Pathways to water resilient South African cities

project summary

This project aims to identify opportunities for supporting the integration of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) as nature-based solutions (NBS) for increased water supply and water quality within the urban water system as part of a broader transition towards water sensitive futures in the cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. The research will include physical experimentation with and evaluation of storm water harvesting for Managed Acquifer recharge (MAR) as decentralised water treatment infrastructure in Cape Town and an experimentation with, and evaluation of, the implementation of Water Sensitive Urban Design as nature-based solutions in Johannesburg. Additionally the aim is to assess how such solutions can be integrated with conventional water infrastructure as well as explore the governance processes necessary for enabling such integration of infrastructure and for supporting the emergent transitions to water sensitive futures in Cape Town and Johannesburg.