Over the past decades, the idea of a new urban water paradigm has emerged in the context of a broader societal change that promotes a more organic worldview over a mechanistic and technocratic understanding of reality. But what is this new paradigm about?
In a paper published in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, Franco-Torres et al. (2020) outline an analytical framework to coherently describe the new and contrast it with the old urban water paradigm. The framework connects three philosophical foundations (ontology, epistemology, axiology) to three operational articulations (governance, management, infrastructures) through a series of methodological principles. Hereby, the methodological principles reflect the philosophical foundations and shape the operational articulations. The framework should be useful as a frame of reference that can help water scholars, policymakers, and practitioners better understand and embrace the new paradigm. It should also be helpful as a benchmark to recognize and create innovative approaches that help to address emerging challenges in the water sector. In developing the framework, the aim was to be coherent but not necessarily comprehensive – the depth of the paradigm cannot be fully captured in a single article. Hence the proposed articulation of the new urban water paradigm should be seen as an “idealized model” rather than something that exists exactly as described anywhere in the world.
Franco-Torres M, Rogers BC, Harder R (2020). Articulating the new urban water paradigm. In Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology. Taylor and Francis.
Contact: Robin Harder