Water Sensitive Cities Research Articles

Green and grey infrastructures approaches in flood reduction

PurposeThis paper aims to advance the idea of sustainable flood reduction. Flood reduction through the use of the drainage system is considered an unsustainable approach that decreases the use of water. In contrast, the Water Sensitive City is a sustainable concept aimed at increasing the value of water for human needs and reduce flooding.Design/methodology/approachThe current approach of relying on drainage systems is ineffective and must be combined with green infrastructures to reduce flooding. Green infrastructures can increase infiltration rates or facilitate rain harvesting. The study developed four scenarios that combine green and grey infrastructures and used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to select the most effective scenario based on the remaining amount of flood volume in every scenario.FindingsGreen infrastructures that are related to increased infiltration and rain-harvesting instruments reduced flooding by 22.3 and 27.7 per cent, respectively. Furthermore, a combination of the two types of green infrastructures reduced flooding up to 45.5 per cent. Conversely, applying only grey infrastructures (by increasing drainage capacity) to reduce the flooding to zero is unfeasible, as this requires more than double the current capacity. Therefore, a combination of green and grey infrastructures can significantly reduce flooding in a water sensitive and feasible manner.Originality/valueApplying a combination of green and grey infrastructures is a new and effective approach to reduce flooding in the Kedurus Catchment Area.

Institutional inertia: challenges in urban water management on the path towards a water-sensitive Surabaya, Indonesia

ABSTRACT Traditional approaches to urban water management are increasingly questioned. To understand whether the alternative water-sensitive city (WSC) paradigm is applicable in Surabaya, Indonesia, its water governance system was analyzed using semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders, questionnaires, and a literature review. Three main institutional obstacles to a transition towards a WSC were identified: national and local political interference; lack of institutional coordination; and the commercialization of Surabaya’s water utility. A discord between water practitioners’ individual beliefs and water management practices also makes changes towards a WSC difficult. Yet, opportunities are found where existing political goals align with elements of the WSC.

Flexible adaptation planning process for urban adaptation in Melbourne, Australia

Resilience towards climate and socio-economic changes can be increased by means of flexible adaptation. In contemporary adaptation planning, building resilience is considered together with objectives such as sustainability, productivity and transformations. An adaptation planning process (termed water-sensitive city adaptation planning process (WSCapp)) may be used to incorporate flexibility or incremental flexible adaptation measures in a comprehensive adaptation strategy, such as when planning water-sensitive cities. This paper applies WSCapp in the context of adapting to urban flooding in Melbourne, Australia, which aspires to become a water-sensitive city. Application of WSCapp – through nine steps of analysis – has helped identify appropriate adaptation measures and economic adaptation pathways. In the case of Melbourne, of the three adaptation measures considered, the combination of rainwater tanks at the household level and the flood-proofing of households was found to be the most effective. WSCapp is fundamental for future work with urban planning and infrastructure consultants and can greatly benefit them with obtaining a more flexible and sustainable flood management response.

Sustainability and Water Sensitive Cities: Analysis for Intermediary Cities in Andalusia

There is currently a phenomenon of global urbanization, where in Europe intermediary cities play a major role by concentrating more than 40% of the European urban population. These types of cities have specific challenges regarding their sustainability and are key to meeting the objectives set out in the UN 2030 Agenda (United Nations, UN), due to their local character and proximity to the citizen. The intermediary cities of Andalusia in Spain, its urban sustainable development and its relationship with water are the object of analysis in this article. They are analyzed through the winning plans in the first call of the Spanish “Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategy ” (ISUDS). In this process, the citizens are the main actors through their participation in the elaboration of the ISUDS, in which they express the scope of the “hydrosocial contract ” of citizenship. The research presented in this article analyzes the latter through a methodological framework applied to the ISUDS, which shows the unequal interest of Andalusian intermediary cities when integrating water into their sustainable development. The article ends with a series of recommendations that make it possible to bring these cities closer to the “water sensitive cities ” stage.

