We are at the conjunction of two crises: the first is ecological and structural. The second is energetic and more cyclical, because linked to the global geopolitical situation. It has led to questioning a number of our habits. During the autumn and winter of 2022-2023, the government’s injunction to lower the heating temperature by one degree provoked epidermal reactions and fed intense debates. These encourage us to think about how our sensitivity to cold and heat was built. For far from being a purely physiological fact, thermal comfort is the result of a historical, cultural and social construction that results from the conjunction of multiple factors. How, from the end of the Middle Ages to the contemporary era, gradually established the 20°C norm? How do some contemporary experiments attempt to question this norm and redefine the “thermal pleasure” (L. Heschong)?
Olivier JANDOT (Historian, author of the book Les délices du feu. L'homme, le chaud et le froid à l'époque moderne, Champ Vallon, 2017)