Case Study Examining Deep Energy Retrofits for Affordable Housing Wins Top Prize in 2024 CSE Prize Competition
UC Press’s Case Studies in the Environment is pleased to announce the winner of its 2024 prize competition, Lia Downing and David Hsu’s Decarbonizing Affordable Housing in New York City: Options and Obstacles to Scale Up Deep Energy Retrofits.
Each year, the Editor-in-Chief, along with members of the CSE editorial team, choose the top article, as well as up to two honorable mention articles, based on their insights into critical environmental issues. Notable contributions demonstrate how a case study can translate into broad, generalizable findings; feature strong perspectives and engaging narratives; are accessible to their intended audiences; address topics that are important or notable, either in their novelty, impact, or urgency; and generally aid the teaching of environmental concepts to students and/or practitioners.
“With so many impressive manuscripts published this last year, it was incredibly hard to choose winners and runners up for this year's Case Studies in the Environment paper prize,” notes CSE Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Jennifer Moore Bernstein. “The winners, Lia Downing and David Hsu, use the case study of the Casa Pasiva energy retrofit project to demonstrate how social, economic, and environmental circumstances intersect to create challenges and opportunities. It is an excellent teaching tool, brimming with qualitative findings and quantitative data, making a unique case generalizable. The manuscript exemplifies the power of an environmental case study to complexify and deepen what might at first seem simple.”
The top prize comes with a $2,000 cash award, with $500 going to each of the honorable mention case studies.
Rounding out the 2024 awards are two honorable mention case studies: Francis Galgano’s The 1964 Jordan River Diversion Plan: Transboundary Water Basins and Conflict, which examines the complex relationship between water, geopolitics, and conflict, exposing how competition over this finite resource has fueled tensions and ignited interstate war, and which has been the subject of numerous reports in the news media (see for example: NBC’s “Water shortages are likely brewing future wars—with several flashpoints across the globe”); and Alon Tal’s A Charismatic Hyena: Insights for Human-Wildlife Interaction in Shared Urban Environments, which, through the case of a hyena who caught the public’s attention, explores the potential for charismatic species to advance conservation efforts.
Our congratulations go out to each of the prize-winning authors. As in previous years, Case Studies in the Environment has made each of these case studies free to read.
Case Studies in the Environment is a journal of peer-reviewed case study articles and case study pedagogy articles. The journal informs faculty, students, researchers, educators, professionals, and policymakers on case studies and best practices in the environmental sciences and studies.