Sustainable and Resilient Urban Water Systems: The Role of Decentralization and Planning

Abstract

Urban water systems face multiple challenges related to future uncertainty and pressures to provide more sustainable and resilient modes of service delivery. Transitioning away from fully centralized water systems is seen as a primary solution to addressing these urban challenges and pressures. We first review the literature on advantages, potential risks, and impediments to change associated with decentralized water system. Our review suggests that adopting decentralized solutions may advance conditions of sustainability and resilience in urban water management. We then explore the potential to incorporate decentralized water systems into broader urban land use patterns that include underserved residential neighborhoods, mixed-use developments, and industrial districts.

A Resilient and Sustainable Water Sector: Barriers to the Operationalisation of Resilience

“…As stated by Leigh and Lee [11], sustainability is a normative concept that refers to physical and institutional practices that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [12]. For a system to be considered 'sustainable', a delicate balance and interplay between the requirements of the social, environmental and economic must be achieved.…”

“…The sustainability paradigm therefore requires multidisciplinary action and the involvement of multiple stakeholders from all levels and areas of the system. Sustainability is now recognised as the most widely used framework in natural resource management and is often depicted as a triangular model that balances the three competing interests of society, economics and the environment, as shown in Figure 1 [11]. Leigh and Lee's [11] work highlights this interplay and how the concept can be, and is applied to urban water systems.…”

“…Sustainability is now recognised as the most widely used framework in natural resource management and is often depicted as a triangular model that balances the three competing interests of society, economics and the environment, as shown in Figure 1 [11]. Leigh and Lee's [11] work highlights this interplay and how the concept can be, and is applied to urban water systems. Criticism of the sustainability model is often based around the idea that it suggests a static balanced system rather than one that embodies the continuously altering and reshaping tensions and priorities that result from both internal and external pressures [11].…”

“…Leigh and Lee's [11] work highlights this interplay and how the concept can be, and is applied to urban water systems. Criticism of the sustainability model is often based around the idea that it suggests a static balanced system rather than one that embodies the continuously altering and reshaping tensions and priorities that result from both internal and external pressures [11]. It is therefore suggested that sustainability is better seen as a journey or trajectory rather than a fixed state [4,15].…”

“…Other resilience-based criticisms also exist surrounding resilience and its relationship to sustainability [34,35]. Although both are undoubtedly highly interrelated concepts, it is considered important to note that at times the objectives of resilience may conflict with those of sustainability [11]. Interventions that intend to achieve resilience at one temporal or spatial scale may negatively impact or affect sustainability goals at another [36].…”