Paper short abstract:

This paper explores makeshift thermal insulation practices in Northern Romania, with a focus on polystyrene. A pervasive material used in the cladding of blocks of flats, polystyrene creates social and material disruptions and requires a multifaceted understanding of risk and temporality.

Paper long abstract:

Once associated with modernity and progress, large scale housing projects are now a global phenomenon everywhere from China to Latin America. In Europe they have been at the forefront of current debates about welfare provisioning, austerity and social inequality. In Romania, they still house a majority of the population, but they are coming towards the end of their life cycles, posing a real threat to the health and safety of the residents. Having more than fifty years of use, these buildings require profound rehabilitation or reconstruction altogether.

This paper will examine the rehabilitation I witnessed during my fieldwork in Northern Romania, with a particular focus on polystyrene, the most used insulation material in the cladding of the buildings. I will argue that this material caused more problems than it solved, among which: the degradation of buildings due to lack of air permeability of the polystyrene, the fire danger because of the high flammability of this material and the occurrence of several health problems as the result of mould in apartments. As a material, polystyrene is not inert, but it transforms and interacts with the building in ways that are unexpected and disruptive. I argue that a multifaceted understanding of risk and temporality can bring architects and anthropologists together and engender fruitful collaborations for a better future of social housing.