Abstract
This paper presents the local institutional and organizational development insights from a five-year ongoing interdisciplinary research project focused on advancing the implementation of sustainable urban water management. While it is broadly acknowledged that the inertia associated with administrative systems is possibly the most significant obstacle to advancing sustainable urban water management, contemporary research still largely prioritizes investigations at the technological level. This research is explicitly concerned with critically informing the design of methodologies for mobilizing and overcoming the administrative inertia of traditional urban water management practice. The results of fourteen in-depth case studies of local government organizations across Metropolitan Sydney primarily reveal that (i) the political institutionalization of environmental concern and (ii) the commitment to local leadership and organizational learning are key corporate attributes for enabling sustainable management. A typology of five organizational development phases has been proposed as both a heuristic and capacity benchmarking tool for urban water strategists, policy makers, and decision makers that are focused on improving the level of local implementation of sustainable urban water management activity. While this investigation has focused on local government, these findings do provide guideposts for assessing the development needs of future capacity building programs across a range of different institutional contexts.
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Acknowledgments
The author wishes to acknowledge significant contributions and extend gratitude to all of the individuals who participated in this study, kindly gave up their valuable time, and so generously shared their reflections and thoughts. Many of these participants were contacted a number of times to confirm the status of their view and provide feedback on the author’s interpretation. While this research remains ongoing, the research reported here was undertaken over five years with support for doctoral studies from The University of New South Wales, and since then, through support from Monash University.
The Author would like to acknowledge the organizational funding partners of the National Urban Water Governance Program at Monash University for their ongoing support for this research. The partners include: Melbourne Water, Yarra Valley Water, South East Water, City West Water, Brisbane City Council, Healthy Waterways Partnership, Maroochy Shire Council, Water Corporation, Department for Planning and Infrastructure, Department of Water, and Armidale City Council.
The Author would also like to kindly thank the four reviewers for their helpful comments for improving this publication.
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Brown, R.R. Local Institutional Development and Organizational Change for Advancing Sustainable Urban Water Futures . Environmental Management 41, 221–233 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9046-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9046-6