Barcelona Water Crisis

Year

2024

How can Barcelona become a model of water resilience?

Design Challenge

Context: As part of the master’s program in Strategic Design in Complexity, offered by Elisava in collaboration with Kaospilot, we explored Barcelona’s worst drought in 200 years (2023-2024), which revealed the limitations of a reactive water management system focused on short-term solutions. A resilient, long-term approach is critical for the city’s sustainability.

Evidence: The government’s extreme measures, such as importing water from France and diverting the Ebro River, highlight the urgency for systemic reform and adaptive strategies to address ongoing water challenges.

Challenge: The design challenge involved fostering adaptive water systems to withstand both droughts and floods, promoting sustainable urban living while addressing immediate crises and building long-term resilience.

Presentation based on the research conducted

Innovation Space

Opportunities: Over five months of research, it became evident that Barcelona could benefit from adopting the mental models behind Singapore’s advanced water management strategy. Singapore’s holistic approach—grounded in systems thinking and integrating technology, public engagement, and circular water use—offered a paradigm shift for how Barcelona could reimagine resilience and sustainability.

Insights: The research uncovered that Barcelona’s prevailing mental models around water management were rooted in reactivity and short-term thinking. This unsustainable mindset, coupled with politicized management and a disconnect between government and citizens, underscored the need to reframe perspectives and adopt long-term, collaborative strategies.

The Iceberg Model is a systems thinking tool that helps identify underlying structures, patterns, and mental models driving visible events.

Stakeholder Mapping, this tool is essential for identifying leverage points and tailoring engagement strategies for each group within a complex system

Vision

Principles: The project was guided by four key principles: intentionality, transparency, adaptability, and water centricity. These values ensured the foundation for a sustainable and future-resilient water management system in Barcelona.

Strategy: The approach focused on transitioning from a reactive, short-term mindset to a model of long-term resilience. This required engaging diverse stakeholders—government, citizens, and private entities—and implementing innovative practices inspired by successful examples like Singapore.

From a short-term to a long-term mindset

40 interventions developed to address the complexity of Barcelona's water system, targeting key leverage points for sustainable and systemic change

Interventions

Outcomes: A portfolio of 40 interventions was developed, addressing cultural, technological, governance, and economic aspects of water management. Among these, three—Amor Sec, H2Oh!, and Bet of the Future—were implemented and executed during Barcelona Design Week 2024.

Impact: These interventions demonstrated innovative approaches to water management, addressing both immediate crises and long-term challenges. Their success positions Barcelona as a model for sustainable and forward-thinking solutions in urban water systems.

Presentation on the main day of Barcelona Design Week 2024

Amor Sec immerses you in a world without water, evoking a deep reflection on our need to restore and reconnect with this essential resource. Witness how design tells the story of love and loss in a parched world. Shot and edited by Cristian Situ

Bet of the Future presents speculative objects that challenge our mental models and highlight the ecological impacts of our choices. What future are we shaping today? Filmed and edited by Cristian Situ

H2Oh! invites you to rethink your daily water consumption with a playful yet powerful visualization of household water use. Through this engaging project, we aim to raise awareness and inspire responsible stewardship. Recorded and edited by Cristian Situ.

Learnings

Our relationship with water reflects a flawed sense of dominance over ecosystems, highlighting the complexity of the system and its interconnected challenges.
Governments can enhance resource management by involving citizens in decision-making processes, challenging existing mental models around water use.
A general lack of awareness about daily water consumption is rooted in water’s low cost, reinforcing the need to rethink societal perceptions before crises arise.

Team

The interventions at Barcelona Design Week were created by Complex24, Cohort #2 of the Strategic Design in Complexity master’s program by Elisava and Kaospilot, directed by Christer Windeløv-Lidzélius, Toban Shadlyn, and Magdalena Herrador. The team includes Emma Aiyin Chen, Karina Pastor, Pierluigi Delgiudice, Juanita Remolina, Raluca Mitran, Pau Gomà, Daniela Castro, and Álvaro Doladé. Learn more on LinkedIn.