Rethinking Stewardship
How might new stewardship principles enable Water Smart Communities?
Words by Arup | published in Rethinking Current Practices
1. Introduction
Enabling Water Smart Communities (WSCs) requires action across multiple systems and scales. Across water and housing stakeholders there are many perspectives, aspirations, priorities, obligations, capacities and capabilities that inform how individuals, communities and organisations act.
The embedded problems and possible solutions for enabling WSCs will need to combine technology with regulation, institutional and social practices, and new ways of imagining society and systems, now and in the future. Early in the project the EWSC team identified three themes as critical enablers: value, assets and stewardship. These concepts align with themes and areas of focus emerging across water and housing sectors. They have been used by the EWSC teams as a starting point to define areas of research during Discovery Phase:
- Value: understanding the values that shape, motivate and drive individuals and organisations to act, align and collaborate. Appreciating the value, both monetary and non-monetary, that supports the case for individual and collective action.
- Assets: Stretching conventional definitions of assets across water and housing (both physical and non-physical assets) and rethinking asset design, delivery and management in the context of whole-life stewardship.
- Stewardship: Building new models for asset stewardship. Supporting resilient long-term governance, investment and legacy creation. Building agency and capacity, underpinned by mechanisms for sharing duties, risks, liabilities and value.
The three concepts are highly interdependent. When considered together they can help to identify and unlock enabling actions within a complex and constantly shifting delivery environment. They have formed the basis of the EWSC Model.
This article gives a high level overview of some of the concepts, challenges and opportunities relating to rethinking aspects of stewardship within the context of enabling WSCs.
2. Stewardship Principles for EWSC
Enabling communities and their local environment to thrive requires not only provision of the places, infrastructure and assets that allow people to live well and nature to flourish, but also that these places and assets are cared for in perpetuity.
This objective is captured in the concept of long-term stewardship, which broadly refers to a form of collaborative planning and responsible management of places and infrastructures through sustainable resource management practices that respect our values and planetary boundaries (TCPA, 2023; Mathevet et al., 2018). Long-term stewardship implies an obligation to future generations to consider how the development, investment and management of community assets can effectively enhance ecosystem resilience and human well-being in the long run (Chapin et al., 2010).
Through a focus on investing in long-term place-making, as opposed to short-term planning and quick returns, stewardship unlocks opportunities for local authorities, private sector partners, NGOs and communities to co-create innovative partnership, governance and ownership models.
Stewardship is complex and there is a wide range of potential definitions, interpretations and models that could be applied in relation to water smart communities. These depend on the types of assets being cared for, property ownership and tenure, the particular place, the community, the local authority, the network operators etc. Historically, different sectors have developed their own understanding of stewardship and identified asset management and ownership models within the remits of their domain, their legal obligations or area of influence. Housing and water have historically been delivered by separate agencies with ring-fenced roles and budgets, often with different objectives, timescales and operating models. Given the shared systemic challenges that the water and housing sector are facing today, the urgency to rethink the existing stewardship models and develop resilient cross-sector stewardship arrangements that benefit everyone involved has become even greater.
The EWSC project aims to explore and accelerate new modes towards more integrated, cross-sectoral stewardship models. Three principles are shaping our emerging understanding of stewardship in relation to EWSC:
- Principle 1: Building cultures of awareness, care and respect for the water cycle and a collective sense of responsibility towards water as a common good,
- Principle 2: Governance of resources and assets that restore, protect and enhance the water environment and underpin public health, safety and resilience,
- Principle 3: Delivering wider socio-cultural, economic and environmental outcomes through collaborative, intergenerational stewardship of water cycle assets.
2.1 Principle 1: Building cultures of awareness, care and respect for the water cycle and a collective sense of responsibility towards water as a common good
The first principle considers the collective cultural shift required to foster a new care and respect for the water environment. This is very closely related to the value enabler and how value(s) might be informed by concepts of intergenerational stewardship.
Whilst in many other areas such as land, minerals, buildings, forests and the intertidal shoreline, common resources have been systemically privatised, water itself is still effectively a ‘commons’. This can sometimes be hard to imagine, since the land around and beneath aquifers, rivers and water bodies is itself owned. The water itself can be abstracted, impounded, transferred, managed, treated, distributed by a range of different actors, including, under licence, by private individuals. However, the water itself is not permanently owned. Many different actors have an impact on the water cycle. In the UK, there are allocated formal responsibilities for taking care of different parts of water as a common good, with robust mechanisms for regulating this process in the public interest.
