Commons in the Naubad Karez

Commons is an archive of research about the common pool resource of underground water in a hyper-local and hyper historical context of the Naubad Karez in Bidar, Karnataka.

This is my design bachelore thesis at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, India.

Supported by UNESCO unitwin + Living Labs Network + Team Yuvaa NGO 24 weeks- 2023

Six month on-site ethnographic research along the 3.5km long historical built underground water channeling system. Designed governance & policy research methodologies to analyze water resource management using commons theory (Elinor Ostrom), leading to sustainable community engagement strategies for NGO and government stakeholders.
Conducted on field research through interviews, focus group discussions and re-designed sociology and anthropology approaches (IAD framework) to analyse the socio-cultural distribution of agency towards a common pool resource (CPR) across citizens and government bodies

Research questions:

1. How well does the tragedy of commons allegory describe reality at Naubad?

2. Could the commons theory allow us to understand the usage of water and other water based practices of the Naubad Karez by the stakeholders?

3. Does the idea of commons provide a useful basis for choosing or designing regulatory solutions in the future and what methods could enable this?

Along with the

interview guides

and

redesigned IAD method

, another final designed tool was a

comprehensive map

with summarised research along the 3.1km and intersecting communities as below was used to the approach the DC (executive head of district), BUDA (Bidar Urban Development Authority) and other governmental bodies.
This would be used to further map out research along the various sections of the Naubad Karez and used in conversation with government institutions for dialogue and call for actions.

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