05.06.09 COMMUNIQUE: CREATING WATER SENSITIVE CITIES
‘Water Sensitive Cities’ was a term popularised in 2004. As a concept, it was adopted by all of Australia’s major cities and by the Commonwealth Government. Five years down the track, 70 senior water and urban policy professionals gathered in Canberra to continue the discussion around what it means, and how a water sensitive city might be created.
The International WaterCentre, Monash University, and the National Water Commission, hosted a unique style of workshop titled “Creating Water Sensitive Cities in Australia”. Based on participant feedback, the event successfully:
- provided a summary of the latest international knowledge and evidence for moving towards Water Sensitive Cities in Australia from social, engineering, climate and urban design perspectives;
- increased the understanding of the policy context and background for creating Water Sensitive Cities in Australia – an imperative of the NWI;
- shared with national stakeholders, the views of approximately 500 Australian water practitioners on the key issues, opportunities and actions required to achieve a Water Sensitive City; and
- discussed as a group the actions and appropriate professional, organisational, institutional and political responses considered important by water practitioners in Australia to support the transition to a Water Sensitive City.
This Canberra workshop built upon an earlier series of workshops which had been held in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide during February 2009. These previous workshops had attracted a wide and unique range of water industry practitioners. The views of these 500 water practitioners were analysed by Monash University and formed the basis of a number of key messages communicated at the Canberra Water Sensitive City Workshop.
Key messages emanating from the Canberra workshop were:
- for all of Australia’s major urban centres, urgent action is needed to transition towards Water Sensitive Cities;
- the action does not require radical restructuring of the current business structures, but does need to encompass actions that drive substantial cultural change, produce an agreed vision, increase understanding among the urban communities and their politicians, and provide incentives for all stakeholders to transition to Water Sensitive Cities;
- the national government should become more active in facilitating the transitioning across Australia. As a matter of urgency, the national government should co-develop with relevant decision makers from the major cities a national vision and framework for Water Sensitive Cities across Australia. This framework should not be a “one size fits all” approach, but rather, be facilitative and prioritise policies and incentives that allow for adaptability to different city contexts;
- a “community of practice” network should be developed at both national and city levels, enabling interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral coordination and learning;
- ongoing investment in R&D is needed to support the learning cycle – using both social and physical sciences.
At the workshop’s conclusion, National Water Commissioner Professor Chris Davis emphasised three points. First, facilitating water sensitive cities across Australia’s major urban centres, was a recognised priority in the National Water Initiative of 2004, and is an ongoing priority for the National Water Commission. Second, the collation of the views of 500 passionate stakeholders and practitioners provides good guidance for practical actions that can advance water sensitive cities. Third, momentum was clearly building right across the Australian water industry for more to be done in the area of water sensitive cities. Commissioner Davis considered this practitioner-push by industry provided an excellent launching point for the various entities with industry-wide responsibilities, such as the National Water Commission, to focus on what they can do to speed up this important work.
Further information on the outputs of the national series of “Creating Water Sensitive Cities” workshops go to www.watersensitivefutures.org.
For information regarding the International WaterCentre, go to www.watercentre.org
For information about the National Urban Water Governance Program at Monash University, go to www.urbanwatergovernance.com.
For information on the National Water Commission, go to www.nwc.gov.au.
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