The role of science-policy interface in sustainable urban water transitions: Lessons from Rotterdam

Dunn, Gemma; Brown, Rebekah Ruth; Bos, Joannette Jacqueline; Bakker, Karen

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2017.04.013

Cited by 48 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The literature has some consistent recommendations regarding knowledge in contexts of conflict and a diversity of values in socio-environmental problems. Van der Zaag & Gupta (2008) recommend five principles based on feasibility, sustainability, looking for alternatives, good governance and respecting rights and needs before undertaking large infrastructural schemes; Funtowicz & Ravetz (1994), Islam & Susskind (2015), Armitage et al (2015) Dunn et al (2017 and Norström et al (2020) https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-86 Preprint. Discussion started: 10 March 2020 c Author(s) 2020.…”

Section: Water Conflicts and Co-production Of Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on a large hydraulic infrastructure project

Madrigal¹,

Cauwenbergh²,

Zaag³

2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Global trends suggest that cities around the world are increasingly depleting available water resources. A common strategy is to opt for supply augmentation infrastructure. However, this response can be a financial and social burden for many cities, because they entail developing expensive infrastructure and can trigger social conflicts. Science is often expected to play a key role in informing policymakers and social actors to clarify controversies surrounding policy responses to water scarcity. However, managing conflicts is a socio-political process, and the use of models may have the effect of de-politicizing such processes; conveying the idea that optimal solutions can be objectively identified despite the many perspectives and interests at play. This raises the question whether science can depoliticize water conflicts, or whether instead conflicts politicize science-policy processes? We use the Zapotillo dam and water transfer project in Mexico to analyze the roles of science-policy processes in water conflicts. The Zapotillo project aims at augmenting urban water supply to Guadalajara and León, two large cities in Western Mexico, but a social and legal conflict has stalled the project until today. To analyze the conflict and how stakeholders make sense of it, we interviewed the most relevant actors and studied negotiations between different interest groups through participant observation. To examine the role of science-policy processes in the conflict, we mobilized concepts of epistemic uncertainty and ambiguity and analyzed the design and use of water resources models produced by key actors aiming to resolve the conflict. While the use of models is a proven method to construct future scenarios and test different strategies, the parameterization of scenarios and their results depend on the knowledge and/or interests of actors who own the model. We found that in the Zapotillo case, scenarios reflected the interests and strategies of actors on one side of the conflict, resulting in increased distrust by the opposing actors. We conclude that the dilemma of achieving urban water security through investing in either large infrastructure (supply augmentation) or alternative strategies (demand-side management), cannot be resolved if some key interested parties have not been involved in the scientific processes framing the problem and solution space.

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Section: Water Conflicts and Co-production Of Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on a large hydraulic infrastructure project

Madrigal¹,

Cauwenbergh²,

Zaag³

2020

Preprint

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“…Gupta and van der Zaag (2008) recommend considering five principles based on feasibility, sustainability, the consideration of alternatives, good governance, and the respect of rights and needs before undertaking large infrastructural schemes. Funtowicz and Ravetz (1994), Van Cauwenbergh (2008), Islam and Susskind (2018), Armitage et al (2015), Dunn et al (2017), and Norström et al (2020) argue that since no expertise or discipline can claim to have the monopoly of wisdom in complex socio-environmental issues, the problem definition and possible solutions need to include local and nontechnical knowledge, therefore engaging in co-production of knowledge. This approach even provides the advantage of designing more robust and resilient solutions (Blöschl et al, 2013).…”

Section: Water Conflicts and Co-production Of Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Unraveling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on large hydraulic infrastructure

Madrigal

Cauwenbergh

Zaag

2020

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The development of large infrastructure to address the water challenges of cities around the world can be a financial and social burden for many cities because of the hidden costs these works entail and social conflicts they often trigger. When conflicts erupt, science is often expected to play a key role in informing policymakers and social actors to clarify controversies surrounding policy responses to water scarcity. However, managing conflicts is a sociopolitical process, and often quantitative models are used as an attempt to depoliticize such processes, conveying the idea that optimal solutions can be objectively identified despite the many perspectives and interests at play. This raises the question as to whether science depoliticizes water conflicts or whether instead conflicts politicize science–policy processes. We use the Zapotillo dam and water transfer project in Mexico to analyze the role of science–policy processes in water conflicts. The Zapotillo project aims at augmenting urban water supply to Guadalajara and León, two large cities in western Mexico, but a social and legal conflict has stalled the project until today. To analyze the conflict and how stakeholders make sense of it, we interviewed the most relevant actors and studied the negotiations between different interest groups through participant observation. To examine the role of science–policy processes in the conflict, we mobilized concepts of epistemic uncertainty and ambiguity and analyzed the design and use of water resources models produced by key actors aiming to resolve the conflict. While the use of models is a proven method to construct future scenarios and test different strategies, the parameterization of scenarios and their results are influenced by the knowledge and/or interests of actors behind the model. We found that in the Zapotillo case, scenarios reflected the interests and strategies of actors on one side of the conflict, resulting in increased distrust of the opposing actors. We conclude that the dilemma of achieving urban water security through investing in either large infrastructure (supply augmentation) or alternative strategies (demand-side management) cannot be resolved if some key interested parties have not been involved in the scientific processes framing the problem and solution space.

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“…Notable examples include models and tools developed by Irwin et al [87], Butler et al [88], Klise et al [89], Makropoulos et al [8], Kong et al [90] as well as Sweetapple et al [91]). Although a discussion on resilience per se is outside the scope of this paper, we note that this growing body of work, focusing on the highly interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder context of resilience [92] is an important manifestation of the sociotechnical nature of hydroinformatics. The need to understand resilience emphasizes the role of hydroinformatics as an interface between science and policy, between water systems and urban processes as well as between technology, society and the environment.…”

Section: New Design Concepts and Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Hydroinformatics: Past, Present and Future

Makropoulos

Savić

2019

Water

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Hydroinformatics, as an interdisciplinary domain that blurs boundaries between water science, data science and computer science, is constantly evolving and reinventing itself. At the heart of this evolution, lies a continuous process of critical (self) appraisal of the discipline’s past, present and potential for further evolution, that creates a positive feedback loop between legacy, reality and aspirations. The power of this process is attested by the successful story of hydroinformatics thus far, which has arguably been able to mobilize wide ranging research and development and get the water sector more in tune with the digital revolution of the past 30 years. In this context, this paper attempts to trace the evolution of the discipline, from its computational hydraulics origins to its present focus on the complete socio-technical system, by providing at the same time, a functional framework to improve the understanding and highlight the links between different strands of the state-of-art hydroinformatic research and innovation. Building on this state-of-art landscape, the paper then attempts to provide an overview of key developments that are coming up, on the discipline’s horizon, focusing on developments relevant to urban water management, while at the same time, highlighting important legal, ethical and technical challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that the brightest aspects of this potential future are realized. Despite obvious limitations imposed by a single paper’s ability to report on such a diverse and dynamic field, it is hoped that this work contributes to a better understanding of both the current state of hydroinformatics and to a shared vision on the most exciting prospects for the future evolution of the discipline and the water sector it serves.

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The role of science-policy interface in sustainable urban water transitions: Lessons from Rotterdam

Cited by 48 publications

References 40 publications

Unravelling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on a large hydraulic infrastructure project

Unravelling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on a large hydraulic infrastructure project

Unraveling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on large hydraulic infrastructure

Urban Hydroinformatics: Past, Present and Future

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