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Australian Partners

Water Sensitive Cities Australia

Water Sensitive Cities Australia (WSC Australia) is a multidisciplinary research-to-practice partnership supporting cities and towns that want to adopt evidence-based urban water management solutions. Our mission is to help change the way cities are designed, built and managed by valuing the contribution water makes to economic development, quality of life and the ecosystems of which they are a part.

Located within the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI), WSCA draws Monash University’s more than 30-year leadership in urban water management, and draws on the experience and tools developed through Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC), which completed its term in 2021. Established in 2012, this 9-year AUD $120M multidisciplinary initiative united more than 120 public, private and academic partners who co-invested in the rapid research and development of water sensitive systems, technologies and policy reforms.

Having worked together to describe water sensitive practices, and to show they work, the next step is to make them the norm.

We bring multidisciplinary expertise and a collaborative approach to solving complex problems:

  • We bring together technical experts and organisations to create a shared vision for a city.
  • We synthesise breakthrough research and deep industry experience to find innovative, practical action and context-specific solutions.
  • We build the collaboration, knowledge, governance and regulatory frameworks, industry capacity and business models needed for timely implementation at scale.
  • We develop and test water sensitive city technologies.
  • We enhance interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration.

As part of MSDI, WSCA has access to a pool of research and education experts:

  • Climateworks Centre provides research-based policy and financing advice, bridging research and climate action in Australia, southeast Asia and the Pacific.
  • BehaviourWorks Australia brings leading behaviour change researchers and practitioners together to find behavioural solutions to social, environmental and organisational problems.
  • The Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub researches and implements best practice approaches to communicating climate change, in partnership with leading science and media organisations.

WSCA also has a team of country-level experts in place in 4 Mekong countries

Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, RUCaS integrates conventional large-scale grey infrastructure with nature-based solutions across urban environments in 4 Mekong countries – Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. The aim is to enhance urban climate resilience and liveability by fostering collaboration and implementing sustainable solutions like constructed wetlands, green walls and multifunctional parks.

WSCA is working with Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor Office (EECO) to support development of an integrated urban water strategy and build capacity to implement it. In particular, the team is supporting the water-related elements of a new Smart City which will be home to around 300,000 people. We are also working with EECO and other Thai agencies to help strengthen water resource planning and pricing arrangements across the EEC.

WSCA is working with the National University of Laos (NUoL), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and the UN Environment Programme on a Green Climate Fund supported program to develop guidelines for restoration, rehabilitation and remediation of urban streams and wetlands. We are also co-creating a research roadmap to guide collaboration at NUoL on ecosystem-based adaptation across disciplines.

WSCA worked with the Hanoi Association of Persons with Disabilities (DP Hanoi), to co-design research, build capacity to collect and use data to influence disability inclusion in climate and water policy, and support advocacy initiatives targeted to benefit people with disabilities. Activities included:

  • Providing training on data collection techniques
  • Conducting interviews and surveys of people with disabilities to understand their challenges and experiences
  • Convening a public findings workshop and dialogue in Hanoi
  • Preparing an evidence-based report that DP Hanoi is using in its advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities in the context of disaster response and climate change.

 

Funded by a consortium of Australian state government agencies and water utilities, WSCA is delivering national projects and state-based projects in Western Australia and Victoria. Examples include:

  • Understanding WSC lifecycle costs
  • Building community water literacy
  • Engaging local government councillors and senior executives
  • Valuing green–blue infrastructure
  • Applying water sensitive urban design to small infill developments
  • Protecting headwater streams: Ideas for Aitken Creek.

WSCA also delivers a monthly webinar series, as part of its knowledge adoption program.

The Australian Government, Australian Water Partnership and the CRCWSC partnered to develop a framework to improve water outcomes in international cities and towns, based on Australia’s urban water experience. The result is the Urban WaterGuide, which covers water supply, sanitation, drainage, flooding, waterways and urban liveability, with a cross-cutting focus on gender equality and inclusion. The Guide helps decision makers who are responsible for water supply, sanitation, drainage, flood management and managing natural water bodies in cities and towns, by outlining a set of steps that can be adapted to any geography, and can be used at multiple scales.

A project with the World Bank and Chinese government agencies developed a framework for valuing nature-based solutions to integrated urban flooding.

As the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC), team members completed more than 30 projects of various scales and functions in the City of Kunshan (Jiangsu Province, China), to test new planning and design concepts and technologies at city scale. These projects contributed to Kunshan being selected in 2016 as a pilot city for the national Sponge City program. In 2022, Kunshan was selected as one of 25 demonstration cities to further promote sponge city practices throughout China.

  • Asian Development Bank

The CRCWSC was invited by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to establish a partnership with the bank to provide ongoing strategic and technical advice on the planning of urban water infrastructure for developing countries in Asia as the basis of the banks strategic relationship with these countries. The aim of the partnership was to support the bank in influencing more sustainable and resilient outcomes in their lending strategies for urban development of these nations.

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