Public & Nonprofit Studies: Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2-2026
Publication Title
ACS Environmental Au
DOI
10.1021/acsenvironau.5c00266
Abstract
Recovering water, nutrients, energy, and critical materials from waste streams is essential for building resilient and circular water systems. Yet many recovery technologies fail to achieve adoption or persistence beyond pilot scales because they overlook the social and institutional contexts that shape implementation. This Perspective reframes resource recovery as an adaptive challenge, i.e., one that depends as much on governance capacity, trust, and collective learning as on technical optimization. We propose a watershed- and place-based framework that situates recovery systems within the ecological and institutional boundaries where communities, infrastructure, and governance intersect. Within this discussion, the Community Capitals Framework offers a practical tool to operationalize places and diagnose social readiness by mapping the human, social, financial, and political assets that enable or constrain system adoption. Finally, we highlight the role of the engineer as a boundary spanner, who bridges technical and social domains to coproduce solutions that are legitimate, resilient, and locally grounded. This Perspective advances existing sociotechnical approaches by integrating watershed-scale governance, place-based design, and the Community Capitals Framework into a single, operational lens that helps engineers diagnose implementation barriers and intentionally design resource recovery systems for social legitimacy, resilience, and long-term adoption.
Recommended Citation
Sudweeks, Jayce, Helen Rosko, Matthew R. Landsman, Francisco Cubas-Suazo, Lewis Stetson Rowles.
2026.
"If We Build It, Will They Use It? Aligning Resource Recovery Design with Place-Based Social Systems."
ACS Environmental Au: American Chemical Society.
doi: 10.1021/acsenvironau.5c00266
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ipns-facpubs/36
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Georgia Southern University faculty members, Jayce D. Sudweeks, Helen Rosko, Francisco Cubas, and Lewis S. Rowles "If We Build It, Will They Use It? Aligning Resource Recovery Design with Place-Based Social Systems."