SETS stresses the relationship(s) between HVAC services, building fabric and customer behaviours / expectations. The project uses a socio-technical approach to the study of energy use within the built environment, highlighting the co-evolution of social practices and the technological landscapes within which they occur.

Trees provide a variety of benefits in urban neighbourhoods, especially climate moderation. Trees are fewest where they are most needed, such as in high density neighbourhoods of Greater Manchester, but the number of trees varies enormously in different types of high density housing. The reasons for this are unclear - it may be due to housing layout, influence of residents, priorities of the local council or other social factors. This research project aims to explore the reasons for variation in tree number and suggest ways this may be influenced, and hopefully increased, in the future.

Drawing upon research on psychology of place, this project aims to explore people's relatinoships with natual urban settings and perceptions of change, focusing on the case of Oxford Road's green infrastructure. It seeks to examine how proposed change to the green spaces along Oxford Road is perceived by people, with special regard to their relationships with - and to collective and shared meanings of - these places.

To reduce carbon emissions from buildings, we need to understand the social and cultural influences on energy use. CaRB looks at how people use technology in practice, how these practices are affected by the design of the technology, and how they affect energy use. The project has involved an assessment of energy consumption practices in Bruntwood’s City Tower building in Manchester. Funding for the project has come from the Environment and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Carbon Trust through the Carbon Vision Initiative.

SAFE is part of the multi-disciplinary Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI). The project is concerned with the development of the next generation of supermarkets, and how to ensure that new supermarkets can (a) adapt to climate change, and (b) provide a positive influence on their local environments. Funding for the project has come from Tesco via the Sustainable Consumption Institute.

Green infrastructure (including gardens, parks and green roofs) and blue infrastructure (such as rivers, floodplains and sustainable drainage systems) play a vital role in creating places that are climate resilient. GRaBS is a collaborative project involving partners from across Europe. It will provide a new tool to assess climate change risks and vulnerability and a good practice database. Partners will also produce climate change adaptation action plans to help ensure climate resilient future development in their regions. The project is being undertaken in partnership with the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and is funded by Interreg.

The i-trees project will investigate how trees and greenery can help to make urban areas more resilient to climate change. The proposals include the creation of a living laboratory along the Oxford Road corridor, incorporating a series of experimental plots where the impact of trees can be measured in relation to: ground surface temperature; capture of dust and fine sooty particles; water retention and use. It is being co-ordinated by Community Forests North West and the University of Manchester.