Fjalar de Haan, Annette Bos, Briony Ferguson
Research Fellows at Monash Water for Liveability
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Climate change, resource limitations, changing demographics, ageing infrastructure and evolving community values are putting pressure on urban water systems around the world. In response, the concept of a water sensitive city has emerged in science, policy and practice, as a vision for how a city’s liveability, sustainability and resilience can take shape in relation to water management.

The Urban Water Transitions and Governance (UWTAG) group, part of the interdisciplinary research centre Monash Water for Liveability, aims to understand and contribute to change in policy and practice for enabling transition pathways to water sensitive cities. UWTAG’s research is both fundamental and problem based, integrating empirical, theoretical and modelling approaches to establish robust knowledge and operational tools and frameworks.

This presentation will showcase two recent UWTAG projects that focus on the question of how to build socio-political capital at different levels in society for steering fundamental change in urban water practices. One project examined an alternative planning approach for local sustainable stormwater management in the Cooks River catchment of Sydney. The second project implemented a transition scenario process for Melbourne as a future water sensitive city. Both projects involved innovative participatory approaches to water governance and strategic planning and drew on a range of frameworks and methods, including governance experimentation, transitions management, social learning and institutional change.

All welcome