The current state and future challenges of energy and buildings research are explored from the perspective of the social study of science. Major trends in knowledge production are considered for practices within current energy and buildings research. New forms of knowledge production hold the potential to provide clearer strategies to overcome barriers between researchers and practitioners. These are investigated through an explorative survey of researchers based on their own accounts of energy and buildings research, their expectations of future challenges, and their perceptions of ‘good’ science. Two sets of challenges from knowledge production arise for building energy research. First, with…

How can researchers and planners best facilitate the transition to low-carbon societies? In particular, can they initiate better dialogue in order to foster stakeholder engagement in planning, building and living in low-carbon settlements? These challenges inform a municipal planning process for a new neighbourhood in Trondheim, Norway: Brøset, as well as for an interdisciplinary research project exploring the role of action research in supporting the transition to low-carbon societies. The processes are described for identifying the central actors and applying the dialogue strategies in the early planning project phase. Researchers and planners collaborated to contribute to new knowledge production and…