Accelerating sustainable housing transitions: A case study of the window industry in Australia

• The high-performance window industry in Australia requires deliberate efforts to accelerate the transition. • Analysis of niche-regime-system dynamics through the Multi-Level Perspective and lock-in mechanisms reveals complex social, political, and techo-economic relations and path dependency. • Research with the niche industry and sustainable housing system identifies an integrated set of multi-dimensional, multi-relational interventions. • The implications have relevance for other jurisdictions and sustainability considerations within the transition to a sustainable built environment. • The research highlights contextual influences of power, affect, and norms as prefiguring acceleration in transitions. Windows are a critical element in delivering sustainable housing and contributing to net zero emissions targets. While the use of higher performance windows is normalised in some jurisdictions, in others, such as Australia, single glazing remains the dominant technology. This paper applies a Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework to explore niche-regime-system dynamics including high-performance windows (the niche), and single-glazed windows (the regime), within systems of sustainable housing, and housing construction and upgrade. Qualitative research was undertaken with participants representative of the high-performance window industry and builders of sustainable houses in Australia for a grounded, empirical approach. Analysis reveals how particular contextual relations sustain a path-dependency towards single glazing. This paper contributes a case of lock-in in the face of housing transitions and, in so doing, draws reflections to inform MLP inspired studies of transition in two ways. Firstly, prospects for the windows transition itself are elucidated including recommendations for an integrated mix of interventions and, secondly, MLP dimensions are further developed through a deeply contextual analysis of social relations and their influence within transition pathways, thereby attending to affect, culture, and power. The findings are relevant for stakeholders in jurisdictions working to accelerate change towards sustainable housing.