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Delegating state responsibilities for the management of water resources to regional bodies and the provision of drinking water and sanitation to local governments has led to new configurations in urban water governance. Drawing on case studies from four cities in the global South (Guarulhos, Arequipa, Lima and Durban), this article analyzes recent changes in these configurations, with particular attention to the role and power of the municipality in this process. This paper explores to what extent these new configurations reveal a move towards resilience, transition or even transformation. It concludes that there are clear indications of transition in all cases, and in Guarulhos and Durban even some signs of transformation. Given that transformative changes in the legal and institutional framework, and even in values and attitudes, have not yet affected the existing power structures, the question is to what extent these signs of transformation will reach their full potential.

Process-oriented transdisciplinary research is generally seen as a promising approach to facilitate sustainability transitions. This type of research requires new participatory roles for researchers. These new roles may conflict with traditional, more academic roles that researchers often maintain next to their new roles. Using the Dutch transdisciplinary Knowledge-Action Programme on Water (KAP Water) as a case study, we highlight tensions that researchers adopting these new roles experience. We have observed both practical and more fundamental tensions between roles of researchers in process-oriented sustainability research. In particular, it proved difficult to combine more engaged roles, where researchers are involved in dialogues for change, with knowledge-oriented roles, where researchers focus on knowledge provision and are further removed from ‘real-world action’. Tensions arise from three sources: (1) researchers’ self-perception and expectations; (2) expectations from transdisciplinary partners, funders and researchers’ home institutions; and (3) societal convictions about what scientific knowledge is and how it should be developed. This paper contributes to the literature by enhancing the understanding of the interactions and tensions between the roles of researchers in transdisciplinary research.

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