Water management in the developing town: a complex systems perspective

Provision of water services is a critical strategy for addressing worldwide poverty, and this is one of the most pressing challenges of current times and is linked to population growth and climate change. Progress has been slow in achieving even the Millennium Development Goals aimed at improving coverage of adequate water services and professionals are struggling to cope with the diversity and scale of situations. Water services provision is a context-dependent process and many types of situations are very challenging, such as that of small developing towns. This thesis addresses the problems of urban centres in Pacific Island Countries and the aim is to provide formal explanations of difficulties in these locations to support recommendations that recognize local constraints and opportunities to best practice management. This is achieved largely by employing a perspective based on the science of Complex Adaptive Systems. This perspective has been chosen in recognition that water management incorporates complex interactions between social, technical and natural systems. The research is case study based, focusing primarily on Tarawa in the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati. The methodology includes historical review of the case study, and the use of historical review, as well as interviews and observation in the field as well as a cross-cutting email-based Delphi survey. This has generated qualitative and quantitative data to allow for the formulation of scientific models, an Agent Based Model describing the complex interactions involved in water service delivery; and Bayesian Network models describing the factors impacting on the chances of successful management interventions. With improved explanation of the complex situation, this has been used to support the formulation of a strategic and adaptive governance framework; aiming to introduce much needed organisational memory, and a consistent strategic direction set on the basis of the effective stakeholder interaction. By recognising weakness in capacity, it is possible to turn these into strengths by building and utilising local knowledge and commitment.Pascal Pere

Realising transformative agendas in cities through mainstreaming urban nature-based solutions

Cities are at the forefront of sustainability agendas, especially as places to implement the solutions needed to address key sustainability challenges. City-level governments have responded in diverse ways to these challenges, including adopting and implementing a mix of policies to improve resilience and liveability that address issues including heat mitigation, water security, and climate risks. To support such sustainability strategies, we argue that mainstreaming, as a process of embedding novel thinking and solutions into governance and practice, urgently needs to be comprehensively understood and leveraged. Therefore, drawing on a mix of empirical and theoretical research and focusing on the mainstreaming of nature-based solutions in urban planning, we examine and systematically conceptualise mainstreaming as a governance and planning process. Drawing on a recent case study of urban forestry governance across metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, we show how the identified drivers and mechanisms of mainstreaming can be successfully applied. The resulting framework emphasises the need for a dynamic understanding of mainstreaming processes and what ensures they can be enabled and accelerated in the governance and planning of cities. Further, this framework may be applied for mainstreaming urban nature-based solutions as well as other sustainability innovations

Actors mainstreaming nature-based solutions in cities: A case study of Melbourne's change agents and pathways for urban sustainability transformations

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are implemented across multiple cities worldwide and feature as promising solutions in local and global agendas. As solutions that can deal with interlinked urban challenges, NBS are being taken up by cities in different geographies and are considered to be mainstreaming. The process, referred to as mainstreaming, and how this can be achieved needs to be better understood, which is identified as a research gap. In this paper, we examine the roles that actors can undertake that contribute to the mainstreaming of NBS in cities. The aim is to understand the roles that urban actors, especially those within local governments, assume in the process of NBS mainstreaming to mobilise and implement novel and innovative strategic solutions for cities. This topic is explored in a case study of the metropolitan Melbourne region in Australia, where urban forest strategies are gaining traction in local governments for addressing urban resilience concerns. We present how the roles different actors assume contribute to the (re)shaping, building, and/or transformation of institutions to attain climate and ecologically resilient cities. The main contribution of this paper is a pathways framework that illustrates how sustainability norms can move through the mainstreaming process, facilitated by the roles that actors undertake – to champion, advocate, and realise transformative discourses and actions within urban politics and urban practices. Our key findings are framed as success factors of mainstreaming agencies and pathways underpinning transformation, which are: commitment longevity, innovative capacity, collaborative mindset, and on-ground delivery

What is technology adoption? Exploring the agricultural research value chain for smallholder farmers in Lao PDR

