DDRIG in DRMS: Perceptions in sustainability transitions: planning for the potable reuse of wastewater in Arizona

向更可持续的资源利用过渡要求居民在制度规范、价值观和日常实践方面做出重大转变。这种变化的前景可能会引起公众对决策者认为对地区恢复力必要的干预措施的抵制。虽然参与决策的原则在公共政策中得到广泛接受，但共同的参与方法不足以有效地处理风险认知的情感和具体基础。为了解决这一差距，本研究项目探索了一种新的审议方法，该方法使用具体化方法和协作设计来帮助社区做出有关可持续性转型的明智决策。研究人员将这种方法应用于废水的直接饮用再利用，由于对所得水质的普遍负面看法，市政当局一直在缓慢采用这种方法。研究人员与持怀疑态度的消费者和水务专业人士合作，共同设计了一项参与活动，以促进对饮用水再利用的可能性和缺点的学习和反思。由此产生的活动在几个公共节日上展示，并与传统的基于文本的教育进行比较，以评估所发生的学习。将这项研究与利益相关者访谈相结合，将使研究人员能够评估在可持续性转型管理中使用具体参与方法和协作设计的可扩展性和感知合法性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Transitioning to more sustainable use of resources requires residents to make significant shifts in institutional norms, values, and daily practices. The prospect of such changes can provoke public resistance to interventions decision makers view as necessary to regional resilience. Although the principles of participatory decision making are becoming widely embraced in public policy, common methods of participation are insufficient to productively engage with the emotional and embodied foundation of risk perceptions. To address this gap, this research project explores a novel approach to deliberation that uses embodied methods and collaborative design to help communities make informed decisions about sustainability transitions.The researchers apply this approach to the direct potable reuse of wastewater, which municipalities have been slow to adopt because of widespread negative perceptions of the resulting water’s quality. The researchers work with skeptical consumers and water utility professionals to co-design an engagement activity that promotes learning and reflection about the possibilities and drawbacks of potable reuse. The resulting activity is presented at several public festivals and compared to traditional text-based education to assess the learning that occurs. Combining this research with stakeholder interviews will enable researchers to assess the scalability and perceived legitimacy of using embodied engagement methods and collaborative design in the management of sustainability transitions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.