This page is an acknowledgement of organisations and initiatives who share our vision. There is no formal agreement, and it’s not a legally binding endorsement of their activities.
The Open Metaverse Interoperability group (OMI)
OMI is an informal collective focused on bridging cultures, interests, technical and organisational areas as it concerns the Metaverse. Whatever the Metaverse means to you, you are welcome here. OMI’s connection with AquaSavvy is the interoperability of knowledge infrastructures, and pushing for an industry of integrations related to science. We share the vision of bridging science and creativity, dissolving the boundaries between laypeople and experts, and building new knowledge alliances. This is what we understand as the Metaverse. AquaSavvy members Bernelle Verster and Kim Nevelsteen are also members of OMI.
PAD Foundation
PAD is a Budapest-based organization responding to the interlinked challenges of environmental harm, climate injustice, social inequality, and marginalization through research, cultural activities, and collective action. Their emphasis on context-driven, locally embedded, and accountable actions that reveal structural inequalities aligns with AquaSavvy’s goals. As one of PAD’s main initiatives, their postindustrial focus explores the intersections of socio-ecological justice, technological innovation, urban circularity, and planning.
PAD aims to enhance the visibility of social aspects related to the lack of public services and water scarcity, to map cultural and socio-economic practices, and to ensure equal access to data and maps. They share AquaSavvy’s concern about fragmented and inaccessible datasets scattered across institutions and actors. PAD looks forward to exploring how AquaSavvy’s approach could be relevant in the Central European context and contribute to improving data accessibility and cross-sector collaboration.
Future Water, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Future Water conducts engaged research on water sensitive approaches that sustain society’s current and future water needs. AquaSavvy as a concept was born at Future Water back in 2017, supported by a small grant from the Water Research Commission (WRC) Community of Practice. The concept originated out of a frustration at failing to productively engage in complex challenges in urban resource management. It started with a volunteer position managing an ecologically sensitive coastal region that had a myriad of intractable challenges. It was really difficult to contextualize how all of these challenges interact, when the people responsible are paralyzed in their administrative silos. It’s hard to empower everyday people who want to do something, when they feel isolated and alone. We saw the potential of a tool to help visualise and make sense of things, from the bottom up.
Future Water was involved in a Pathways to water resilient South African cities project in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen, and the data generated and lessons learnt may be a useful virtual living lab for testing the use of the AquaSavvy tool in a global context.
Do you want to become a friend of AquaSavvy? Get in touch!
info@aquasavvy.eu