Unfolding Sense of Water : Conceptual framework to explore caring for water

The societal and environmental challenges we face due to climate change, biodiversity loss and other environmental crises call for novel ways to understand and communicate about ecological changes to mobilize actions. Diverse and inclusive ways of knowing including new narratives and concepts can capture and convey deeper meanings and emotions, and foster individual and collective care i.e. practical actions, moral responsibility and attentiveness towards all living organisms and their environments. Water is connecting humans to nature and other people both in a metaphysical and material sense and it is interwoven with humans’ survival and quality of life. Various environmental changes are increasingly becoming visible, sensible and tangible for us through different manifestations of water: floods, droughts and pollution also in Finland calling for new type of agency towards water and natural environment more broadly. Consequently, our starting point is that there is something we call the sense of water, a shared individual and collective space in which situated knowing, feeling, and acting with and around water takes place. In this article we explore and unfold sense of water as if it was – or could emerge as – a boundary concept to express and communicate about meanings of water and creating agency for water. We are interested in especially about the architecture of the concept, i.e. associated concepts sense of water. To unfold sense of water we co-created a transdisciplinary framework, which can be considered as a boundary object for unfolding different sense(s) of water and in that way assist in discussing water related matters and conflicts. We further co-created the concept by discussing the framework in different contexts with diverse stakeholders and informants along continuous transdisciplinary reflection. In this paper we 1) identify the theoretical underpinnings and conceptual behind the sense(s) of water; and 2) describe a transdisciplinary methodology for co-creating the framework for sense(s) of water. Finally, based on our initial findings 3) we assess co-created the framework against the five criteria suggested by Franco (2013) that are needed for a framework to facilitate knowledge exchange and action, and thereby becoming a boundary object.