Actors' Role in Turning Constraints Into Opportunities: Disseminating Sustainable Urban Water Management Practices in Forest, Belgium

Abstract

Since 2000, with the elaboration of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), a general agreement was achieved at the European level for implementing sustainable urban water management (SUWM) practices. However, there is criticism on the applicability of the WFD at the local level leading to disparities between administrative units of the same region or state (Andersson, Petersson, and Jarsjö 2012). Even so, research based on Australian cases revealed that regardless the regional or national legislation, discrepancies between administrative units have a local origin (M. Brown and Libeman 2004). This paper aims to present an interesting case of fit-for-purpose governance in Forest Municipality, Brussels Capital Region, Belgium, that is currently enabling the implementation of SUWM practices through a combination of top-down (the establishment of a municipal water department) and bottom-up (non-profit organizations, citizens' committees) management. Based on the investigation of the present water policies and on the mapping of the social-ecological systems, this paper evaluates the different governance structures and governance processes in relation to their outcomes in their transition towards SUWM practices.