Realistic Analysis of Socio-Technical Interventions in the Context of Urban Water Management

It is increasingly recognised that the grand challenges of our society are inherently socio-technical, with a complex interplay of social and cultural factors determining the conditions and success of engineering work. Addressing the lack of systematic ways to approach socio-technical complexity, the purpose of this empirical study was to gain a better understanding of ways in which complex socio-technical systems transition towards more sustainable conditions. More specifically, the study examined factors which influence the effectiveness of policy-driven socio-technical interventions designed to better manage domestic water demand. Water demand management interventions were investigated in Australia and in the United Kingdom (UK). More specifically, these investigations focused on voluntary household rainwater tank (HRWT) rebate schemes offered to residents in south east Queensland (SEQ) during the recent Millennium Drought and a compulsory and on-going household water metering program in Kent. The following three data collection methods were used: i. Ethnographic observations; ii. In-depth interviews with high-level managers, water practitioners and residents; and, iii. A document analysis of media articles. The data was qualitatively analysed using a grounded theory approach within an overarching realist theoretical framework. The two main contributions of this work are: a. The development of a methodological framework to better understand and anticipate socio-technical transitions in the context of contemporary engineering practice – RASTI (the Realistic Analysis of Socio-Technical Interventions); and, b. An evidence-based, realist model of socio-technical factors which influence domestic water demand. a. The RASTI framework is an eight-step schema which draws and builds on Pawson and Tilley’s (1997) Realistic Evaluation methodology – an approach which was developed in the late 1990s as a way to evaluate the successes (and failures) of social programs. In particular, the RASTI framework focuses on mechanisms for change triggered by policy-driven socio-technical interventions (i.e. how socio-technical interventions “engage in trying to change the balance of choices open to their subjects” (Pawson & Tilley, 1997, p. 122) and the social and cultural conditions (contexts) that are necessary for these change mechanisms to operate. More specifically, the framework consists of the following eight steps: 1) Getting Started, 2) Mapping Data Sources, 3) Entering the Field, 4) Managing Data, 5) Analysing Data, 6) Theory Generation and Abstraction, 7) Enfolding Literature and, 8) Reaching Cumulation. The RASTI framework has important implications for contemporary engineering practice and epistemologies because it calls into question the deterministic relationship between technological, or ‘engineering’, solutions, and their outcomes. Instead, outcomes are causally related to the presence of underlying social mechanisms triggered within evolving socio-cultural and environmental contexts. Specific challenges that this shift in thinking may present to engineering practitioners, such as the implications of a constructivist epistemology, are discussed throughout the thesis and specifically addressed in the RASTI framework. b. The evidence-based, realist model describes the dynamic relationships between socio-technical factors which influence domestic water demand. The model consists of a two-level hierarchy of clusters and subordinate categories relating to enabling and disabling contexts and supporting and inhibiting mechanisms. More specifically, the three cluster-level contexts concern: 1. Locally relevant and consistent understandings of the problem; 2. Levels of confidence and trust in the program initiators; and, 3. Access to locally relevant and actionable information. And the three cluster-level mechanisms relate to: 1. Economically-motivated considerations; 2. A sense of responsibility; and, 3. The desire to maintain or enhance current lifestyles. Examination of how the theoretical constructs in the model manifested at the two study sites points to the existence of underlying social relations and organisational structures which are common across urban water management regimes. This finding suggests that the model is tentatively transferable to other implementation settings. Application of the methodological framework and evidence-based model to socio-technical interventions in other limited natural resource and sustainable demand management settings, such as household energy use and transport, is also discussed. More broadly, the results of this study demonstrate that in order to create and capitalise on socio-technical change opportunities, engineering practitioners must recognise the limitations of technologically deterministic and reductionist thinking and expand the profession’s sphere of expertise to include approaches, like RASTI, which allow for the systematic analysis and deeper understanding of complex socio-technical systems.