Overcoming institutional barriers to non-grid urban water systems (BARRIERS)
Photo: Samuel Zeller, Unsplash
Climate change and rapid urbanization ask for a radical reconfiguration of the way water is treated and reused. Cities are under particular pressure to develop more flexible, resilient, and modular water management systems. Yet, while many promising experiments with alternative systems exist, they also face considerable challenges. In particular, barriers at an institutional level like existing laws, technology standards or user routines hinder the quick diffusion of new – and potentially more sustainable – UWM solutions. The present project aims at improving our understanding of these barriers and developing new strategies to overcome them based on the experiences from ‘lighthouse cities’ in both developed and emerging economies. Through in-depth mixed methods case studies in San Francisco, Paris and Gothenburg and a structured reinterpretation of existing evidence from Beijing and Bangalore, it will reconstruct the key institutional barriers and drivers that condition the uptake of non-grid-based UWM solutions. It will provide water professionals with a set of interventions to increase the legitimacy of non-grid urban water management options and sketch generic scenarios through which WINGS solutions might diffuse in cities in both developed and emerging economies.
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description => protected'Scientists are increasingly exploring on-site water systems to supplement co nventional centralized water and wastewater infrastructure. While major tech nological advancements have been achieved, we still lack a systematic view o n the non-technical, or institutional, elements that constitute important ba rriers to the uptake of on-site urban water management systems. This paper p resents a conceptual framework distinguishing between institutional barriers in six key dimensions: <em>Equity</em>, <em>Knowledge and Capabilities</em> , <em>Financial Investment</em>, <em>Legal and Regulatory Frameworks</em>, < em>Legitimacy</em>, and <em>Market Structures</em>. The analysis of the exis ting literature covering these barriers is translated into a typology of the socio-technical complexity of different types of alternative water systems (e.g., non-potable reuse, rainwater systems, and nutrient recovery). Finding s show that socio-technical complexity increases with the pollution load in the source water, correlating to potential health risk, and the number of se ctors involved in the value chain of an alternative water system. For exampl e, greywater reuse for toilet flushing might have systematically less comple x institutional barriers than source separation for agricultural reuse. This study provides practitioners with easily accessible means of understanding non-technical barriers for various types of on-site reuse systems and provid es researchers with a conceptual framework for capturing socio-technical com plexity in the adoption of alternative water systems.' (1573 chars)
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title => protected'Navigating institutional complexity in socio-technical transitions' (66 chars)
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description => protected'As climate change and rapid urbanization stress our aging water infrastructu re, cities are under increasing pressure to develop more flexible, resilient , and modular water management systems. In response, onsite water reuse prac tices have been adopted by several cities globally. In addition to technolog ical innovation, these novel water treatment systems also require new stakeh older collaborations, relationships, and processes to support them. There ar e, however, few models for stakeholder arrangements that support and encoura ge the adoption and success of such infrastructure. In this paper, we use in terviews with stakeholders involved in onsite water reuse projects in the Sa n Francisco Bay Area to create a social network map that describes the inter actions between stakeholders at large and during specific phases of project implementation. Using qualitative content analysis of expert interviews and social network analysis, we identify four actor roles that are key to the fu nctioning of this novel water infrastructure paradigm─specialists, continu ity providers, program champions, and conveners - and discuss the importance of each role through the course of project implementation. These findings c an be helpful for policy interventions and outreach efforts by other cities and communities looking to implement onsite water systems.' (1350 chars)
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Institutional barriers to on-site alternative water systems: a conceptual framework and systematic analysis of the literature
Scientists are increasingly exploring on-site water systems to supplement conventional centralized water and wastewater infrastructure. While major technological advancements have been achieved, we still lack a systematic view on the non-technical, or institutional, elements that constitute important barriers to the uptake of on-site urban water management systems. This paper presents a conceptual framework distinguishing between institutional barriers in six key dimensions: Equity, Knowledge and Capabilities, Financial Investment, Legal and Regulatory Frameworks, Legitimacy, and Market Structures. The analysis of the existing literature covering these barriers is translated into a typology of the socio-technical complexity of different types of alternative water systems (e.g., non-potable reuse, rainwater systems, and nutrient recovery). Findings show that socio-technical complexity increases with the pollution load in the source water, correlating to potential health risk, and the number of sectors involved in the value chain of an alternative water system. For example, greywater reuse for toilet flushing might have systematically less complex institutional barriers than source separation for agricultural reuse. This study provides practitioners with easily accessible means of understanding non-technical barriers for various types of on-site reuse systems and provides researchers with a conceptual framework for capturing socio-technical complexity in the adoption of alternative water systems.
