Project description
Water challenges in global south homes
In Global South cities, an estimated 70 % of urban housing faces a critical challenge: limited access to piped water. Low-income neighbourhoods often rely on diverse water sources. However, little is known about the socio-ecological dynamics within these homes. In this context, the ERC-funded HOMESCAPES project addresses this knowledge gap, focusing on water’s journey beyond transportation to explore the broader socio-ecological life within low-income homes. By combining multi-modal ethnography and water-quality research, the project unveils the intricate interplay of social, ecological, and economic factors shaping daily life. HOMESCAPES pioneers a new approach, treating southern cities as sites of theorisation, crucial for building inclusive and sustainable futures.
Objective
Global South cities have managed public services through socio-technical configurations that provide differentiated alternatives depending on social position. Populations living in low-income neighbourhoods, which in the South accounts for 60–70% of urban housing, seldom have regular access to piped water. They rely on small-scale providers, rain harvesting, and other arrangements. Nevertheless, we do not know much about what happens once the water is transported/stored inside patios, kitchens and other domestic spaces. This is a broader trend: we know little about the socio-ecological life within low-income homes in the urban South. This, despite the fact that it is in these homes that many of the processes sustaining life in the city take place.
The question of how socio-ecological processes unfold within these homes is open and pressing. Especially considering the fact that Global South cities are home to the majority of residents worldwide and if we do not understand how the majority live their intimate daily routines, we cannot aspire to build inclusive, sustainable futures. HOMESCAPES follows water, as it is essential for sustaining everyday life, and goes beyond it into other material and atmospheric components of the home. Stored (stagnant) waters are never only water but are also home to communities of organisms such as bacteria and mosquitoes that eventually continue their lives outside of water. The concept of homescape is proposed to denote a produced place in which interdependent social and ecological processes unfold in and around the domestic, but are not independent of broader socio-economic power relations and ecological dynamics.
Methodologically, this project will not treat southern cities as sources of data, but as sites of theorization in their own right. It combines multi-modal ethnography and water-quality work, approaches that are ground-breaking in building theoretical insights from a diversity of specific urban processes, and contexts.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology invertebrate zoology
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3584 CS Utrecht
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.