Why are we not renovating more? An elaboration of the wicked problem of renovating apartment buildings

ABSTRACT A large proportion of apartment buildings in Europe were built between 1950 and 1990 and many of them are today in need of renovation due to inherently poor quality of design, a lack of subsequent maintenance and the present-day imperative of energy-efficiency. The limited extent of renovation compared with new-build projects suggests that developers find renovation unattractive. The purpose of this paper is to examine this reluctance by applying the theory of wicked problems. The paper discusses the wickedness of various aspects when doing feasibility assessments of renovation projects in a Swedish context, such as technical viability, financial viability, and environmental performance. The results show that most of these aspects are wicked and that attempts to manage the wickedness of renovation require both skill and knowledge, not to inflict harmful effects. For instance, it is necessary to do case-by-case assessments to determine if renovation is feasible. When planning for the renovation of several apartment buildings the complexity increases, because more stakeholders are involved. However, this also enables incremental approaches, continuous learning, and local adaptations. The insight that renovation is a wicked problem is important input for future research on renovation as well as for property owners when considering renovation.