The persistence of urban floods and the inability of aging sewage infrastructure to deal with stormwater make sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDSs) one of the emerging paradigms in urban water management, in which stormwater is no longer a hazard but a resource. Although most of the global research has been done on the technical aspects of SUDSs, their social impacts are not always taken into consideration. The neighborhood scale that characterizes SUDSs creates a different governance system—compared to the old structures of flood risk management—characterized by decentralization practices and where communities gain a better position of negotiation and new responsibilities. The objective of this research is to recognize how the diverse stakeholders involved in SUDSs interact with each other and to look into the different levels of understanding SUDSs as a new alternative of stormwater infrastructure. In order to accomplish this task, the paper introduces the case of the neighborhood of Bon Pastor (Barcelona, Spain), which has gone through urban transformations over the past years, promoting the development of SUDSs in 2012. Empirical evidence was obtained from 10 semi-structured interviews with government, technicians, social organizations, and local community citizens as well as revision of existing policy documents and grey literature on SUDSs and historical documents on the development of the neighborhood. The results show how active the community was during the design process and afterward, as sustainability gradually became one of the main topics in the neighborhood to be incorporated in new developments. However, it also unveiled several issues related to maintenance and the ambiguity of the term SUDS for the different stakeholders involved.

This article aims to demonstrate how critical urban geography and Urban Political Ecology (UPE) can provide analytical tools to fully incorporate the social dimension in Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), overcoming ageographical and depoliticized understandings of sustainable stormwater transitions. Through its socio-technical framework, Sustainability Transitions Theory (STT) has contributed significantly to the discourses around governance, infrastructure and management of the new stormwater paradigm from hazard to resource. However, the theory fails to recognise the complexities that geographical, historical and political dynamics introduce into this process, as questions arise regarding why, how and for whom stormwater becomes a resource. The article argues that UPE can offer insights into why and how drainage transitions may take place in specific contexts, considering aspects of sustainability, social equity, justice and democracy.

Much has been debated regarding the environmental and economic aspects that conform the pillars of sustainability in nature-based solutions (NbSs). However, the social implications are lagging behind in both theory and practice. NbSs are not inherently socially and environmentally just and they might not work for or benefit everyone. On the contrary, they may lead to unequal environmental tradeoffs influencing therefore community acceptance. This research explored the different levels of community acceptance of NbSs in the Tordera delta (Catalonia) through structured interviews and Q-methodology with representative stakeholders. It pretended to contribute to more just NbS discussions by identifying variables of community acceptance through a socio-environmental perspective. The results exposed existing socio-economic and socio-spatial differences that cause unequal co-benefits and tradeoffs among stakeholders of the area. Three distinctive discourses were identified: (1) NbSs as an opportunity to re-naturalize the river; (2) the possibility of NbS implementation if aligned with the current socio-economic structure of the delta; and (3) the belief in a hybrid NbS future, combining grey infrastructure and NbSs. Building on those results and discussions, the paper reflected on a restructuration of the delta’s governance through further collaborative processes to seek a more socio-environmentally just and inclusive NbSs in the area.

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