The relational emergence of community and technology through the politics of water use

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3978377
AutoresEllen Van Holstein (0000-0003-2049-5883, The University of Melbourne, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen21
Número3
Páginas314-335
Fecha de publicación2020-03-23
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2018.1489977
OpenAlexW2812892100
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas39

Increasing water scarcity intensifies research interest in water-saving practices afforded by different water technologies. In community gardens, socio-technical water assemblages are visible and therefore they make insightful how water use norms and expectations materialise through technology. This article discusses how water use is shaped through the emergence of technologies and community relationships. It draws on participant observation and 25 walking interviews conducted at three community gardens in Sydney, Australia. In these gardens, different technologies – such as water tanks, taps and buckets – are in place for water collection, distribution and use. The study shows that water practices emerge in relation to various technological, community and environmental conditions. Water use entangles with circumstances such as the changing availability of water, time and technologies, and the proximity of gardeners' homes to the garden. The research shows that people express community relationships through their use of private and communal water technologies, and that they are guided in this by feelings of guilt over wastefulness and their commitment to different gardening objectives. Together these circumstances and relationships shape water-saving practices that allow gardeners to express community mindedness by sharing water with others, while also working towards their individual gardening goals

Distribution (mathematics · Economics · Emerging technologies · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Feeling · Geography · Political science · Politics · Scarcity · Sociology · Water resources · Water scarcity · Environmental Science · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Psychology · Social Psychology · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Ecology