Staging hydrophilic encounters – experiential methods for creating dialogic listening space

Kitson, Jennifer L; Bucknum, Megan; Meenar, Mahbubur

doi:10.1080/14649365.2021.1965196

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Bringing place‐making into the discussion allows us to better situate and understand stakeholders' positions in decision‐making and participatory processes (Ellery & Ellery, 2019; Gilmore, 2013; Verbrugge et al, 2019). Place‐making can, therefore, create the conditions for ‘hydrophilic encounters’ that ‘reveal complex fluvial senses of place situated in the past, present and future’ (Kitson et al, 2021, p. 12).…”

Section: Participatory Water Management In River Contractsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All these steps should be grounded in people's involvement and participation, and each of them must be ratified by the RC assembly of stakeholders. Public engagement may involve different degrees of participation and forms of place‐making activities that could be considered hydrophilic encounters – ‘moments of perceptible awareness of feeling connected through water’ (Kitson et al, 2021, p. 15). These experiential, practical and participatory ‘encounters’ are crucial for enhancing a sense of place within a community.…”

Section: Context: River Contracts In Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Freshwater management has become a key issue, as water is fundamental to life. Moreover, reconnecting local communities to water (McEwen et al, 2020) and developing their 'encounters' with water experiences, as well as their knowledge, is seen as an essential component to successful management (Kitson et al, 2021). In this context the Water Framework Directive 1 (WFD) represents a key pillar of the European Union's strategy for water management.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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River contracts in north‐east Italy: Water management or participatory processes?

Venturini

Visentin

2022

Geographical Journal

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River contracts (RCs) are voluntary agreements between stakeholders for managing water bodies and involve participatory, evidence‐based action plans. Increasingly, European authorities recognise that effective water policies require bottom‐up, inclusive decision‐making. Despite widely held assumptions about the benefits of including stakeholders in river basin management and encouraging participatory mechanisms of decision‐making, the growing rhetoric about the need for public engagement implies that this “new” paradigm of water management remains filled with ambiguities. Adopting ethnographic methods and drawing on a variety of primary and secondary sources, this paper analyses three RCs in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy. These case studies reveal the potential for RCs as tools not only for water management, but also for increasing stakeholder involvement through place‐making activities conceived as potential hydrophilic encounters. In order to understand whether RCs contribute to a fluvial sense of place, we looked at the effects of top‐down versus participatory processes. We asked whether RCs were considered participatory processes designed to achieve a co‐designed outcome or simply territorial management projects that objectify the river as something to be developed. We found that ratifying an RC was not, in itself, proof of an effective process; rather the nature and quality of an RC was determined by the degree and type of participation. We contend that participatory events and sharing information are not sufficient in themselves to achieve the active involvement of all stakeholders. We argue that the best framework for enabling place‐making and enhancing a sense of place is to develop RCs within a process that includes a high degree of participation. This enables citizens to shift from simply being passive recipients of plans to becoming effective territorial actors.

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