Study on the organization of water-conservation activities and guiding strategies for urban communities based on public participation in China

• Published in: Aqua (London) 2020-09, Vol.69 (6), p.538-554
• Main Authors: Xue, Binxia, Li, Tongyu, Hou, Xiaohe, Guo, Jiayi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ageing; Aging; Cities; Citizen participation; Community involvement; Community participation; Construction; Consumption; Councils; Economic benefits; Economic development; Economic models; Economics; Environmental policy; Freshwater resources; GDP; Gross Domestic Product; Motivation; New technology; Per capita; Policies; Population; Public participation; Reclaimed water; Society; Supervision; Urban areas; Urbanism; Urbanization; Water conservation; Water pollution; Water shortages
• ISSN: 0003-7214; 1606-9935; 1605-3974
• DOI: 10.2166/aqua.2020.126

Water shortages and pollution in China are severe situations caused by rapid economic development and urbanization. The current water-conservation policies focus on implementing new technologies and management strategies at important spatial nodes while neglecting the significance of the response from the community and the public. In this paper, the elements that influence the public participation of water conservation within the community are analyzed and divided into three levels: the internal world elements of the residents, the different individual characters of the residents, and external world elements. Among these three levels, the internal world element level, including the desire to realize oneself, is crucial, as it will significantly strengthen an individual's participation activity once motivated. Based on Maslow's five-level theory of human needs, to establish a model of public participation in water-conservation communities, economic benefits, environmental improvement benefits, and the self-fulfilling satisfaction of participation will become the motivation for the model to function. In a new project, reclaimed water landscapes are established in the community, and eco-recreational activities with water-conservation themes are organized to guide and encourage public participation to foster water-conservation consciousness and to establish aging water-conservation guiding policies and implementation methods in the community.