© 2019, Springer Nature B.V. A common and driving assumption in agricultural research is that the introduction of research trials, new practices and innovative technologies will result in technology adoption, and will subsequently generate benefits for farmers and other stakeholders. In Lao PDR, the potential benefits of introduced technologies have not been fully realised by beneficiaries. We report on an analysis of a survey of 735 smallholder farmers in Southern Lao PDR who were questioned about factors that influenced their decisions to adopt new technologies. In this study, we have constructed measures or states of adoption which identify key elements of an adoption decision-making nexus. Analysis was conducted to statistically group explanatory factors of adoption. The key explanatory factors represented attributes of the farmer, the factors considered when undertaking production decisions and elements of the agricultural value chain that present as opportunities or constraints. We describe the combination of farmer’s personal attributes, perceptions of the value chain, and the introduction of new technologies by external actors as an “agricultural research value chain”, where agricultural research activities intervene to derive greater benefits for local farmers. A generalised linear model, via Poisson (multiple) regression analysis on the identified explanatory factors, was applied to explore how they influence adoption measures and we found several significant relationships

A Bayesian network model to explore practice change by smallholder rice farmers in Lao PDR

© 2018 A Bayesian Network model has been developed that synthesizes findings from concurrent multi-disciplinary research activities. The model describes the many factors that impact on the chances of a smallholder farmer adopting a proposed change to farming practices. The model, when applied to four different proposed technologies, generated insights into the factors that have the greatest influence on adoption rates. Behavioural motivations for change are highly dependent on farmers' individual viewpoints and are also technology dependent. The model provides a boundary object that provides an opportunity to engage experts and other stakeholders in discussions about their assessment of the technology adoption process, and the opportunities, barriers and constraints faced by smallholder farmers when considering whether to adopt a technology

Rice farming systems in Southern Lao PDR: Interpreting farmers’ agricultural production decisions using Q methodology

© 2017 The agricultural sector in Lao PDR is forecast to move from subsistence rice production to a more modernized and market-oriented sector with greater focus on commercialization of agricultural production. Intensification of agricultural production in the southern and central rice growing regions of Lao PDR is problematic as dryland farmers rely on rainfall and soils are poor, yet rural households have been experiencing rapid change in their farming and livelihood systems. This paper employs Q methodology techniques to explore 35 farmers' viewpoints when contemplating their production goals and potential to adopt technologies to improve productivity. Findings describe the two emerging viewpoints among farmers as ‘labour saving productivity maximization’ and ‘traditional labour productivity using improved techniques’. The two viewpoints describe the different issues currently guiding production decisions. While the Lao Government forecasts substantial increases in rice production in the southern plains, farmers will require specialized and tailored support, accounting for their envisaged livelihood and production goals, to allow the sector transformation that many stakeholders currently envisage

Exploring Alternative Futures in the Anthropocene

Many challenges posed by the current Anthropocene epoch require fundamental transformations to humanity’s relationships with the rest of the planet. Achieving such transformations requires that humanity improve its understanding of the current situation and enhance its ability to imagine pathways toward alternative, preferable futures. We review advances in addressing these challenges that employ systematic and structured thinking about multiple possible futures (futures-thinking). Over seven decades, especially the past two, approaches to futures-thinking have helped people from diverse backgrounds reach a common understanding of important issues, underlying causes, and pathways toward optimistic futures. A recent focus has been the stimulation of imagination to produce new options. The roles of futures-thinking in breaking unhelpful social addictions and in conflict resolution are key emerging topics. We summarize cognitive, cultural, and institutional constraints on the societal uptake of futures-thinking, concluding that none are insurmountable once understood

Sustainable urban systems: Co-design and framing for transformation

Rapid urbanisation generates risks and opportunities for sustainable development. Urban policy and decision makers are challenged by the complexity of cities as social–ecological–technical systems. Consequently there is an increasing need for collaborative knowledge development that supports a whole-of-system view, and transformational change at multiple scales. Such holistic urban approaches are rare in practice. A co-design process involving researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders, has progressed such an approach in the Australian context, aiming to also contribute to international knowledge development and sharing. This process has generated three outputs: (1) a shared framework to support more systematic knowledge development and use, (2) identification of barriers that create a gap between stated urban goals and actual practice, and (3) identification of strategic focal areas to address this gap. Developing integrated strategies at broader urban scales is seen as the most pressing need. The knowledge framework adopts a systems perspective that incorporates the many urban trade-offs and synergies revealed by a systems view. Broader implications are drawn for policy and decision makers, for researchers and for a shared forward agenda