Abstract
Urban development and planning are increasingly centered on matters of sustainability, balancing economic development with ecosystem services and biological diversity within urban environments. In addition to these institutional and structural factors, the decision-making process within individual households must be understood to address rising concerns about water use. Therefore, individual characteristics and preferences that influence the use of water also warrant examination. In response to a survey of occupants of single-family residences in the Fresno Clovis Metropolitan Area of California, contextual interviews and focus group interviews with a homeowner sub-sample, we find evidence of an interplay of social—structural, institutional, and cultural factors involved in influencing individual water use behaviors and landscape decision-making. The complexity of residential behaviors and decision-making poses some potential issues with regards to the interactions between individual households and institutional actors in matters of water usage and landscaping, as residents surveyed indicate relatively little confidence in institutions and groups to make wise water policy decisions. We conclude that the promotion and implementation of sustainable water use practices will require not only environmental education for the citizenry, but also a tailoring of information for environmental educational initiatives that address the particularities of individual neighborhoods and communities.
Highlights
The availability and use of water are issues of increasing concern for urban environments in arid regions, in particular the American Southwest
We find evidence that structural conditions combined with cultural inertia and perceptions of water pricing are driving domestic landscape and related water use patterns
Existing single-family residence dwellers are living in neighborhoods and presiding over domestic landscapes that are relatively water-intensive because the landscapes were established under a flat-rate water-pricing system coupled with a cultural context in which conservation provided little or no incentive for altering behavior
Summary
The availability and use of water are issues of increasing concern for urban environments in arid regions, in particular the American Southwest. Households often have limited control over water consumption as structural factors such as home design and pre-existing residential landscapes require a certain level of water use for maintenance [29,30]. Such factors may over time intensify water usage. The observation that turfgrass managers of relatively high income and education, though predicted in the literature to be more environmentally conscious, use more chemicals on their lawns than those with less income and education To explain this seeming contradiction, Robbins criticizes frameworks dominated by emphasis on choice, culture, demand and sovereign human action. We analyze the different potential social factors that may be driving outdoor residential water usage such as individual’s socioeconomic status, status honor, lifestyle, sense of self and personality as well as water pricing and structural conditions
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