Development of context specific sustainability criteria for selection of plant species for green urban infrastructure: The case of Singapore

Sustainable urban development at the global level results from sustainable actions undertaken at city, neighbourhood and household levels with the right balance of environmental, economic and social aspects, achieved through initiatives such as water sensitive cities, sponge cities and “active, beautiful and clean waters ” (ABC waters). Green infrastructure (GI) including parks, green roofs, green walls, rain gardens and swales contribute to sustainable development of cites. Even when the overall selection of GI based on life cycle analysis and life cycle costs is satisfactory, the selection of suitable plant species is a challenge as the theory and practice of selecting plants for GI is poorly understood and lacking. Thirty eight out of fifty one plants species used in Singapore GI are not native species and eighteen are weeds. Although not necessarily sustainable these plant species contribute to make Singapore attractive and clean. This research focused on developing a comprehensive plant selection criteria “Criteria for green infrastructure Sustainable Outcomes in Urban Precincts” (CgreenSoup) for sustainable GI based on social, environmental, economic and engineering aspects. The ecological aspects of plant species also comprise the criteria prevalent in allelopathic and toxicological assessment of plants in countries such as Australia, Singapore and USA. The relevance of CgreenSoup was tested by assessing the plant composition of the GI implemented through the Active, Beautiful and Clean Waters Features program (ABC Waters) in Singapore. Based on the outcomes in the Singapore context, the methodology developed in Cgreensoup can be used for the selection of plant in contexts such as sponge cities, to avoid negative ecological impacts and achieve benefits that are more sustainable. From this, it is strongly recommended that a set of selection criteria collectively contributing to ecological health should be used for the selection of plants as part of GI for ensuring sustainable outcomes in urban landscapes.

Urban water metabolism information for planning water sensitive city-regions

Climate change and growing populations will stretch water resources in many city-regions globally, and urbanisation will continue to degrade water quality and upset natural hydrological flows. These pressures call for alternative urban water management approaches with improved connection with land use planning. Evaluating the water metabolism of urban areas gives a holistic picture of how water flows through and is transformed by urban settlements, to inform land use planning for sustainably managing urban water. Previous research has conceptualised how metabolism science may inform urban land use planning. In this work, we build on to identify how urban water metabolism evaluations can inform urban planning practice. We ask, ‘how can urban water metabolism evaluations support urban and water planning towards water sensitive city-regions?’ Focusing on three Australian capital city-regions, we empirically identify the knowledge needs of practitioners and compare this against the knowledge known to be generated from past urban water metabolism evaluations. This was done within a framework of urban water resource management objectives for water sensitive cities - that is, protection of water resources and hydrological flows, recognition of the diverse functions of water, and resource efficiency and supply internalisation. Based on the findings, the paper discusses five key strategic initiatives for planning for water sensitive city-regions: resource efficiency and hydrological performance benchmarks and targets for urban developments, tailoring programmes for resource efficiency, making case for regional blue-green space networks for improved hydrological performance, small and large-scale infrastructure innovation, and social and institutional innovation in urban water management.

A pedagogia do ciclo da água urbano: formas de abordagem para promover cidades sensíveis à água

Este trabalho apresenta pedagogias da água para conscientização da importância do ciclo da água urbano que contribuem na construção do “Manual pedagógico do ciclo da água urbano com padrões de infraestrutura ecológica para promover o engajamento social frente à escassez hídrica” inserido no projeto Brasília Sensível à Água. Como fundamentos, adota alguns projetos pedagógicos existentes, relacionados com a promoção de cidades sensíveis à água e os produtos de pesquisas anteriores do projeto Brasília Sensível à Água, que abordaram padrões espaciais e técnicas de infraestrutura ecológica (ProIC 2014/2015, ProIC 2015/2016 e ProIC 2016/2017), atentos às novas formas de ocupações urbanas ou reabilitação de áreas integradas ao restabelecimento do ciclo da água urbano. Os estudos focam o livro “Água como matriz ecopedagógica: um projeto a muitas mãos” de Catalão e Socorro (2006), a página no Facebook chamada “Água, sua linda”, administrada pela Aliança pela Água, o programa australiano Cidades Sensíveis à Água e o evento ocorrido dentro do FAMA organizado pelo grupo de pesquisa Água e Ambiente Construído - FAU/UnB. Este trabalho obteve o prêmio de Melhor Trabalho na Área de Artes e Humanidades do 24° Congresso de Iniciação Científica da UnB e do 15° Congresso de Iniciação Científica do DF, ambos em 2018.

