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Political and Professional Agency Entrapment: An Agenda for Urban Water Research

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Abstract

The many societal benefits provided by traditional, centralised urban water servicing models are being re-examined following recent extreme weather events, climate uncertainty and other variable socio-technical trends. Total water cycle management offers a more flexible and resilient approach to urban water management, however, transformative change in the sector is difficult. A growing number of scholars have identified that the urban water sector is locked-in to the current large-scale, centralised infrastructure model and suggest the sector is unable to accommodate new technologies and management approaches beyond niche projects. Based on extensive socio-institutional research and example cases from Australian and United Kingdom experiences managing urban water under pressures such as modern environmentalism, prolonged water scarcity and sewerage overflows, this paper provides a commentary on common factors exhibited in both countries related to technological path dependency. Three key factors promoting this pathway: political risk, professional agency fear and a lack of a hybrid governance approach are discussed and a future scholarly research agenda is presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, School of Geography & Environmental Science, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Rebekah Brown & Megan Farrelly

  2. Pennine Water Group, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Richard Ashley

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  1. Rebekah Brown
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Correspondence to Megan Farrelly.

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Brown, R., Ashley, R. & Farrelly, M. Political and Professional Agency Entrapment: An Agenda for Urban Water Research. Water Resour Manage 25, 4037–4050 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-011-9886-y

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