“We have all moved from the age of enlightenment to the age of entanglement where sense-making aided by imagination is now more critical than ever.” – John Seely Brown
Water & Solid Waste Utilities: A Systems View
Expert assessments give a snapshot of a utility at a given moment. A systems view adds the film: how the situation came about, which feedback loops, delays and beliefs drive it, and how it is likely to respond to change.
Why it matters
Water and waste utilities rest on capital-intensive infrastructure built to last for decades. When their context shifts faster than they can adapt, through new demands for resource efficiency, tighter finances, changing rules or contested access to resources, they risk service disruption and stranded assets. The early signals are often hard to see from inside the organisation, and only become clear over time.
How Sustainable Synergies works
Each engagement is carried out by an independent observer, positioned outside the client’s institutional perimeter, and unfolds in three stages:
- Framing: identifying the drivers of change that matter, and challenging the perceptions behind the initial question.
- Learning: testing the case against known system archetypes and building an evidence base on purpose, actors, boundaries, rules and beliefs.
- Sense-making: tracking issues over time and, with stakeholders, identifying the leverage for adapting utility services to a new resource efficiency paradigm.
Who it is for
Development banks and the consulting firms working for them, public authorities, investors and insurers involved in water and solid waste services.
What you get
An issues tracker, a shared record of issues, evidence and decisions, and shared narratives that encompass divergent but legitimate concerns. Together, they provide a basis for building partnerships and developing projects.
Who is behind it
Frédéric de Hemptinne has spent 35 years working on how water and solid waste services are organised across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, including as Secretary-General of EurEau, the European federation of water services.