernist Imaginaries in the Sustainable City Unpacked Through Critical Speculative Design

Abstract: Once upon a time, smart displays and eco-feedback systems were envisioned to hold promising potential for fostering more sustainable behavior in households. Nowadays, smart home technology is often bundled with dreams of energy-efficient automation, enhanced security, comfort, and an improved quality of life. But are these visions for everyone, and are they contributing in the best possible way toward ecological and social sustainability? In this presentation, I will draw parallels between some concepts of the smart home and broader eco-modernist imaginaries present in sustainable cities, imprinted in the artificial. I will provide examples of how critical speculative design can be used to flip perspectives and open up for other narratives and practices to form.

Bio: Loove Broms is a researcher at the division of Strategic Sustainablity Studies at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Associate Professor at the department of Design, Interior architecture and Visual communication, Konstfack. Loove does research in design and sustainability with a particular interest in discursive artefacts, narratives and meaning-making. Using an experimental design research approach, the intention is to problematize present consumer culture and urban development through speculative and critical design.

Title: Exploring the effects of gendered user framings through the example of ‘technologies of power’ in Swedish elder care.

Abstract: An recent global overview of how energy users are framed in energy research demonstrates that these framings are highly gendered and stereotypical. In relation to this, it migh be noted that the uptake of smart home technologies has been much lower than anticipated, especially among women. What are the the dangers and pitfalls of the gendered and stereotypical user framings in the development of the brave new ‘smart’ world? 

This presentation demonstrates how new technologies, developed by engineers with the intention of optimising care work in Swedish elder care, are perceived as obstacles by the care workers, obstacles which make daily work routines more difficult and time consuming and ultimately construct the care workers as deviants. Through norm-critical artefacts the project illustrates how new technological devices can become technologies of power that wields ‘power over’ care workers, but also how a norm-critical design can support the care workers ‘power to’ resist and reconfigure those power dynamics. This aims to illustrate the importance of being aware of how power is mediated through new technology and of  the role that technology developers such as engineers and designers play in facilitating or obstructing that mediation. 

Bio: Camilla Andersson is a researcher at the division of Urban and Regional Studies at the Dept. of Urban Planning and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Camilla's research includes norm-critical research through design with a focus on gender and intersectional perspectives as well as speculative design research critically exploring environmental and social sustainability. 

Title: Humanizing Complex Urban Systems Analysis and Smart Tools: The Geospatial Sciences Lab

Abstract: The Geospatial Sciences Lab is an interdisciplinary research group of faculty and students at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, KTH, SU, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Nanjing Forestry University. Our research informs areas of urban science, geospatial analysis, dynamic modeling and Planning Support System development and deployment with an eye toward humanizing smart tools comprehensibility, and accessibility by local experts, decision-makers, and stakeholders for informing more sustainable design and planning decisions. The presentation will describe some of the current lab research and our approach to humanizing complex systems analysis.

Bio: Dr. Brian Deal is an Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he focusses on issues of energy, climate, and urban systems sustainability.  He is the Director of the Land use Evolution and impact Assessment Modeling (LEAM) laboratory where he studies urban land use transformation, dynamic spatial simulation modeling, planning support systems, and designing for climate change.  He teaches courses in urban sustainability, energy systems, geodesign, and smart urban landscapes. Dr. Deal is active in a large number of national and international research initiatives on smart, sustainable urban places.

Title: Three Behavioral Observations Inspired by Research on Electricity Consumers.

Abstract:  In this presentation I will discuss three tentative insights from research on motivations and beliefs of electricity consumers relevant to the behavioral changes needed for sustainable and efficient use of electricity.  The first refers to the assumptions implied by the routine use of price signals to shape behavior. The second refers to the assumed homogeneity of the recipients of these signals. The third refers to where the responsibility for sustainability changes are typically placed.

Bio: Peter Juslin is a Professor of Psychology, especially Cognitive Psychology at Uppsala University. He has performed extensive research on human judgment and decision making for more than three decades and is currently leading a research group in this field, but he is also a member of the cross-disciplinary USER-research group at Uppsala University that investigates the conditions for a transition to a more sustainable and efficient use of electricity and the electricity grid.

Title: Digital lifestyle interventions- lessons learnt from 10 years’ research and what is the future?

Abstract: Professor Löf will summarise the research field with examples from own and others’ research for different populations (children as well as adults) and reflect on future steps. 

Bio: Marie Löf is Professor in Nutrition at Karolinska Institutet, where she leads the research group, IMPACT, currently with 25 members. Her research focuses primarily on early-life obesity prevention and digital health. During the last years, she has developed and evaluated several digital interventions to promote healthy eating and for obesity prevention that are now under implementation at scale in routine health care (e.g., MINISTOP for child health care, HealthyMoms for maternity health care). Current work includes e.g., a digital platform to improve self-management and treatment of gestational diabetes. She has a particular interest in making digital interventions scalable and accessible for socially disadvantaged populations. Her research group also conducts research in Big Data and technology-driven Citizen science. Professor Löf is also the coordinator of the Centre for Nutrition.

