Uniting stakeholders to make water central in urban design
Published on: 01/01/2025
In India, we've been forming strong coalitions with like-minded partners to further system strengthening in water, sanitation and hygiene.
While focusing on the building blocks of Planning, Finance, Institutions, and Policy, in 2024, we worked towards strengthening WASH governance. We disseminated our learning from the sector reflections carried out in Odisha and with sector partners at national level. We also brought together our learning from the Water4Change project, initiated in 2019.
Supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and Department of Science and Technology (Government of India), Water4Change brought together 11 institutions and 13 PhD researchers to develop a framework for water-sensitive urban design for three fast-growing secondary cities across India – Bhopal, Bhuj and Kozhikode. The project looked at water from four domains: society and culture, built and natural environment, infrastructure and technology, and governance.
It brought together people from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds to co-create a practical, flexible water-sensitive design framework that could be widely adopted and made part of everyday planning. Those involved included representatives of community-based organisations, civil society and government and included those with usually limited influence. We involved these city stakeholders throughout, from identifying the problems to envisioning water-sensitive cities. Although varying in terms of geography and topography, we found that all three cities faced blocks to do with limited public awareness, loss of traditional knowledge and institutional coordination. The stakeholders identified four pathways to water sensitive city design, namely water equity, disaster resilience, water security and healthy water.
Find out more about our work in India
Percentage of the country population with at least basic services (JMP)*
93% water | 78% sanitation | 76% hygiene
The context of our work
Highlight publications and outputs from 2024
Bangladesh | Burkina Faso | Ethiopia | Ghana | Mali | Niger | Rwanda | Uganda
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"Water4Change uniquely brought together multiple stakeholders – ranging from urban planners and hydrologists to policymakers and local communities – to collaboratively identify critical urban challenges and co-create an integrated, resilient vision for managing compound flooding, infrastructure impacts, and sustainable water practices in complex Indian cityscapes."
Professor Pranab Kumar Mohapatra, IIT Gandhinagar
"By maintaining close communication with a wide range of stakeholders IRC enabled strategic planning that was both locally attuned and cross-boundaries informed. Their ability to navigate between different institutional cultures, priorities, and expectations allowed the cooperation between India and the Netherlands to move beyond abstract ambition into situated, actionable innovation."
Dr. Arch. Taneha Kuzniecow Bacchin, Project Coordinator, Water4Change, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
