Principles for a water sensitive city Theme 1 – Liveability for Cities of the Future Principle 1 – Cities will continue to grow in population but will be increasingly localised. A feature of cities will be more interconnected communities. Principle 2 – Sustainable cities will combine a compact footprint with sustainability and ‘liveability’. Principle 3 – Water and non-water services will be transformed through integrated planning, resulting in a smaller footprint. Principle 4 – Cities will be resource neutral or generative, combining infrastructure and building design which will harmonise with the broader environment. Theme 2 – The many values of water Principle 5 – Sustainable cities will be served by a well-managed water cycle that, in addition to public health and water security, provides for healthy waterways, open spaces and a green city. Principle 6 – Sustainable cities will recognise that all water is good water, based on the concept of fit for purpose. Theme 3 – Choice, pricing and consumption Principle 7 – Cities will be served by informed, engaged citizenry and multi scale governance that enables local community choice. Principle 8 – Customer sovereignty with full environmental and social cost. Principle 9 – Accurate and useful information, including smart metering. Theme 4 – Resilient, adaptive and collaborative water sector Principle 10 – Sustainable cities will be served by adaptive and integrated approaches to urban development. Principle 11 – Sustainable cities will be served by a multi-faceted water management system. Principle 12 – Sustainable cities as part of sustainable regions.

Planning for Australia’s predicted population explosion must integrate water with traditional planning perspectives, writes Ross Young.

By 2056, Australia will have a population of approximately 35.5 million people, show predictions by the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ mid-range projections. If the population growth follows the more aggressive forecast, Australia will hold 42.5 million. Either way, there is little doubt the majority of this population growth will occur in established cities and urban areas, particularly those areas close to the coast.

This population growth comes at a time of great climate uncertainty. The combination of the two pressures represents the perfect storm for the urban water industry.

It is imperative the planning for our cities to accommodate this increase in population commences now. In the past, this core planning has often been dominated by transport and other social factors, with water considerations being very much an afterthought. It is essential going forward that a multi-disciplinary approach is taken to planning our cities, including new growth corridors and brown field sites. All the disciplines involved in city planning must have a say in the shape and design of our future urban areas.

The Australian urban water industry recognises we need to develop much stronger collaborative relationships with all the other institutions and sectors that will determine the future shape and style of our cities.

A key driver for smart design is making our cities more sustainable in the future. In recognition that the urban water industry needs to be more active in the urban design and planning space, the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) and Melbourne Water convened a two-day workshop at the OzWater Conference earlier this year.

It was unique in that representatives from all the disciplines involved in designing our cities were invited to ensure a broad array of topics were discussed and the outcomes were not purely water centric. The workshop identified 12 principles considered to be pivotal if we are going to change the way our cities are planned.

This was followed up last month with a one-day session on Cities of the Future at the Enviro 2010 conference, where a smaller group of people worked up the actions required to implement the principles. These actions and principles are being combined into a document Melbourne Water MD Rob Skinner will take to the World Water Congress in September as Australia’s very important contribution to this fast evolving and rapidly changing public policy area.

What the future looks like
Cities are very complex and there is little doubt this will increase into the future. This complexity and the required 50-year perspective means many people struggle to get their heads around the scope of the Cities of the Future program.

The best way of explaining it is to identify some of the key features of cities over the next 50 years. For starters, cities will have a diverse portfolio of water sources to mitigate climate change risks.

Indeed, urban areas will be thought of as water supply catchments and water will be captured and retained as much as possible within the city for a variety of uses.

Open space areas will be irrigated by local water sources and contain many water features and highly vegetated areas to reduce the heat island effect and to improve city liveability.

We will have adopted somewhere along the way an integrated approach in planning for the urban water cycle, including recycled water, surface water sources and stormwater. But it is not just water cycles. The urban water industry will have a low energy footprint and will be generating significant amounts of renewable energy.

Water sensitive solutions will be adopted at the household and apartment level. Water efficiency measures will ensure per capita consumption is significantly less than it is today.

And our urban rivers and streams will be protected from the pollution and peak flow events that cause significant environmental damage to riparian areas.

This list is not exhaustive but does illustrate that a paradigm shift is needed if we want to live in sustainable and attractive urban areas in the future. It is important to understand that we’re not likely to see the decommissioning of the existing infrastructure that has served us so well in a bid to allow for the immediate re-plumbing of our cities.

Apart from being extremely expensive, such a measure would impose enormous disruptions to life in our cities. Therefore it is likely that change will be more evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

This point illustrates why we need to start changing the ways we plan our cities now so they are more water sensitive sooner rather than later.

Every day a new development takes place or a new housing estate is established represents an opportunity lost to install the necessary infrastructure to deliver cities of the future.

Ross Young is chief executive officer of the Water Services Association of Australia.