Water sensitive cities
Current approaches to urban water management are resulting in unacceptable outcomes, such as degraded catchments and waterways, vulnerability to water scarcity and flooding, high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and lack of community engagement.
IWC Master of Integrated Water Management students on a field trip learning principles of water sensitive urban design in Brisbane, Australia
Addressing these challenges requires a new way of thinking about urban water management. There is a consensus among researchers, government agencies and the water industry that Australian cities and towns must become ‘water sensitive’: they need to better plan for the challenges of population growth and the effects of climate change on water management in their urban environments.
Example project
Creating Water Sensitive Cities in Australia workshops
In February 2009, the International WaterCentre in partnership with the National Urban Water Governance Program, Monash University, sponsored by the DOW Chemical Company, delivered a series of five capacity-building and leadership workshops, Creating Water Sensitive Cities in Australia, in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide.
Impacts
Key messages from the workshops were presented to Australian state and federal governments in Canberra, leading to a National Forum to develop a community of interest for creating water sensitive cities.
Indicative publications