Anthropology of changing paradigms of urban water systems

The dynamic interaction between society and nature is influenced by the prevailing normative, cognitive, and regulative societal systems, which guide the relationships between society and nature or ecology. Therefore, mature cities with increasingly complex urban interactions must shift from the simple agenda of demand–supply to multi-criterion models that takes into account factors like impacts of climate change, variation in settlement patterns, human vulnerability, and resource optimization to balance the society–ecology relationship. However, rapidly growing megacities have failed to balance their development and associated societal goals. This paper presents an assessment of the paradigm shift in the relationship between people and water as a resource, or the hydro-social construct, along a temporal gradient from about ad 1206 to the present for an ancient Asian city, namely Delhi. The city struggles at present with many challenges, including demographic fluctuations, increasing geographic spread, economic restructuring, changes in land use and settlement patterns, and, most relevant here, the transition from a water-sensitive city to a water-scarce city. The study identifies the causes of shifts in the water–society relationships and areas of interventions, that takes into account the physical, economic, and social characteristics of the city’s water resource to ensure that water, a basic human need, must be accessible to all inhabitants of the city.

The Role of Community Champions in Long-Term Sustainable Urban Water Planning

Community engagement and stewardship are important elements in urban water planning if we are to achieve the vision of water sensitive cities. The aim of this study was to explore how community members could participate in collaborative water planning processes that are adaptive, participatory and transdisciplinary. We conducted a case study of community participation in a water planning process in the regional town of Bendigo in Australia. Over a period of eight months, we worked with key stakeholders to generate integrated, collaborative and people-centred water planning. This involved a series of community champion workshops supplemented by focus groups with additional community members that ran alongside workshops with water and local planning professionals. The goal of the process was to bring together industry, government partners and community members to develop a 50-year vision for a water sensitive Bendigo and to identify the steps needed to achieve this vision. Key findings were that community champions were keen to learn and contribute to urban water planning in their local context. Given time and support, community champions were able to distil complex ideas and make compromises to contribute to a shared vision for the city. Our findings confirm that community champions can play the role of knowledge brokers between water managers and the general population. The research contributes knowledge regarding the value of engaging community champions in urban water planning.

Evaluation of Water Governance Processes Required to Transition towards Water Sensitive Urban Design—An Indicator Assessment Approach for the City of Cape Town

In the face of water related risks resulting from climate change and rapid urbanization, water resources in South African cities have increasingly come under pressure. Following the most recent drought period (2015–2018), local authorities such as the City of Cape Town are being tasked with restructuring policy to include climate change adaptation strategies to adapt more adequately and proactively to these new challenges. This paper describes an evaluation of the water governance processes required to implement Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) in Cape Town—with a specific focus on the barriers to, and opportunities for, those processes related to wastewater treatment, flood risk and the pressing issue of water scarcity. The City Blueprint Approach (CBA) was selected as the indicator assessment approach for this task. The CBA is a set of diagnostic tools comprising the Trends and Pressures Framework, the City Blueprint Framework and the Governance Capacity Framework. This was applied to Cape Town based on in-depth interviews and publicly available information. The analysis revealed that smart monitoring, community knowledge and experimentation with alternative water management technologies are important when considering uncertainties and complexities in the governance of urban water challenges. We conclude that there is potential for Cape Town to transition to a water sensitive city through learning from this experimentation and by implementing WSUD strategies that address water scarcity following the shifts in governance caused by the 2015–2018 drought.

“Water Sensitive City” Within City as A Strategy for Activate Polluted Urban Areas

The paper deals with the possibilities of urban and architectural design to benefit human condition, which encompasses physical well-being, environmental quality of life in big cities during the Climate Change era. Cities are dependent on the ecosystems beyond the city limits, but also benefit from internal urban ecosystems. This paper focuses on issues relevant for urban areas, the attention is on direct and locally generated services relevant for Szczecin. The first part of the paper depicts what the term “water sensitive city” means in urban design as a way to encapsulate a fuzzy concepts of an ideal relationship between people, governance, built environment, infrastructure, living ecosystems, resource use (e.g. energy) and water. This section also includes the example of project North Harbour, Northern Europe’s largest new urban development area in Copenhagen where this concept is implemented. The second part of the paper presents the results of the research for the Łasztownia Island in Szczecin by Jakub Golebiewski and Tomasz Sachanowicz team (West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin). Currently, the Łasztownia Island remains as a degraded and polluted area in Szczecin’s inner city. In conclusion, the paper emphasizes the implementation the concept “water sensitive city” is the desired strategy for reactivation this urban area. This also allows the ecosystems close to the city centre to be linked with larger ecosystems outside of the city.

