Last week a partner asked questions in a casual project catch-up, and they turned out to be a good map of what AquaSavvy wants to achieve. We’re sharing them here because for us communication is part of the method, not just a dissemination outcome at the end, so we’d rather think out loud with you than announce finished answers.
The problem with big plans
Master plans deal in big changes. Cape Town’s “water sensitive city” vision runs on a twenty-year horizon, and in that time politics shifts, priorities change, and the plan quietly stalls. Yet Cape Town and Bursa, one of our Living Lab locations, have both come close to running out of water. What do we do in the middle, between the crisis and the visionary plan?
Why do institutions get so stuck?
Traditionally, each municipal department does its own job. Water supply supplies water; wastewater cleans it. Industry assumes wastewater can handle its pollution, and urban planning assumes there will be enough water for people, with floodwater somehow taken care of. Climate change breaks that arrangement, because water now touches food, energy, transport and health, and we don’t yet have a good way of working across those boundaries.
Our hypothesis
Solving big challenges needs collaboration between citizens and government, and within government departments. We think a tool can help in two ways.
First, by making water management visible. People can’t ask for a say in something they can’t see, and for most of us it stays invisible until it fails.
Second, by shifting how we approach governance. Citizens are usually invited to participate, which often means commenting on a plan that already exists. We want to explore citizens co-creating and co-leading instead, starting with smaller, quicker plans that citizens or departments can initiate and that still fit the larger strategy. These can create movement while the big plans catch up.
From sharing data to building trust
Usually you run a study, collect the data, report it, and ask people to trust it. We’d like to flip that and start with what people actually want: what data do they want to contribute, and what data do they need? If there is disagreement in a group on the data presented, change it, and see what happens. Combine basic metrics into an index that reflects what matters to you. Nothing has to leave the room unless you decide it should, and you don’t have to stake your reputation on it. The goal is trust between people, between citizens and the municipality, and within the municipality. It’s not about proving anything to anyone. It’s about getting people talking.
A prototype to be played with
We are not building a polished tool. The first version of our prototype will be available in the next month or so, and it will be messy and clumsy, meant to be played with. You can see an early sketch of one street here contributed by one of our members. The aim is to help people talk about the numbers rather than having numbers delivered at them. People’s concerns (health, tourism, daily life) don’t sort neatly into water, so the tool needs to reach wider than water. The biggest challenge is keeping it simple enough to use, so we would love your feedback.
Over to you
At a recent conference, several people told us they had never thought of water as something they could influence.
- When did you last think about water? Where does it come from when you turn on the tap, and where does it go afterwards?
- What happens to water in your home and your street? Where does it pool, run, or disappear?
- Had it ever crossed your mind that you could have a say in how your water is managed? What would that look like?
Tell us in the comments or at info@aquasavvy.eu
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