usesan

Usesan is a framework used in urban planning and public health to analyze how sanitation systems are used in cities. The term emphasizes user behavior, service delivery, and system performance, rather than focusing solely on infrastructure. USESAN is often described as an integrated approach that combines social science methods with engineering data to improve sanitation outcomes.

Core components of Usesan include data collection from households, facilities, and service providers; a set of performance metrics such as access, reliability, hygiene, and maintenance; and analytical models that link demand for sanitation services with supply capacity. Analysts typically employ mixed methods, including household surveys, facility audits, GIS mapping, and sensor or usage data when available, to support scenario planning and policy evaluation.

Origins and adoption: Usesan emerged from interdisciplinary collaborations among engineers, geographers, and public health researchers in the late 2010s as a way to bridge behavioral and technical dimensions of sanitation. It has been applied in diverse urban contexts to identify barriers to service uptake, estimate future gaps, and evaluate the potential impact of interventions such as facility upgrades or behavior-change programs.

Limitations and ongoing development: challenges include variable data quality across settings, context-specific definitions of performance, and resource requirements for ongoing monitoring. Related topics include sanitation, urban planning, water and environmental health.