Sufficiency as an Effective Strategy for More Sustainability and Fewer Vacancies in Rural Building Stock

Per capita residential space consumption has been rising continuously for many years. This significantly counteracts the effectiveness of costly energy efficiency measures and programs. This is countered by sufficiency of use concepts, which can contribute to reactivating and increasing the intensity of use of existing properties and avoiding new construction. They represent an important instrument for reducing land consumption and achieving climate neutrality in the building sector. The paper presents results of a research project that investigates the potential of sufficiency concepts for rural and small-town areas. This includes, among other things, survey results on the acceptance of sufficiency measures in the field of housing in a small town in Saxony.