Creating Meaningful Experiences of Sufficiency. A quasi-experimental field study to examine student housing settings to enhance the mean-ing of shared living and sufficiency

Abstract

Addressing the ecological crisis necessitates demand-side mitigation. However, sufficiency strategies that limit consumption are often perceived as detrimental to well-being, creating a barrier to broader societal efforts. This study investigated the Collegium Academicum (CA) student home as a setting where shared living is practised with a strong focus on sufficiency. We examined whether such sufficiency settings can enhance the personal meaning of sufficiency compared to ordinary shared living environments. Data were collected from 159 residents of the CA and a standard student home. Our findings indicated that residents of the CA experienced greater meaningfulness of shared living, improved sufficiency attitudes and a higher intention to choose shared living in the future. Experiences of shared living had a lagged positive impact on the perceived meaningfulness of shared living. These results imply that sufficiency settings can strengthen sufficiency-oriented living. Future research should continue to explore these environments using robust pre-post study designs.