Urban Resilience: Principles for the Water Sensitive Cities

Due to the widespread of recognition on climate change, global warming influences, urban communities are increasingly seeking to ensure not only resilience to urban water supply in the future, but also optimizing harness of urban water to create hydro-social benefits, which enhance health of urban living environment. Over 20 years, a lot of effort has been put on emerging researches, government policies, and application on practices of transforming from the conventional way of city development into the integrative water sensitive cities. However, the hydro-social resilience system toward water sensitive cities has not been established yet enough to aware as common vision internationally, while doing overhaul of existing urban water management system and adaptation process of new understanding and approach of contextual hydro-social systems. This paper provides principles of water sensitive cities toward urban resiliency through trans-disciplinary approach in the context of high density cities; 1) socio-political system to support social behavior changes on sustainability and livable urban living environment; 2) centralized and decentralized hydro-technical systems and infrastructure to underpin diversity of urban water sources to mitigate vulnerability from climate change, flooding, increasing population, etc.; 3) environmental resilience to enhance quality of waterway, and public health in both built environment and natural environment, as it will be designed and planed as a part of environmental infrastructures, which gives direct impact on urban living environment. While progressing transformation to achieve resilience system, the approach of leading water sensitive cities from Australia and Singapore will be presented.