MAKING CITIES WATER-WISE AND CLIMATE-RESILIENT — LESSONS AND EXPERIENCE FROM THE CAPE TOWN DROUGHT

Half of humanity now lives in cities and the net inflow of population into cities will continue. Among all challenges faced by cities, the provisioning for water and sanitation is probably the most pressing one. From 2017 to 2018, the city of Cape Town in South Africa frequently made itself media headlines around the world, in many languages, for its severe water shortage due to consecutive years of drought that later resulted in a water crisis. Fortunately, the potential “Day Zero” when the city would run out of water, did not arrive. However, the crisis exposed a lack of resilience in the city’s water supply system in the face of ongoing climate change and a governance gap for climate adaptation. Many cities, especially those in the Global South, can learn from Cape Town’s experience and lessons on how to enhance governance to become more climate-resilient. Mark New and Gina Ziervogel, the interviewees, have been devoting themselves to studying about the Cape Town drought, and working on establishing the Cape Town Drought Response Learning Initiative. In this article, they analyzed the influence of climate change on Cape Town drought and the water supply system, and suggested effective methods to address and prevent the drought and water shortage. Ziervogel briefly described her adaptive and water-sensitive city framework while both of them revealed the role of Cape Town Drought Response Learning Initiative in making Cape Town more resilient.

ACHIEVING WATER SENSITIVE CITY CONCEPT THROUGH MUSRENBANG MECHANISM IN SURABAYA CITY, INDONESIA

Water sensitive city is a very important issue for the development of future cities. Water sensitiveness is a kind of way of life for all communities in the cities. Cities with a low level of environmental awareness would be difficult to implement the issue of water sensitive city. The aim of this study is to access how water sensitive city concept could be implemented in Surabaya. Observations and surveys using focus group discussion (FGD) and in-depth interview (IDI) were conducted to get real information on each musrenbang from kelurahan level up to kecamatan and city level. The concept of water sensitive city was likely to be possible to be implemented in Surabaya. It was, however, not easy to be implemented as human basic needs like poverty eradication, education, and sanitation was not discussed during musrenbang as these needs were indicators to further discuss the issue of water sensitive city. Water sensitive should not be thought and discussed as a concept, but it had to be practiced as the daily livelihoodof the communities to create of robust cities for water-related issues.

Jumping to the top: catalysts for leapfrogging to a water sensitive city

Climate change, population growth and rapid urbanisation have severe implications for cities and the way in which they interact with water. As a response to these challenges the water sensitive cities concept emerged, which supports cities to become more resilient to these challenges while making them more prosperous, sustainable and liveable. A water sensitive city harnesses the whole water cycle through integrated water management solutions, designs beautiful blue and green urban spaces and comprises healthy communities who are strongly connected with each other and with their local environment. Indonesian cities have an opportunity to ‘leapfrog’ towards a water sensitive city and to bypass the negative consequences that have resulted from urbanisation and growth that developed countries have gone through. Contributing to this growing field of research, this paper synthesizes key insights from the transformative change, sustainable urban water management and leapfrogging literature. The paper defines what leapfrogging to a water sensitive city means and describes three catalysts that facilitate this transition: trans-disciplinary science, cross sectoral collaboration and innovation experiments. The paper also introduces a joint Australian-Indonesian research program that develops water sensitive city leapfrogging strategies by translating these catalysts into practice.

Model of urban water management towards water sensitive city: a literature review

Nowadays, many cities are facing with complex issues such as climate change, social, economic, culture, and environmental problems, especially urban water. In other words, the city has to struggle with the challenge to make sure its sustainability in all aspects. This research focuses on how to ensure the city sustainability and resilience on urban water management. Many research were not only conducted in urban water management, but also in sustainability itself. Moreover, water sustainability shifts from urban water management into water sensitive city. This transition needs comprehensive aspects such as social, institutional dynamics, technical innovation, and local contents. Some literatures about model of urban water management and the transition towards water sensitivity had been reviewed in this study. This study proposed discussion about model of urban water management and the transition towards water sensitive city. Research findings suggest that there are many different models developed in urban water management, but they are not comprehensive yet and only few studies discuss about the transition towards water sensitive and resilience city. The drawbacks of previous research can identify and fulfill the gap of this study. Therefore, the paper contributes a general framework for the urban water management modelling studies.

