ADDRESSING ENERGY POVERTY BETWEEN WELFARE AND ENVIRONMENT

Wednesday, 19th October 2022
4:00 p.m.
Z.1.09
or online: https://classroom.aau.at/b/von-32p-840-fuw

Poster of the Guest Lecture

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The interplay between the environmental issues – embedded in the climate crisis – and the sustainability of welfare systems is turning into a pivotal research topic that involves the conditions under which basic needs, such as energy, are ensured to the population regardless their socio-economic and social-spatial conditions. In this respect, energy poverty represents a meaningful issue to address the complexities behind the twofold environmental and welfare crises, as it entails both social and environmental concerns. In his lecture, De Vidovich discusses the theoretical, conceptual, and empirical aspects related to the social dimensions of energy poverty, by engaging with theory and illustrating some first reflections from research activities conducted in four public housing neighborhoods of Trieste.

Dr. Lorenzo De Vidovich is research associate at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Trieste, where he teaches sociology of territory and energy transition. He is currently working on eco-welfare, energy poverty, and renewable energy communities. His main research interests span welfare and territorial policies, focusing on welfare provision and territorial development in suburbs and peripheries. In 2021 he has been project manager for the applied research project ‘Community Energy Map’, carried out by RSE (Ricerca Sistema Energetico) and Luiss Business School, and he also recently worked on health governance and patterns of vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is co-founder of the research group on eco-welfare (www.units.it/ecowelfare).