Constructing an Arena for Energy Efficient Multi-family Housing Development: A case study of inter-organisational knowledge sharing

Other conference contribution, 2010

The Swedish building sector has for a long time struggled with the difficulty to create and share new knowledge. Within the sector, groups of professionals have been found to only share knowledge with members of their network, not with those they consider to be outsiders. As an attempt to unite different views and professional groupings, an arena project for sharing knowledge on energy efficient renovation of multi-family buildings was created by a group of scientists. This paper is examining the forming of this knowledge arena for sustainability. The overall purpose is to create an understanding of how knowledge can be shared between different communities. The paper identifies triggers that facilitate knowledge sharing between arena participants representing different organisations related to the Swedish building sector. By using case study methodology, data was collected through interviews with arena participants, observations and document studies. Findings revealed arena seminars and pilot projects as catalysts for social interaction, and a common tool served as a coincident boundary object. All three triggered sharing of knowledge across communities. Still, in spite of good prerequisites, the social interaction that took place on the arena was not enough to inspire sharing of knowledge to any large extent, thus preventing the arena project becoming what was hoped for, i.e. a driver of innovation for sustainability.