Cascading Tank Village Systems (CTVSs) of Sri Lanka historically provided a resilient community-based social-ecological water management system in the rural dry zone of Sri Lanka After being abandoned for many centuries, their restoration is now being pursued by different national and international actors as a key to climate change mitigation and sustainable livelihoods for communities. Rural livelihoods in the dry zone are at risk due to multiple factors, poor access and management of water, economic and health pressures, as well as resource limitations and degradation. Despite recent efforts to restore CTVS systems, no social-ecological approach (SES) nor a sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF)-focused approach to ensuring resilient and sustainable livelihood outcomes has been taken. As part of an on-going PhD project, this paper analyses the background, current challenges and potential for an SES focused resilience thinking approach to CTVS for future sustainable livelihood opportunities and outcomes. The study finds CTVS exhibit all the properties of a complex adaptive SES and that a resilience thinking approach centred on achieving sustainable livelihood outcomes for communities suggests deep institutional changes are needed. CTVS are at a crossroads between restoring the past (system adaptability) or transforming for the future, and a combination of legacy and future market orientation seems the best solution.

The absence of a clear definition for sustainability in urban development has brought into defining a comprehensive sustainable concept based on urban design practices. The positive sustainable design practices aim at reducing the damage caused by excessive resource use, or less damage to the environment. Meanwhile, the concept of regenerative design has developed to offer true sustainable practice for transition towards a truly sustainable worldview. The purpose of the research is to investigate how and in which ways regenerative design could be applied to define the sustainability in urban design practices. With that, the regenerative design process was adapted for urban design context through integrated and centralised approach. The ultimate regenerative design process, through the research study, articulates which aspect (method/technology/design) is appropriate for each place, what kind of people for, what yield within the frame of co-evolution of the whole system. Especially, the comparative analysis proved the need of why sustainable design should practice in urban design and at what time and in which ways it should be integrated in to the design process. The radically transformed thinking patterns of practicing sustainable design in the urban planning and urban design, creates sustainable living system, which is mutually integrated with humans and the natural environment.

Urban waterways are an important part of urban ecosystems, and well-managed urban waterways can support diverse benefits to communities and nature. The literature suggests that collaborative engagement is a pathway to unlocking broader benefits. There is, however, an intention–implementation gap, limiting the adoption of community collaboration in urban waterways governance. This paper reports on two case studies based on interviews and analysed with the aim of better understanding the factors that cause this dilemma. The case studies are in Melbourne, Australia, and are examples of where such community participation practices have been attempted. Our analysis includes twenty-three semi-structured interviews from these two cases. Data were analysed using the Values–Rules–Knowledge framework, a heuristic to help decision-makers analyse how social systems shape decision contexts. The results from the case study highlight three key factors that hinder effective community involvement. Bureaucratic processes act as de facto gatekeepers, reinforcing existing power dynamics. Inclusivity is difficult to define and achieve, highlighting the limited availability of appropriate tools. Finally, implementing participatory practices is resource intensive in terms of time, staff skills, and funding, leading to inadequate resourcing. Overcoming these challenges requires a comprehensive change in bureaucratic procedures, choice of engagement methods, and improved resource management.

No abstract

Cascading Tank Village Systems (CTVSs) of Sri Lanka historically provided a resilient community-based social-ecological water management system in the rural dryzone of Sri Lanka [1]. The CTVS has been described as the ‘lifeblood’ of communities in the rural dry zone [2] and as a globally important Agricultural Heritage System by the FAO [3]. After being abandoned for many centuries, their restoration is now being pursued by different national and international actors as a key to climate change mitigation and sustainable livelihoods for communities [4]. Rural livelihoods in the dry zone are at risk due to multiple factors, poor access and management of water, economic and health pressures, as well as resource limitations and degradation [5]. Despite recent efforts to restore CTVS systems, no social-ecological approach (SES) nor sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF) focused approach to ensuring resilient and sustainable livelihood outcomes has been taken [6]. As part of an on-going PhD project, this paper describes the background, current challenges and potential for an SES focused resilience thinking approach to CTVS combined with a focus on sustainable livelihoods for future sustainable livelihood opportunities and outcomes. The study finds current restoration efforts are at a crossroads between restoring the past (system adaptability) or transforming for the future. It introduces relevant SES and resilience thinking concepts and analyses the CTVS from this perspective. A particular contribution of this study is to point to the significant overlaps and complementarities in social-ecological (SES) resilience thinking and SLF approaches to analysis and proposals for resilient rural development. Employing resilience thinking principles it recommends strategies to create positive livelihood outcomes for communities and households. Keywords: cascading tank village system; sustainable livelihoods; resilience thinking; Sri Lanka; rural dry zone; community rural development