Principle 1 focuses on developing a new collective awareness of water itself — exploring ideas of the integrated water cycle as a common good. This can be a key step in understanding the role(s) that all of us play directly or indirectly in stewarding this fundamental resource for current and future generations.
A brief focus on rivers can unpack some of these issues, including more values-driven themes around access to and care for water. Recently there has been increasing focus on water quality in rivers, not just to protect ecosystem health, but also public health due to increasing use of rivers for recreation, including water sports and bathing. This highlights issues of public access to rivers, and the extent to which they should be, ‘open to all’. Most UK rivers flow over private land. Riparian landowners on each bank also own the land under the river. Whilst navigation rights may be assigned to certain larger rivers, and licences may be granted for other activities, free public access is generally prohibited in England and Wales. This is a complex area under increasing review and challenge by campaigning organisations such as River Access for All. In Scotland, the Outdoor Access Code has allowed responsible access to open land including most rivers and water bodies, showing that these boundaries can and do change.
Increased focus on care and respect for the natural world — and recognition of its intrinsic value — are further reflected in movements to assign rights to the rivers themselves. Within England, for example, this is currently being explored for the Rivers Ouse and Don, adding another dimension to discussions of the ‘water commons’. The fact that this is being considered within the UK indicates potential culture shifts and the direction of travel in valuing natural systems. It raises interesting questions about definition, ownership and use of a river, as a spatial/legal/cultural entity, and use and stewardship of the water that flows within it.
This may seem a step removed from the core EWSC mission — which focuses on enabling new homes and communities — but it illustrates issues central to that challenge. Unpacking the complex relationship between structures of ownership, stewardship and value linked to land, housing and other assets is a key challenge being explored within the housing and development sectors. See, for example, a recent article from the Council on Urban Initiatives exploring housing as an environmental common good (Hill, Mazzucato 2024), and the work of the Community Land Trust Network in advocating for and enabling new models of land ownership and asset stewardship. Considering water as a common good within the context of housing and communities highlights, as with the river examples above, the complex relationship between ownership of land and other assets, and the status of water within, or passing through, homes and places. It raises the question: how might a greater understanding of the unique nature of water - as a ‘commons’ — be a catalyst and enabler for new models of environmental care and stewardship?
It is important to recognise that definition of such concepts as ‘the commons’ is complex, sometimes sensitive, and open to different interpretations depending on context. Rather than seeking fixed definitions, the EWSC project recognises the importance of participating in ongoing dialogue with these emerging areas, working towards new shared narratives and deeper understanding of these concepts to inform wider system change.
Building cultures of awareness, care and respect for the water cycle as a common good is key to shaping individual and collective values and supporting value cases for action towards EWSC. It will also underpin the more formal stewardship mechanisms and potential wider outcomes explored in Principles 2 and 3.
2.2 Principle 2: Governance of resources and assets that restore, protect and enhance the water environment and underpin public health, safety and resilience
The second principle considers the specific roles, responsibilities and enabling mechanisms that establish and sustain investment and resilient governance of water cycle assets. This is emerging as the core EWSC stewardship challenge.
Clarity and confidence in long-term roles, responsibilities and resourcing is critical to delivery of WSCs. Actors need to be clear on their role and obligations as well as those of others within the system. Each role needs to be aligned with the capacity and capability to take on the associated risks or liabilities and must be supported by long-term resources. The definition of assets and the rules around accounting and valuation of returns are dependent on clarity of ownership, operation and maintenance. Typically, within the infrastructure and development sectors there has been more focus on maintenance of physical assets, and less certainty around investment in non-physical assets such as the social structures and resources that are key to resilient stewardship. Our articles on Rethinking Value and Rethinking Assets show how new approaches in both areas depend on clear strategies for long-term stewardship.
2.2.1 Shaping individual stewardship roles
A range of actors are involved in managing assets and resources that support stewardship of the water environment and provide essential services such as sanitation, wholesome water supply and flood protection. These roles, responsibilities and capacities are shaped by the wider delivery context: property rights, environmental planning, water industry structure and regulation, behaviours, funding, financing, models for sharing of risk and liabilities and so on. EWSC recognises that resilient stewardship requires rethinking of many of these different factors to shape new roles and establish new models of long-term collaboration, funding, finance and governance.
