A taxonomy of demand management strategies for sustainable water consumption in urban households

ABSTRACT

Excessive urban household water usage is a pressing global issue faced by many cities. This study aims to develop a concise yet encompassing taxonomy of water demand management strategies, offering a clear and organized framework that enables comparison and evaluation of strategies, informs policy and decision-making, and fosters an interdisciplinary approach to water demand management research. An analytical literature review using grounded theory and hermeneutics was conducted to find key concepts and constructs, identify relationships among them, and synthesize these elements into a coherent framework. The resulting taxonomy presents a classification of demand management strategies into five categories: Psychological, Educational-Communicational, Technological, Economical, and Coercive-Legal.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• drought
• water
• water demand management
• cities
• urban household

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.