Méthodologies d'enquêtes en espace commercial : circulation des savoirs pour la construction de la maîtrise énergétique

International audienceThis paper presents the implementation in shopping areas of two survey methods focused on energy efficiency. Based on the hypothesis that DIY centres’ customers plan to modify their houses, we assume that they constitute a relevant sample to approach the question of housing energy consumption. Because the costumers can be skilled or be looking for advice, we state that DIY centres are essential places for knowledge-sharing and capability-building on the stores’ products.Given that ethnographic surveys in shopping areas are commonly focused on either consumers’ behavior or internal store stakeholders’ practices, we propose two methods aiming to study the information flows on energy efficiency in these spaces. In particular, we pay special attention to how information is exchanged between salesmen (or advisers) and inhabitants as well as how it is understood and interpreted by both of them. These exchanges, moreover, are essential in the construction of the inhabitants’ expertise in house upgrading for energy efficiency.Firstly, we present a shorter research that studies how inhabitants interpret and understand technical representations of daylight and lighting analysis, which are used for the early design stages. To do so, we develop a campaign of customer surveys in a DIY centre. We ask the participants to discuss about several technical images resulting from a single house lighting simulation. As a result, they recalled their personal experience their house to explain the physical phenomena of light. Furthermore, the images strike up a conversation on the intimacy knowledge and sensory memories of light and home. We state that another method would not reveal the same results.In a second research, we conduct several surveys in DIY centres and material retailers’ departments that offer energy saving products for housing. Through a method of passive observation, our aim is to analyze the energy advice scenes to discern the exchange modalities between both inhabitant and salesman. We seek to understand the technical basis and the practical forms that lead the offer of advice and the support on energy efficiency for the inhabitants. As a result, we show that inhabitants deal with several criteria for their works. Energy efficiency seems to be only one of them, not being a current priority among the different choices to make. Moreover, they distrust in the salesmen’ knowledge and aims. Therefore, they have already taken a decision when they visit the store: the expertise in energy efficiency is already built and the inhabitants only want to compare their information. Despite of the physical constraints of the DIY centres environment for the survey, conducting interviews about housing inside them encourages inhabitants to describe their houses as accurately as possible proceeding from memory, both in technical and sensory aspects. Their stories are inevitably different when they are at home. Furthermore, during their discussion with the salesmen, the inhabitants unveil their point of views, their personal notion of comfort and their priority criteria about house’s energy efficiency. These surveys show that the energy efficiency of housing can only be discussed in connection with the emotional and cultural values intimately involved with the qualities which inhabitants project on their houses. Lastly, the method of “delocalized surveys” contribute to unveil the images of their housing that inhabitants have