The ecosystem of stakeholders and potential actors linked to EWSC is complex. We have begun to map this here. The proximity of these actors to the EWSC ‘mission’ varies significantly. It is important to recognise the many ways in which different actors can influence the water environment and play a role in EWSC. In practice, the number of actors with a direct role in stewardship of water assets linked to water smart developments (specifically direct ownership, operation, maintenance of assets for care of the local water environment and delivery of core water services) is currently relatively limited, see image below. There is potential to expand this including formation of new stewardship entities. It is worth noting the Environment Agency is an example of an organisation that fulfils more than one stewardship role. The table below focuses on their role in directly owning and operating assets. They also have a key role in stewardship of water through their strategic policy and regulatory functions, which touch all aspects of the water cycle.
‘Must-do’ obligations such as those outlined in the image above, are key to driving delivery of stewardship actions. The boundaries between mandatory and more optional actions can have a major impact on each actor’s stewardship roles and motivations for action. A first step in delivering resilient stewardship is therefore to review these different boundaries to optimise individual roles. The definition of roles is explored further in our article actors, roles and value(s).
Case Study: How Community Land Trusts are unlocking new stewardship models
Alongside more traditional water management organisations and housing development models, new entities such as community land trusts (CLT) are driving innovation in delivery and stewardship of housing, communities and the natural environment. A new white paper from the European CLT Network with And The People and Circular Buildings Coalition outlines how the CLT governance model gives agency to local communities in choices about how land is developed and stewarded. This can in turn lead to more circular strategies in the site, buildings, services and social life around development. The study outlines four important characteristics of CLTs that enable innovative responses to the challenges of circularity, the just transition and long-term environmental stewardship:
- CLTs are permanent owners, and therefore long-term stewards, of the land (and other resources),
- CLTs have unique collective governance structures,
- CLTs have a strong social foundation created by the collective governance structure,
- CLTs have organisational capacity and expertise that can drive wider impact.
The study combines theoretical work with detailed research into CLTs in Cornwall, Dorset, Camden, Brussels, Barcelona, Minnesota and Washington State (European CLT Network, et al. 2024). The UK Community Land Trust Network (CLTN) as a core EWSC partner is connecting the project to extensive innovation and action in this space, showing how CLTs are demonstrating new models of action and stewardship that can play a role in enabling WSCs. Community-led stewardship models is one of our key enabling action areas.
2.2.2 Building new stewardship networks and partnerships
Beyond individual roles, cross-sector collaborations between multiple actors can transform into stewardship networks that harness the various competencies and resources necessary to remain resilient through change, while creating shared value. In many cases, these hybrid networks or multi-stakeholder partnerships include public agencies, civil society organisations, funding bodies, NGOs, and local communities (Connolly et al., 2014; Finkbeiner and Basurto, 2015; Romolini et al., 2016). Their key advantage lies in harnessing differences, (e.g. varying experience, culture, expertise, resources), as well as differences in perspective, (eg assessments of risk, time, scale, value etc) as a catalyst to design robust and sustainable solutions in partnership with the communities most impacted by the challenges (Becker & Smith, 2017).
Although networks function like organisations in some respects, they are also a lot like communities. Because of this dual nature, harnessing the potential of networks to solve complex problems is still something of an experiment (SCMSN, 2017). Moving away from traditional organisation-centric practice, network members need to focus on and nurture what can be achieved collectively (Plimmer, 2022). It’s important to show what different can look like, and help create the conditions (both relational and structural) for others to adopt these new practices. While addressing the practical requirements of collaboration, such as how often to meet, how to select network leaders, decision-making rights and processes, and who else should be participating in the network, participants will also need to foster the relationships and trust that will sustain the network over time.
Catchment-Based Partnerships are examples of networks/partnerships between multiple organisations that are taking an active role in supporting and enabling stewardship. At city-scale, the emergence of cross-sector anchor networks is another example of new ways of working that might be further developed to enable long-term stewardship. In our article on learning from other sectors we explore some further examples of innovative governance and stewardship models that might be enable EWSC.
