About the Project
Socio-ecological Regulation of Network-Related Infrastructure Systems: Example of Water (November 2002 – March 2006)
What was analyzed?
Infrastructural fields crucial to the development of cities and regions such as water and energy provision, sewage disposal, telecommunications and public transport are undergoing numerous changes. The most significant changes concern the structure and level of demand, political frameworks, property relationships, and the available system alternatives.
For many years now there has been intensive discussion in the political sphere surrounding the organization and quality of basic municipal services. As it were, water management has been a main focus of this debate; thus illustrating the special demands and notions which have always been part and parcel of the water issue. At the same time the case of water management raises fundamental questions about the relationship of market and government, emphasizing community versus individualization.
What is the conceptual point of departure?
The research group also defines the changes occurring in infrastructure systems as "socio-ecological transformation". This is a conscious effort to analytically comprehend the vast spectrum of changes and reflect their often far-reaching impact on both business and society and on the natural environment as well. On the basis of findings compiled in the course of a three-year dialogue between research and practice, the netWORKS association was able to contribute to resolving the far-reaching problems of socio-ecological regulation of impending transformation processes.
Devising sustainable municipal service concepts
For historical reasons municipalities in Germany are primarily responsible for operating water supply infrastructure and view its provision as an essential duty as regards basic public services. Until now they have been extremely successful at fulfilling this task on their own or through an array of partnership models. Municipalities currently face immense challenges. In this context we must ask how we can guarantee and further boost the quality of municipal services under changing framework conditions. In other words: in the long term how can we guarantee the provision of water supply services while ensuring the safety and quality of the water supply, guaranteeing its universal availability, maintaining prices which are socially responsible and which nonetheless cover the system costs incurred when providing this service and at the same time provide an incentive for those operating the facilities to invest in the systems' operational capacity? How can the system be organized in such a way that it is able to adapt to changing conditions?
What was the aim of the project?
netWORKS set itself the goal of elaborating proposals on how to shape this transformation and channel it into a corridor of sustainable development. Central to this endeavour was municipalities' scope for formative action. On the one hand netWORKS aimed to provide municipalities with systems knowledge which would enable them to recognize and deal with the challenges ahead. This meant identifying the interconnected repercussions arising from changing framework conditions. On the other hand, the project was designed to provide cities and municipalities with easier access to the knowledge relevant to transformation processes and verse them on ultimate objectives, thus equipping them to shape their supply and waste management systems for the future.
A transdisciplinary approach to tackle a complex issue
The complexity of the problem and its social relevance had an impact on the methods, the research process and the makeup of the research group. Addressing the problem likewise required the involvement of a range of academic disciplines as well as decision-makers from politics, local administration and business. This was achieved by working in cooperation with partners from varying specialist backgrounds:
- Economics was handled by the Regional Planning and Environmental Research Group (ARSU), Oldenburg, which investigated the transformation of water management's regulatory framework and business strategies in water management.
- Municipal engineering, represented by Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus (BTU), Institute for Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture, Chair for Municipal Engineering, which compared conventional and alternative system solutions.
- Resources management and ecological aspects (resource regulation), represented by the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), Frankfurt am Main, which studied current issues in the field of drinking water resource management and regulation.
- Municipal studies, represented by the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu), Berlin , which focused its research on changes in the provision of municipal services, and
- Spatial science, represented by the Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (IRS), Erkner, near Berlin, which analyzed the changing spatial references of network-related infrastructure systems.
Handbook on municipal strategy formulation
The project's findings have been compiled in a handbook with a focus on municipal practice. This handbook aims to provide support to municipal decision-makers faced with strategic decision-making procedures which deal with network-related infrastructure systems. It is designed to assist municipalities in reaching strategic decisions and, as such, aims to strengthen municipal competencies. The integrated strategy formulation approach detailed in the NetWORKS handbook does not attempt to address the problem from the perspective of one particular discipline or administrative department. It instead tackles the issue by conducting an interdisciplinary analysis and making interdepartmental recommendations for action in consultation with numerous players. The handbook poses key questions concerning decision-making, highlights scope for action and constraints, illustrates the impact of municipal action strategies on the basis of models, and, above all, demonstrates the processes and instruments of transition management.
Transformation of Network-related Infrastructure: Strategies for municipalities based on a trial with water systems
Publishers: Thomas Kluge, Jens Libbe, Difu-Beiträge zur Stadtforschung V. 45, 2006