Residential energy renovation remains a central pillar of climate mitigation and social sustainability strategies, yet renovation rates persistently lag behind policy targets, particularly in older urban neighborhoods. This study investigates the underlying causes of renovation inertia using a neighborhood-scale mixed-methods approach that combines door-to-door household surveys, façade infrared thermography, and expert focus groups. Using a post-industrial residential district in Liège, Belgium, as an exploratory case, the study jointly analyzes building conditions, household characteristics, and renovation contexts. The results reveal that renovation failure cannot be explained solely by technical deficiencies. Instead, three interacting socio-technical mechanisms emerge: adaptive occupant behaviors that mask poor building performance, a constrained renovation agency shaped by tenure and income asymmetries, and the stratification of energy awareness along social lines. Together, these mechanisms reinforce a form of renovation lock-in in which technical degradation, behavioral adaptation, and institutional fragmentation mutually sustain inaction. By integrating physical diagnostics with social and experiential data, the study explains why conventional incentive-based renovation policies systematically underperform in comparable urban contexts. Rather than treating energy renovation as a purely technical or economic decision, the findings highlight the need for policy instruments that explicitly address agency constraints, behavioral compensation, and unequal exposure to energy-related risks. The proposed mixed-method framework is transferable to other urban neighborhoods and offers a replicable approach for diagnosing renovation barriers, supporting more socially sustainable energy transition strategies.
Ruellan et al. (Fri,) studied this question.