Title: Human choices, human behaviour and climate mitigation in the era of AI

Abstract: The talk will explore what is the role of Human choices in driving mitigation actions at scale. We will draw upon recent behavioural economics insights and we will dive into a new generation AI models discussing direct and indirect implications on climate pathways.

Bio: Francesca is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at KTH. Her project, LIBRA,.explores the sustainability trade-offs of AI investments. Economist by background, she holds a PhD in Climate Change Sciences and Management from Ca' Foscari University. Francesca applies generetive AI to climate economics problems, spanning from climate finance to policy design.

Title: Governing cities through innovation: sustainable smart cities and emerging modes of collective change

Abstract: Over the last decade, the creation of sustainable smart cities has emerged as a key policy goal around the world. Digitalising urban services to achieve sustainability goals is being realised through testbeds, experiments, and trials that require new modes of collaboration among public authorities, the private sector, academia, and civil society. These activities produce tangible evidence that ICT solutions can be implemented in real world settings and result in new forms of innovative governance that are decentralised, data-driven, and solutions-oriented. In this presentation, Andrew Karvonen will discuss how the pursuit of sustainable smart cities is changing decisionmaking processes.

Bio: Andrew Karvonen is Professor of Urban Design and Planning at Lund University where he conducts research on the politics and practice of sustainable urban development. He has completed projects on water and energy networks, zero-carbon housing, and smart cities. He has an abiding interest in urban laboratories and experimentation as vehicles to govern cities and realise sustainable urban development goals. His current projects involve streets as testbeds to inform broader mobility policies (EmbedterLabs, 2022-2025) and the role of intermediary organisations in facilitating urban transformations (TRANS-LEARN, 2021-2025). His most recent books include Artificial Intelligence and the City: Urbanistic Perspectives on AI (Routledge, 2024) and Smart and Sustainable Cities? Pipedreams, Practicalities and Possibilities (Routledge, 2021). 

Title: The Architecture of Re-Empowerment

Abstract: This talk is divided into two sides: the dark side and the less dark side. On the dark side, we consider the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Digital Transformation, and observe that despite the plethora [sic] of ethical guidelines, design methodologies, international standards, and even international regulation, AI is still being used, and is going to be used, as a tool for abstracted power and abnegated responsibility. It will consider a range of threats in the form of “Untrustworthy AI”, which is causing democratic backsliding and post-scarcity autarchy, producing a kind of “digital feudalism”, and even diminishing the very essence of “being human”. Our diagnosis is that the essential problem is the inequitable distribution of power: either by entrenching existing power imbalances or even the unwitting concession of power to a proxy intelligence. Therefore, on the less dark side, we discuss our attempts to formulate an alternative approach to “power-sensitive design” in socio-technical systems, based on an architecture for re-empowerment. This includes modelling work that connects insights from political science with algorithms from computer science to address contemporary political challenges, as well as a methodology for operationalising socio-technical systems in the public interest, technology for ethical platformisation, and socially-guided machine learning for self-determination of social arrangements.

Bio: Jeremy Pitt is Professor of Intelligent and Self-Organising Systems in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London (UK). His research interests focus on developing formal models of social processes using computational logic, and their application in self-organising multi-agent systems for engineering cyber-physical and socio-technical systems; some of this work won two Best Paper awards from the original SASO Conference. He has been an investigator on more than 30 national and European research projects and has published more than 150 articles in journals and conferences; his book "Self-Organising Multi-Agent Systems: Algorithmic Foundations of Cyber-Anarcho-Socialism" was published by World Scientific in 2021. He is a Fellow of the BCS and a Fellow of the IET, and a member of the IEEE. From 2018-2023 as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine in 2023, where he wrote extensively on the societal impact and ethical implications of unrestricted Artificial Intelligence.

Title: Stockholm, a sustainable, smart and innovative city

Abstract: Stockholm is working with a number of strategies to achive its goals to provide the services the citizens need and expect. This presentation will focus on a few of the policy documents that is guiding the work with digitalisation and provide som examples of on-going projects and challenges.

Bio: Maria Holm has worked for the city of Stockholm for seven years and has since the start led smart city projects and activites in collaboration with the city’s administrations and companies. The work aims is to find ways to make the best use of digitalisation and specifically technology such as Internet of Things and AI. The smart city use technology to become more efficient in terms of resources, costs, common technology and platforms and use of data in all aspects of the services that the city provides.

Title: Integrating Psychological Data and Observations into Mathematical Models of Social Dynamics: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract: Mathematical models are often be used to study social phenomena, such as information spread and behaviour change, and can be used to help to inform policy or plan interventions. This talk will showcase two recent projects which involved integrating psychological theory and experimental data into existing mathematical models; the first considers tipping points that lead to changes in social norms and conventions, and the second concerns the impact and spread of (mis)information. I will discuss the challenges of working at the intersection of multiple disciplines, as well as the exciting opportunities that are emerging.

Bio: Dr. Mengbin (Ben) Ye graduated from the Australian National University in 2018 with a PhD in systems and control engineering, and completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Groningen. Since 2022, he has been a Western Australian Premier’s Early Career Fellow at Curtin University. His research uses mathematical models to study the dynamics of social processes in networks of people, with particular interest in opinion formation, decision-making and behaviour, and information transmission.