From the Water Sensitive Cities project

To maintain the momentum for change, one of the final papers released by the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) – Harnessing hybrid systems for transformative cities – sets out an agenda for the next phase of scaling up water sensitive practices. It provides a framework and direction for collective research and action.

This Think Tank paper introduces the concept of hybrid urban water systems. These systems merge centralised and decentralised solutions, as well as blue–green technologies with grey technologies. They are designed to provide multiple functions and benefits in response to local context. This means they can be customised and implemented as and when needed. This in turn enables cheaper servicing of out-of-sequence urban development that otherwise challenges the capacity of centralised infrastructure to meet demand growth, and can increase centralised water system robustness to make our cities more resilient.

The paper discusses ways to enable and scale the adoption of this approach:

• Advance new funding and financing models that address barriers to mainstream uptake of hybrid water solutions.
• Integrate with sectors beyond water (e.g. urban planning, transport, energy, waste disposal and health), to respond to urban challenges holistically
• Use pilot projects that support scaling out (so that more practitioners are aware of and apply water sensitive city practices), scaling up (so that water sensitive city practices are reflected in policies and regulations) and scaling deep (so that water sensitive city practice is evident in behaviours and beliefs throughout an organisation).

This final point emphasises the importance of demonstrating how water sensitive principles work in practice. The following new reports illustrate how water sensitive city tools can be applied in different contexts.