Gobernando mediante sensores. Sensorización y regulación digital de la vida ambiental de hogares en Chile

Abstract

In this article we describe the case of the National Housing Monitoring Network (ReNaM), an experiment by the Chilean State which, through the installation of sensors in homes in different cities of the country, seeks to generate a large public database on the environmental behavior of homes in their real conditions and throughout their life cycle. With this information, it is hoped to advance in data-driven decision making and improve regulations on sustainable construction. Gathering theoretical contributions from Governmentality Studies and Science and Technology Studies, in this article we explore the distinctive mode of government that is activated with ReNaM and the ways to justify and materialize its intervention to households. As we argue, ReNaM is not only a new digital environmental monitoring mechanism but, more profoundly, a unique type of governmentality by sensors. The introduction of sensors in domestic spaces would be transforming the forms of knowledge and government of the State and recomposing the relationship with its population. However, this experimentation is more fragile and ambivalent in practice. Through a qualitative case study following the actors of ReNaM (sensors, users, public authorities, documents, etc.), we will show the tensions between different scripts or ways of imagining and implementing ReNaM and which manifest the complex articulation between diverse political, sustainable, economic or scientific issues and spheres with domestic life.