Presentation short abstract

HOMESCAPES studies homes in San Andrés, Semarang and Maputo. In low-income areas that house 60–70% of each city´s residents, senior researchers partner with trained, paid Community Research Assistants and grassroot organizations to trace everyday routines, power-relations and water quality changes.

Presentation long abstract

In unequal/rapidly changing contexts, Global South cities manage water through uneven socio-technical arrangements that vary by social position. In low-income neighborhoods—60–70% of urban housing—households often lack reliable piped water relying on small-scale providers, artisanal-wells, and rain-harvesting. Yet we know little about what happens once water is brought into the home. This matters because these households sustain much of urban life, and the urban South is home to most of the world’s residents.

Accounting for what happens inside homes, within everyday routines, demands innovative methodological designs. The HOMESCAPES project takes water as its starting point to investigate homes in San Andrés (Colombia), Semarang (Indonesia), and Maputo (Mozambique). In each city, senior investigators collaborate with grassroots organizations and twelve Community Research Assistants (CRAs) who are trained in qualitative and water-quality research methods. CRAs collect the project’s data, which are later processed by senior-researchers and graduate-students.

This design differs from conventional citizen science. Guided by the motto “everyone trains, everyone gains,” CRAs are hired for 11-months, with clear tasks and agreed monthly compensation. This is important because many face barriers to formal employment due to insecure residency status, living in marginalized neighborhoods, or belonging to migrant communities without full citizenship.

Research questions were developed by three senior-researchers from the Global South. They wanted to do things differently from research models they had previously experienced: a key motivation was to redirect resources North to South through transparent collaborations that recognize all contributions while avoiding intrusion into the intimate lives of women and their households.