We present and test a conceptual and methodological approach for interdisciplinary sustainability assessments of water governance systems based on what we call the sustainability wheel. The approach combines transparent identification of sustainability principles, their regional contextualization through sub-principles (indicators), and the scoring of these indicators through deliberative dialogue within an interdisciplinary team of researchers, taking into account their various qualitative and quantitative research results. The approach was applied to a sustainability assessment of a complex water governance system in the Swiss Alps. We conclude that the applied approach is advantageous for structuring complex and heterogeneous knowledge, gaining a holistic and comprehensive perspective on water sustainability, and communicating this perspective to stakeholders.

No abstract

Modeling of future water systems at the regional scale is a difficult task due to the complexity of current structures (multiple competing water uses, multiple actors, formal and informal rules) both temporally and spatially. Representing this complexity in the modeling process is a challenge that can be addressed by an interdisciplinary and holistic approach. The assessment of the water system of the Crans-Montana-Sierre area (Switzerland) and its evolution until 2050 were tackled by combining glaciological, hydrogeological, and hydrological measurements and modeling with the evaluation of water use through documentary, statistical and interview-based analyses. Four visions of future regional development were co-produced with a group of stakeholders and were then used as a basis for estimating future water demand. The comparison of the available water resource and the water demand at monthly time scale allowed us to conclude that for the four scenarios socioeconomic factors will impact on the future water systems more than climatic factors. An analysis of the sustainability of the current and future water systems based on four visions of regional development allowed us to identify those scenarios that will be more sustainable and that should be adopted by the decision-makers. The results were then presented to the stakeholders through five key messages. The challenges of communicating the results in such a way with stakeholders are discussed at the end of the article.

Abstract. Der Beitrag plädiert für eine Neuorientierung der geographischen Entwicklungsforschung im Sinne einer geographischen Sozialforschung in Entwicklungsländern. Ausgangsbasis dafür ist eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit der aktuellen entwicklungstheoretischen Diskussion und der Übertragung akteurszentrierter Ansätze in die Entwicklungsforschung. Die Kritik an diesen Ansätzen konzentriert sich auf deren unzureichend fundiertes Gesellschaftsverständnis, in dem die Beziehung zwischen Subjekt und Gesellschaft nicht hinreichend erklärt wird und Abhängigkeitsverhältnisse zu wenig berücksichtigt werden. Mit der «Theorie der Praxis» von Pierre Bourdieu wird versucht, die Forschungsperspektive auf genau jene gesellschaftsrelevanten Zusammenhänge zu richten. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei das «soziale Feld», das durch Machtbeziehungen und die Konkurrenz von Akteuren geprägt wird, und der «Habitus» als System dauerhafter Dispositionen bzw. als verinnerlichte Verhaltensgrammatik. Nach der Darstellung der wichtigsten Bourdieuschen Theoreme schließt der Artikel mit einigen kurz umrissenen Beispielen, die eine mögliche forschungspraktische Umsetzung skizzieren.

No abstract