Hacker, M. E.; Binz, C. (2021) Institutional barriers to on-site alternative water systems: a conceptual framework and systematic analysis of the literature, Environmental Science and Technology, 55(12), 8267-8277, doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c07947, Institutional Repository
Navigating institutional complexity in socio-technical transitions
Transitions from one socio-technical regime configuration to another entail long phases of institutional complexity, where two or more field logics co-exist in a sector and induce incompatibilities and frictions. This paper presents a dynamic phase model, which characterizes the types of institutional complexity that may build up and settle across various phases of a transition, illustrated with a case study from the diffusion of onsite water reuse in San Francisco. Results from semi-structured expert interviews and a focus group demonstrate that different forms of institutional complexity may follow each other in a transition trajectory and that formidable strategic agency is needed by the actors in a field in navigating prolonged phases of competing cultural demands. Gaining a more balanced perspective of both organizational and field-level reconfigurations may help better explain why transitions succeed in some places and fail in others.
Hacker, M. E.; Binz, C. (2021) Navigating institutional complexity in socio-technical transitions, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 40, 367-381, doi:10.1016/j.eist.2021.09.003, Institutional Repository
Actor roles and networks in implementing urban water innovation: a study of onsite water reuse in the San Francisco Bay Area
As climate change and rapid urbanization stress our aging water infrastructure, cities are under increasing pressure to develop more flexible, resilient, and modular water management systems. In response, onsite water reuse practices have been adopted by several cities globally. In addition to technological innovation, these novel water treatment systems also require new stakeholder collaborations, relationships, and processes to support them. There are, however, few models for stakeholder arrangements that support and encourage the adoption and success of such infrastructure. In this paper, we use interviews with stakeholders involved in onsite water reuse projects in the San Francisco Bay Area to create a social network map that describes the interactions between stakeholders at large and during specific phases of project implementation. Using qualitative content analysis of expert interviews and social network analysis, we identify four actor roles that are key to the functioning of this novel water infrastructure paradigm─specialists, continuity providers, program champions, and conveners - and discuss the importance of each role through the course of project implementation. These findings can be helpful for policy interventions and outreach efforts by other cities and communities looking to implement onsite water systems.
Wagner, T. R.; Nelson, K. L.; Binz, C.; Hacker, M. E. (2023) Actor roles and networks in implementing urban water innovation: a study of onsite water reuse in the San Francisco Bay Area, Environmental Science and Technology, 57(15), 6205-6215, doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c05231, Institutional Repository
Policy sequencing for early-stage transition dynamics - a process model and comparative case study in the water sector
Sustainability scholars increasingly recognize that policy mixes can positively impact socio-technical transitions. However, the temporal dimension of policy interventions remains under-researched, especially in the context of early transition dynamics that typically emerge in niche contexts. In this article, we explore how policy sequencing can play a key role in supporting the scaling-up of early-stage transition dynamics to drive wider system change. We contribute to transition research by proposing a process model for analyzing policy sequences by focusing on the interplay between policy instruments and institutional barriers. We conceptualize two ideal-type policy sequencing patterns - strategic and reactive - which we illustrate with empirical examples from early transition dynamics in the urban water sector of San Francisco (United States) and Sant Cugat del Vallès (Spain). Applying the process model to these case studies reveals how different sequences of policy (instrument) mixes can assist in overcoming institutional barriers, thus supporting transition trajectories.
Pakizer, K.; Lieberherr, E.; Farrelly, M.; Bach, P. M.; Saurí, D.; March, H.; Hacker, M.; Binz, C. (2023) Policy sequencing for early-stage transition dynamics - a process model and comparative case study in the water sector, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 48, 100730 (20 pp.), doi:10.1016/j.eist.2023.100730, Institutional Repository
Documents & Materials
Below you can find outputs of the BARRIERS project as they become available
