The paradox of the modernisation of urban water systems in <scp>E</scp>urope: Intrinsic institutional limits for sustainability

Bolognesi, Thomas

doi:10.1111/1477-8947.12052

Cited by 25 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(66 reference statements)

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“…Our findings show that since the late 1990s, the Swiss flood regime was reorganized in order to improve its coherence and promote integration. This trend parallels the evolution of other water regimes in Europe (Bolognesi, 2014;Colon, Richard, and Roche 2017;Kissling-Näf & Kuks, 2004;Varone et al, 2002) and highlights the positive dynamic of coherence in the integration process.…”

Section: The Evolution Of the Regime As A Systemsupporting

confidence: 61%

Institutional complexity traps in policy integration processes: a long-term perspective on Swiss flood risk management

2021

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Complexity is inherent to the policy processes and to more and more domains such as environment or social policy. Complexity produces unexpected and counterintuitive effects, in particular, the phenomenon of policy regimes falling short of expectations while made by refined policies. This paper addresses this phenomenon by investigating the process of policy integration and its nonlinearities in the long run. We consider that the increase in the number of policies unexpectedly impacts the policy coherence within a policy regime. We argue that, depending on the degree of policy interactions, this impact varies in direction and intensity over time, which explains nonlinearities in integration. The impact turns negative when the regime is made of numerous policies, which favors non-coordinated policy interactions. Finally, the negative impact prevents further integration as stated by the Institutional Complexity Trap hypothesis and explains the contemporary paradoxical phenomenon of ineffective policy regimes made of refined policies. Empirically, we draw on a relational analysis of policies in the Swiss flood risk policy regime from 1848 to 2017. We study the co-evolution of the number of policies and of their de facto interlinkages, i.e., the co-regulations of a common issue. Findings support that the Institutional Complexity Trap is a structural and long-term dynamic punctuated by periods of policy learning and policy selection. We identify three main phases in the evolution of the regime: the start (1848–1874), the development (1874–1991), and the Institutional Complexity Trap (since 1991).

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Section: The Evolution Of the Regime As A Systemsupporting

confidence: 61%

Institutional complexity traps in policy integration processes: a long-term perspective on Swiss flood risk management

2021

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“…For example, certain agents reported the average price of the service whereas ONEMA requests the average price for a user who has consumed 120 m 3 . This leads to reporting an inflated price because on average consumption per household is lower than 120 m 3 (94.12 m 3 ) and the tariffs structure is based on an increasing marginal price per cubic metre of water as requested by the European Water Framework Directive (Bolognesi, 2014, 2018). In certain cases, agents disseminated their interpretative resistances transforming those into a cognitive resistance.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reform typically mixes administrative control and incentives, and performance indicators are a core aspect of the monitoring process (Gerrish, 2016; Pollitt, 2013; Speklé and Verbeeten, 2014). Sector studies have focused on energy (Finon and Pérez, 2007; Saussier, 2000), health (Bevan and Wilson, 2013), then more recently on water (Bolognesi, 2014; Lieberherr and Fuenfschilling, 2016; Witte and Saal, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

Assessing socio-technical resistance to public policy instruments: Insights from water performance indicators in the Grenoble area (France)

Bolognesi

Brochet

Renou

2021

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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This article puts forward the notion of socio-technical resistance with an application to the regulation through performance indicators in the water sector. Governance failures are mainly explained by concentrating on governance design, considering regulation as a set of control mechanisms. We propose an alternative perspective by putting the emphasis on socio-technical resistance to take into account both human and non-human actors in the governance process. We observe the misuse of performance indicators by local actors in urban water systems in Europe to highlight the empirical significance of socio-technical resistance. Results support that socio-technical resistance is frequent and reduces significantly the reliability of the information gathered through performance indicators. Drawing on a new typology of resistance, we show socio-technical resistance is a dynamic combination of cognitive, interpretative, territorial, strategic, technical and structural factors. These results and the proposed notion underline a crucial limitation of public policies and regulation in the process of policy-instruments implementation and compliance. Empirically, it reveals particularly relevant to provide new insights on New public management and performance-based regulation, where measurement are crucial.

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“…Similar issues and problems are recognized in the rest of European country members. Therefore, it is noteworthy that the water sector is the source of most infractions to the European environmental legislation, producing several related costs [61,62].…”

Section: Budget (€) Percentage (%)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wastewater Treatment and Water Reuse in Spain. Current Situation and Perspectives

Jódar-Abellán

López-Ortiz

Melgarejo

2019

Water

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The issues of wastewater treatment and the reuse of water are of great importance, especially in areas where the shortage of conventional resources is a structural problem, as it is in the case of Spain. Wastewater reuse is a valid mechanism to avoid problems derived from droughts and water scarcity. It allows access to water resources in areas with water restrictions and to prevent futures scenarios, due to it being expected that water consumption will double by 2050 over the world. Thus, the likelihood that this unconventional, strategic resource would become scarce is unquestionable, particularly in cases where water planning and exploitation systems prioritize the preservation, protection, and improvement of water quality, as well as the sustainable and efficient use of natural resources. This paper shows how wastewater treatment and reuse are linked, as the reuse of wastewater is associated with a previous regeneration, and both of them are essential tools for maximizing environmental outcomes, as called for in the European Union Directives.

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The paradox of the modernisation of urban water systems in Europe: Intrinsic institutional limits for sustainability

Cited by 25 publications

References 39 publications

Institutional complexity traps in policy integration processes: a long-term perspective on Swiss flood risk management

Institutional complexity traps in policy integration processes: a long-term perspective on Swiss flood risk management

Assessing socio-technical resistance to public policy instruments: Insights from water performance indicators in the Grenoble area (France)

Wastewater Treatment and Water Reuse in Spain. Current Situation and Perspectives

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