Mold Cultures

• In Event: Permeable Housing and Intersecting Infrastructures

Abstract

In humid climates, mold provides an impediment to healthy living in domestic environments. Water finds its way into permeable, porous, and absorbent homes, and mold appears unannounced and unwanted in wet areas, drywall, roofs, and elsewhere. Microscopic airborne spores circulate in ambient atmospheres and are incorporated into the bodies of exposed residents (Shapiro 2015). The (microbio)politics of air quality (Paxson 2008) includes how we determine mold’s presence, its characteristics and potential harms, and the distribution of forms of available response.
This paper examines the cultures of policy worlds that attend mold in housing. Drawing on examples from Northern Australia and southeast Louisiana, it considers networked regulations and practices related to mitigation, control, and remediation of domestic molds. This includes building code specifications for appropriate materials, certification regimes for professionals and programs, public health standards, and technologies of detection, assessment, and removal. Specifically, it draws on Healthabitat’s Housing for Health methodology and its attention to controlling the thermal environment of housing. The paper considers what maintenance practices are required to reduce the presence and potential harms of mold, and what consideration is given to such questions of vibrant matter within government policies (Bennett 2010). In other words, what sensibilities does housing policy cultivate toward mold cultures?

Author

• Liam Grealy, University of Sydney