Defining, articulating, and operationalizing the new urban water paradigm
Description
RIS file with 148 key sources used in the literature review of the article "Defining, articulating, and operationalizing the new urban water paradigm" Abstract: Urban water systems (UWSs) in industrialized countries have underpinned unprecedented improvements in urban living standards through effective drinking water supply, sanitation and drainage. However, conventional UWSs are increasingly regarded as too rigid and not sufficiently resilient to confront growing social, technological and environmental complexity and uncertainty, manifested, for example, in the maladaptation to climate change, limited resources, and degrading urban livability. In response, a new urban water paradigm has emerged in the last two decades, which, so far, has remained ambiguous and incoherently articulated. Based on a review of 148 peer-reviewed sources, this article proposes and applies an analytical framework to coherently describe the new paradigm and contrast it with the old urban water paradigm. The framework includes a philosophical foundation and set of methodological principles that shape the new paradigm’s approach to governance, management, and infrastructure. Our proposed definition and articulation of the paradigm helps to bridge the numerous proposed alternative water management frameworks, which offer useful directions forward but are often fragmented and ambiguous.