National Urban Water Governance Program
Summary Report: Perceptions of Institutional Drivers and Barriers to Sustainable Urban Water Management in Australia.
(PDF 2988KB)
The National Urban Water Governance Program is comprised of a group of social research projects that are investigating the changing governance of traditional urban water management in Australia. For example, new thinking such as the Australian innovation of Water Sensitive Urban Design and Integrated Urban Water Management are gaining prominence and this is leading to change and reform agendas (i.e. the Australian Government's National Water Initiative). However, at the same time there is a growing and diverse group of local and international commentators that suggest this shift has, at best, been slow and that many of the impediments to change are institutional and social, rather than technical. Therefore, the program is intended to help facilitate progress towards achieving a 'water sensitive' city by investigating a number of recognised knowledge gaps in relation to:
- understanding the current institutional, organisational and professional impediments and their relationships to advancing more sustainable urban water management, and
- understanding how to effectively enable institutional development and organisational change that encourages the wide-spread implementation of sustainable forms of urban water management.
The research will draw from a number of social science theories to better understand and explain: the transition from 'traditional' to 'new' forms of governance; the barriers creating institutional inertia to further change, and how to improve institutional capacity and organisational change.
The Research Program
The four year program (2005-2009) is coordinated through the School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University with contributions from the Institute for Sustainable Water Resources. The research program has been formulated in response to a number of industry and academic knowledge gaps that have been increasingly emphasised over the last five years as essential to progressing towards more sustainable urban water futures. To address these gaps the research program is being delivered through three interrelated themes:
- Institutional Barriers
- Institutional Capacity Development
- Transformative Organisational Change
These themes will be focused through three case study metropolitan regions: Melbourne, Victoria; Brisbane, Queensland, and Perth, Western Australia. These three regions have been selected based on the differences among their governance structures.
To conduct this research, partnerships have been formed with a range of organisations in each case study region. Partnering organisations not only contribute to the core research, but also form part of the 'stakeholder steering committee'. This committee meets on a three monthly basis (or as required) to review research findings and to progressively advise on the ongoing research project areas. Collaboration amongst industry stakeholders allows for strong research-industry communication and the opportunity to share experiences and to enhance the uptake of the products and guidance developed as a result of the research. Partnering organisations include: Brisbane City Council, the Water Corporation (WA ), the Department for Planning and Infrastructure (WA), City of Armadale (WA), Department of Water (WA), Melbourne Water, Yarra Valley Water, South East Water, City West Water, Healthy Waterways, Maroochy Shire Council and the Victorian Water Trust.
Complementary Research Projects
The research team and the Program's postgraduate students are also involved in several closely related and complimentary research projects throughout Victoria and New South Wales. These projects have a more specific scope than the National Urban Water Governance Program but have many common elements. Each of these projects will help to build knowledge in the core research area, and will also benefit from the findings of other research areas within the program.
Click here for more details of current research projects that are nested within the National Urban Water Governance Program.