WATER. DIGITAL. RESILIENCE

How can we transition towards water-sensitive cities in Asia?

Written by Ismail Weiliang and Nanco Dolman, Leading Professional in Water Resilient Cities from Royal HaskoningDHV, Netherlands.

18 APR 2022

3 MINS READ

ISMAIL WEILIANG

The Climatebender

NANCO DOLMAN

Leading Professional in Water Resilient Cities

Views are entirely ours

and not connected to any company

Building Water Resilient Cities

Globally, climate and weather related disasters have surged five-fold over 50 years (UN, 2021) and 90% of disasters are water-related (UN, 2020). Furthermore, cities face the key challenges of urbanisation, climate change, population growth, and ageing infrastructure. It is increasingly challenging and complex for city authorities to deliver water resilience for the critical needs of water security and flood risk management in Asia.


Delivering resilient cities requires action on two fronts: carbon mitigation and climate adaptation. Mitigation involves mitigating the emission of greenhouse gases to limit global warming while adaptation involves adjusting to and preparing for the current and predicted effects of climate change. The reality is that climate change is happening faster than expected and even if we achieve our net-zero targets we already have a significant amount of change locked in. “What energy is to mitigation, water is to adaptation” (Saleemul Huq, 2021). “In cities worldwide, water is the connecting challenge, the number one global risk and the opportunity for transformative and sustainable impact and comprehensive cultural change” (Henk Ovink, 2019). The race for adaptation to be a water resilient city will be the driver of global growth in this century.

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Quick Take:

  • Water is key in delivering resilient cities in Asia

  • The race for adaptation to be a water resilient city will be the driver of global growth in this century.

Where are we?

Delivering water resilient cities require three pillars of action: 1) Building flexibility and adaptability in our water sources with cities acting as water supply catchments; 2) Building green infrastructure with cities providing ecosystem services; and 3) Building social and institutional capital with cities attuned to an ecologically sustainable lifestyle.


But how do we measure our progress in delivering water resilient cities? The urban water management transitions or Water Sensitive Cities (WSC) framework (Brown et al., 2008) can help us with this. It functions as a city benchmarking tool to aid us in transitioning to water resilient cities.

The intent is to build a water sensitive city - A water sensitive city combines physical infrastructure, such as water sensitive urban design (WSUD), with social systems to create a city where the infrastructure and systems enhance the connections people have with water and improve quality of life. Different cities are benchmarked below in a study by Nanco Dolman (Hillen and Dolman, 2015).

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Quick Take:

  • Three pillars of action: (1) catchments, (2) ecosystems, (3) communities.


  • The urban water management transitions framework functions as a city bench-marking tool to aid us in transitioning to water sensitive cities.

Transition towards a water sensitive city

Transition towards a water sensitive city may be through either a step-by-step approach or leapfrogging. The latter is an opportunity for developing cities to accelerate their water resilience to an advanced stage of the WSC framework. Interventions for transition can be of three natures: 1) Adaptive by following the infrastructure network; 2) Parallel by co-organizing in the urban network; 3) Regenerative by retro-fitting in the natural network. There is a trend for infrastructure and institutions to transition from large-scale centralised to flexible, integrated, distributed.

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Quick Take:

  • There is immense opportunity for developing cities to accelerate their water resilience to an advanced stage of the WSC framework.

  • Adaptation to climate change is also a spatial transition

Case Studies in Asia

Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok can be considered as a sewered city and is in need of direct effective solutions. Flash flooding occurs annually from the heavy rains during their monsoon period.

China - The Sponge Revolution

China is transforming urban surface water management systems and promoting water resilient, low impact development integrated with urban planning. They are building blue-green infrastructure to improve the city’s ability to act as a ‘sponge’ - absorbing rainwater to manage flood risk, storing and purifying water for future reuse. The Sponge City construction guidance by China was published in 2014 (Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development). It targets 20% sponge features by 2020 and up to 80% by 2030. 70-85% annual precipitation will be managed onsite.

Singapore - Closing Urban Water Cycles

Singapore is considered a forefront city in Asia and is working on being a self-sustaining water city. The whole island is considered as a water supply catchment for water resources - Singapore’s national tap. The Active, Beautiful and Clean (ABC) Waters Programme was launched in 2006 to improve the quality of water and life by harnessing the full potential of its water bodies. ​​By integrating the drains, canals and reservoirs with the surrounding environment in a holistic way, the ABC Waters Programme creates beautiful and clean streams, rivers, and lakes with community spaces for all to enjoy.​​

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Quick Take:

  • An integrated approach is required such as WSUD (Water-Sensitive Urban Design).

  • The answer is nature with ecosystem-based adaptation.


  • There is a need to monitor and evaluate effectiveness of interventions and to build on case studies.

Way Forward for Singapore

Although a small percentage of water-related projects in Singapore are ABC Waters projects, it is a clear step ahead towards closing the urban water cycle. The evidence suggests that there is not a single Water Sensitive City in the world today. Although traces can be found in cities like Tokyo, Chinese sponge cities, Australia and in Singapore. The Water Sensitive City adopts a sustainable future scenario for the watershed that includes an optimal supply of the ecological services and green infrastructure that residents require. Theoretically, it will enable the reversal of ecosystem loss through the use of natural solutions that create jobs, and offer multiple health and environmental benefits. Singapore should start thinking of regenerative rather than just sustainable urban development. Social and institutional capital building can be done to achieve a sophisticated city attuned to an ecologically sustainable lifestyle. Additionally, the sustainable water usage and water sensitive city transition can be delivered in coherence with other transitions, such as clean energy and circular economy. Achieving a water sensitive and climate resilient city is above all about achieving a healthy and liveable city. Involving our living environment and social values is vital. After all, we are part of the urban ecosystem.

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Quick Take:

  • Singapore can deliver regenerative solutions rather than just sustainable urban development.


  • Singapore's transition to a water sensitive city can be delivered in coherence with other transitions, such as clean energy and circular economy.

Authors:

Nanco Dolman is a leading professional in Water Resilient Cities at Royal HaskoningDHV, with a MSc in Civil Engineering from Delft University of Technology (1998). Between 2011 and 2016 Nanco was part time lecturer Water Management at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. He served as a Resilient Cities advocate for the UNDRR from 2015 to 2020. And in 2020 Nanco joined the editor team for IWA’s Journal of Water and Climate Change. Bridging the gap between hydrological engineering and ecological design, Nanco is considered as one of the front runners in Water Sensitive Urban Design.


Ismail Weiliang is a climate resilience consultant with over half a decade of experience and specialises in flood risk advisory for Asia. His work involves advising governments and development banks on strategies to transform climate risks into resilience. He also founded “The Climatebender” a non-profit organisation that provides humanitarian relief to communities vulnerable to the climate crisis.

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