RESEARCH THEMES
Enabling Water Smart Communities is a complex, cross-sector, multi-stakeholder project. Framing the factors limiting innovative delivery of IWM within new development requires exploration of social, environmental, economic and technological context.
Our design-led approach will be underpinned by four interdependent research themes. These themes will inform the initial discovery and problem-definition phase and will underpin the subsequent design, testing and delivery of the transition framework. They will also inform the demonstrators.
During the discovery phase the project will shape a programme of deeper academic research to be undertaken alongside the design, delivery phases, including evaluating development of the framework and demonstrators. Supporting the four themes, this in-depth focussed research will be delivered by our academic partners University of Manchester and University of East Anglia.
Across water and housing there will be a wide range of perspectives, capacities, priorities and methodologies around value that inform how individuals, communities and organisations act. By researching visions, values, and motivations across different actors, the project will explore areas of common ground and identify actions to enable place-based investment and shared value creation.
RETHINKING VALUES
Housing and water have historically been delivered by separate agencies with ring-fenced roles and budgets, often with different objectives and timescales. This fragmented approach to design, valuation, ownership and maintenance of assets has slowed adoption of integrated solutions. Rethinking the roles of existing and potential actors is key to unlocking new stewardship models.
RETHINKING ROLES
The term 'asset’ means different things to different people. By exploring and stretching conventional asset definitions, this project will build a new shared understanding of water cycle and housing assets from catchment to community and household scale. It will look beyond physical infrastructure to include non-physical assets that are essential to effective system design, delivery and stewardship.
RETHINKING ASSETS
The project will review the different types data, insight and evidence by various actors to accelerate shared action and investment in water smart communities. Through a combination of practise-based research and design, user-testing, pilots and the live demonstrators, the project will contribute new evidence focussed to maximise impact informed academic research, monitoring and evaluation.