Transitioning to water sensitive cities: insights from six Australian cities

Executive Summary

The Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities’ (CRCWSC) first integrated research project (IRP1), Water Sensitive City Visions and Transition Strategies, aimed to deliver a suite of participatory methods and associated tools for guiding cities and towns to accelerate their water sensitive city (WSC) transitions. The project involved transdisciplinary action research, drawing on insights from the scientific field of sustainability transitions and working with city stakeholders to develop visions and transition strategies for six case studies across Australia: Perth, Adelaide, Bendigo, Sydney, Townsville, and the Gold Coast.

This report compares and contrasts these cities’ unique experiences and relationships with water, articulates their collective future aspirations, and identifies the strategic priorities for Australian cities to establish the conditions that will drive and enable the transformations needed to achieve their WSC vision.