Governance Regime Factors Conducive to Innovation Uptake in Urban Water Management: Experiences from Europe

Innovative ways to manage the urban water cycle are required to deal with an ageing drinking and waste water infrastructure and new societal imperatives. This paper examines the influence of water governance in enabling transformations and technological innovation uptake in urban water management. A...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Rouillard, Josselin, Vidaurre, Rodrigo, Brouwer, Stijn, Damman, Sigrid, Antorán Ponce, Alberto, Gerner, Nadine V., Riegels, Niels, Termes, Montserrat
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/104169
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/104169
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Cicle de l'aigua
Gestió de la innovació
Política energètica
Ciutats
Hydrologic cycle
Innovation management
Energy policy
Cities and towns
Descripción
Sumario:Innovative ways to manage the urban water cycle are required to deal with an ageing drinking and waste water infrastructure and new societal imperatives. This paper examines the influence of water governance in enabling transformations and technological innovation uptake in urban water management. A governance assessment framework is developed and applied in three case-studies, examining different scales and types of innovations used to tackle challenges in European urban water management. The methodology combines documentary analysis and interviews to reconstruct historical storylines of the shift in the water governance of urban water management for each site. The research provides detailed empirical observations on the factors conducive to innovation uptake at the local level. Critical governance factors such as commitment to compromise, the necessity to build political support, and the role of "entrepreneurs" and coalitions are highlighted. The paper also explores the role of discursive strategies and partnership design, as well as that of regulative, economic and communicative instruments, in creating barriers and opportunities to initiate and secure change. A number of recommendations targeted at innovators and water managers are presented in the conclusion