Design Thinking for Urban Water Sustainability in Huelva’s Households: Needfinding and Synthesis through Statistic Clustering

Abstract

This article shows the numerical results and the analysis of households’ degree of knowledge about the urban water cycle, needs, and values regarding water in an intermediary city with low water stress, such as Huelva (Andalusia, Spain). Results are also presented regarding how households maintain the acceptance of reclaimed water and new technologies to achieve more efficient and sustainable consumption. Surveys were sent to households, and different statistical analysis techniques were applied. The use of clustering as a mathematical tool has served to obtain three clusters of households with similar characteristics with respect to the previous factors. The first cluster corresponded to households with high knowledge of the integral water cycle and positive attitude to smart devices at home. The second cluster showed low knowledge of the integral water cycle and high sensitivity to price. The third one had average knowledge and predisposition to have a closer relationship with the water company. This classification allows implementing different water demand management strategies tailored to each cluster. Applying a Design Thinking methodology, a web-based prototype has been designed as an ICT tool concerning households. The goal is to achieve greater engagement of households concerning water and align citizens with their city’s sustainability.

Water Consumption Range Prediction in Huelva’s Households Using Classification and Regression Trees

“…In this sense, this research continues along the lines of the published article [1], where the authors showed the numerical results and the analysis of households' degree of knowledge, needs, values, and attitudes in an intermediary city such as Huelva, about sustainable urban water use. It was the first descriptive analysis and origin for subsequent development within the research.…”

“…"The absence of a sensation of scarcity does not act as a motivating lever among citizens to improve efficiency in water use. Without this motivating driver, the entire project's goal is to determine to what extent a more efficient and sustainable use of water can be achieved in households through strategies focused on water demand management (WDM) and not supply" [1].…”

“…It was the first descriptive analysis and origin for subsequent development within the research. This paper mostly uses the scientific literature of other previous articles by the same authors [1,6], which are referenced in this introduction.…”

“…This research aims to check the weight of the different WDM strategy proposals to achieve greater household engagement concerning water and induce them to use it more sustainably. The first WDM proposals will be based on results obtained from [1] conclusions and from these paper learnings.…”

“…The purpose of this paper is to rank the influence of the different variables and components/factors extracted from the knowledge, needs, values, and attitudes shown by households in Huelva [1] on their range of water consumption (high, medium, low). For this, we have used classification and regression trees applying the Classification and Regression Trees (CART) algorithm.…”