INITIATIVE URBAN WATER STUDIES AT DEPOK, PERI-URBAN CITY - TOWARD THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WATER SENSITIVE CITY CONCEPT

The city has increasingly been burdened with the increase of urbanization. The effect of thisdynamic is the pressure to the urban environment, specifically on the supply of water and the number of waterspace. The city of Depok as a peri-urban city continuously experience infrastructure development as theconsequences of the capital city, Jakarta’s spill over. It resulted in the diminishing amount and quality of watersupply and space. Water Sensitive Cities is an innovative approach that is based on similar experience in similarsurroundings within Australian cities. The approach integrates the concept of the water cycle with urbandevelopment dynamics that consider to ecological equilibrium. To what extent the concept is implemented inone of the middle cities in Indonesia will therefore then be significant for the study of urban developments andwater studies in Indonesia. Specifically for the case of Depok, Water Sensitive City studies will provide aguideline as to what will be required to be done with regards to the current condition of water supply and spacein the middle city context. The research takes advantage of mix-method approach; content analysis as a lessonlearned for Water Sensitive City in several cities and combined with GIS mapping to identify land-use conditioncomparing with the management of water supply. The research will outline the degree of Water Sensitive Cityimplementation in Depok and what still required to be done. The research will also highlight the extent of whichWater Sensitive City as an approach can be applicable in Depok and Indonesia in general.

The Water‐Sensitive City: Implications of an urban water management paradigm and its globalization

The urban water management (UWM) community is embracing a paradigm shift to tackle the escalating water stress experienced in several cities globally, as existing challenges are predicted to be exacerbated by climate change and population growth. The term “Water Sensitive City” (WSC) is widely used in literature to describe this new ideal to aim for, where cities will successfully deliver safe and reliable water services to all, now and in the future, in an eco‐friendly manner. This green, long‐term vision implies a large amount of stakeholder coordination and institutional support, as well as participatory community engagement. Examining the foundations and principles of the WSC as well as the experiences in its application, impacts and limitations, particularly in the Global South, provides a space to further contribute to the dynamic field of UWM and governance. This article provides a condensed overview of the WSC approach and related emerging conversations in the urban water sector across a range of disciplines: the objective is to nurture reflection from young professionals entering the field of UWM, but also to offer an opportunity for more experienced scholars and practitioners to take a step back in considering this rising approach from different perspectives.This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Sustainable Engineering of Water Engineering Water > Water, Health, and Sanitation Engineering Water > Planning Water

Flexible adaptation planning for water sensitive cities

Cities have started adapting to uncertain climate drivers such as temperature and sea level rise, and some cities are also transitioning towards concepts such as Water Sensitivity. In adaptation planning, flexibility is considered as an important characteristic to respond to changing circumstances. This paper develops a novel approach to identify where flexibility can best be embedded in urban flood risk management systems. The identification of a flexible water sensitive adaptation response is based on change propagation; i.e. the response's ability to minimise negative or maximise positive impacts in urban systems. The Flexible adaptation planning process (WSCapp), comprising change propagation – especially how positive and negative impacts propagate in an urban environment, can be used by those concerned with urban planning and urban adaptation to identify “where” the flexible adaptation responses can be implemented. WSCapp can be used to decide the type of adaptation response such as changes to streetscape, place making or architectural forms that can best contribute towards the objectives of a water sensitive city.

Towards Water Sensitive City: Lesson Learned From Bogor Flood Hazard in 2017

Bogor known as rain city and it’s located at an altitude range of 190-330 meters above sea level. In February 2017 Bogor experienced a series of natural disasters related to heavy rainfall that fell during that time. The hazard in the form of flash floods that cause casualties was shocked, due to the location of Bogor city that located in the foothills with a fairly steep slope. There is a problem with the drainage system in the city of Bogor. Australia Indonesia Center in cooperation with Bogor city government held a focus group discussion to seek a permanent solution for the problems and so that similar incidents do not occur in the future.

Use and Utility: Exploring the Diversity and Design of Water Models at the Science-Policy Interface

Effort to narrow the gap between the production and use of scientific knowledge for environmental decision-making is gaining traction, yet in practice, supply and demand remains largely unbalanced. A qualitative study based on empirical analysis offers a novel approach to exploring key factors, focussing on seven water models in the context of two organisations at the science-policy interface: the PIREN-Seine in France and the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities in Australia. Tentative linkages drawn from these examples identify: (1) objective and expertise; (2) knowledge and tools; and (3) support structures as main drivers influencing the production of scientific knowledge which, in turn, affect the use and utility of modelling tools. Further insight is gained by highlighting the wide spectrum of uses and utilities existing in practice, suggesting that such ‘boundary organisations’ facilitate interactions and exchanges that give added value to scientific knowledge. Coordinated strategies that integrate inter-, extra-, and intra-boundary activities, framed through collaborative scenario building and the use of interactive modelling platforms, may offer ways to enhance the use and utility of scientific knowledge (and its tools) to better support water resources management, policy and planning decisions, thus promoting a more cohesive relationship between science and policy.