Sustainable Water Management in the City of the Future: findings from the SWITCH Project 2006-2011

Increasing global change pressures, escalating costs and other risks inherent to conventional urban water management are causing cities to face ever-increasing difficulties in efficiently managing scarcer and less reliable water resources. In order to meet these challenges, SWITCH (Sustainable Water Management Improves Tomorrow’s Cities’ Health) is attempted to facilitate a paradigm shift in urban water management. SWITCH was an action research programme funded by the European Union that was implemented and co-funded by a cross-disciplinary team of 33 partners from across the globe, including 17 from Europe and 12 from South America, Asia and Africa. The consortium represented academia, urban planning, water utilities and consulting interests. This network of researchers and practitioners worked directly with stakeholders in cities around the globe. The overall goal behind this global consortium was to catalyse change towards more sustainable urban water management in the ‘City of the Future’.