The image below illustrates how delivery models involving multiple actors can deliver better outcomes, but emphasises that to be resilient these must move beyond voluntary value(s)-based collaborative agreements towards more robust, long-term stewardship models. Agreements between multiple parties must ideally be underpinned by new forms of collective governance including legal agreements, funding and finance. In many case these will need to be enabled, supported and ‘protected’ by system-scale institutional action.
This long-term resilience is critical both to the stewardship of water cycle assets and care of the water environment, and also, perhaps even more significantly, when looking to deliver the long-term cross-sector benefits and outcomes discussed in Principle 3.
2.3 Principle 3: Delivering wider socio-cultural, economic and environmental outcomes through collaborative, intergenerational stewardship of water cycle assets
The third principle considers how having a shared understanding of stewardship and establishing resilient stewardship models can enable and protect delivery of wider outcomes beyond the water-specific assets and core water services.
Actions taken to protect and enhance the water cycle can deliver many wider outcomes. This is a fundamental principle of integrated water management (IWM) and core part of the EWSC model, underpinning the approach to value and the ways that assets are defined, designed and invested in.
As discussed above, wider outcomes can be delivered through a combination of reviewing and optimising individual roles and formation of resilient partnerships. Within the wider system each actor will have a different ‘profile’ — areas that they are obliged to address, areas where they might wish to create wider value, that they may wish to influence, perhaps in partnership, and some areas that they may not be able to directly impact.
Across housing and water sectors many sustainability outcomes still rely on ‘should-do’ actions, ‘best-practice’ and market-driven activity. The boundary between voluntary and mandatory action may shift, for example, through introduction or removal/ relaxation of new housing standards and environmental regulations (Biodiversity Net Gain is a recent example). Action beyond mandatory obligations is normally dependant on a strong value case, which in turn is dependent on clarity around how assets are owned and operated.
EWSC will explore how design and delivery for wider outcomes can be embedded within stewardship models in particular through resilient governance, and long-term funding and finance models. There is significant opportunity to explore the role of water and housing sectors in supporting progressive local economic development and place-based outcomes.
3 From management to stewardship
Embracing the concept of stewardship and enacting the EWSC stewardship principles will encourage a move from siloed approaches to an understanding of interconnected roles and responsibilities across multiple scales of action. This doesn’t necessarily mean all duties and roles, assets are shared, nor that they should be. As discussed above, resilient stewardship may mean clearly acknowledging, clarifying and codifying individual roles and responsibilities. However, the shift towards a long-term stewardship approach will situate those individual actions within a wider interconnected system underpinned by a new awareness of collective responsibility for water as a common good. This supports and amplifies adoption of IWM. Over time, a stewardship approach may encourage new collaborative models across a range of scales from individual developments and community-led actions to, for example, place-based models working with anchor institutions to deliver local outcomes, see image below.
There is no ‘one size fits’ all stewardship approach. The right stewardship arrangement is unique to every site and project. Sufficient time, resources and enthusiasm are required to collaborate effectively. To succeed, stewardship networks will have to be effective in activating changes from within the complex systems of economy, society and nature that are needed to strengthen resilience (Smith, 2016).
This article has been a high-level framing of some of the ways in which EWSC is rethinking stewardship. Some of the areas discussed above are already being carried forwards by the EWSC project enabling actions workstreams. Some will form part of wider transition pathways. All are closely related to the other building blocks of the EWSC model, namely Assets and Value, and should be considered within this context. Explore our other insight articles for emerging perspectives, further case studies and deep dives on this theme.
This article is written by Arup, a collective of designers, architects, engineering and sustainability consultants, and experts dedicated to sustainable development. Arup brought water and housing specialisms together with strategic design capabilities to rethink how we define values, assets and stewardship to unlock opportunities for enabling Water Smart Communities (EWSC). This is one of three on the topic: see Rethinking Value; and Rethinking Assets, for more.
As Discovery research lead and series editor, Arup’s Transformation & Design Studio led the multi-partner research effort contributing public innovation and strategic design expertise.
This is one of a series of insight articles produced as part of the EWSC innovation programme, exploring how integrated water management can be delivered through innovative housing and stewardship models. To explore related articles and reflections browse our publication. For an overview of the project, latest news or to get in touch visit https://www.ewsc.org.uk/.
