Risk and resilience to enhance sustainability with application to urban water systems

Blackmore, JM; Plant, RAJ

Risk and resilience to enhance sustainability with application to urban water systems

Blackmore, JM Plant, RAJ

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 2008, 134 (3), pp. 224 - 233
Issue Date:: 2008-05-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Blackmore, JM	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Plant, RAJ https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3006-741X	en_US
dc.date.issued	2008-05-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 2008, 134 (3), pp. 224 - 233	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0733-9496	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/9379
dc.description.abstract	Many cities in water-stressed environments are seeking sustainable alternatives to traditional solutions such as supply augmentation and water restrictions. One alternative is to upgrade urban water systems in an integrated manner. Design of an integrated urban water system (IUWS) requires an understanding of the risk of the IUWS failing to deliver sustainable outcomes. We present a rationale for enhancing well-established risk assessment and management tools with concepts of ecosystem resilience. Although traditional risk assessment focuses on the states of controls that operate on specific system components and the likelihood and consequences of control failure, resilience theory addresses whole-of-system behavior. In identifying critical controls, risk management focuses on the ability to prevent failure and stabilize a certain system state, whereas resilience focuses on the "uncontrollable" to identify pathways for managing system adaptation to change. Based on conceptual analysis of two key resilience metaphors, the "stability landscape" and the "adaptive cycle," we investigate pathways toward risk-based IUWS design and management that explicitly include system resilience as an overarching measure of sustainability. Areas for future research include development of methodologies for measuring system adaptive capacity, and identifying and quantifying emerging thresholds. The challenge for the risk assessment community is to reconsider what "risk" is: In a resilience context, events traditionally seen as risky are not necessarily bad, and may become opportunities. The challenge for the resilience community is to identify thresholds and the system's proximity to them. © 2008 ASCE.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9496(2008)134:3(224)	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Environmental Engineering	en_US
dc.title	Risk and resilience to enhance sustainability with application to urban water systems	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	3	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	134	en_US
utslib.for	0905 Civil Engineering	en_US
utslib.for	0907 Environmental Engineering	en_US
utslib.for	1402 Applied Economics	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)/Institute For Sustainable Futures
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - ISF - Institute for Sustainable Futures
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	3	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	134	en_US

Abstract:

Many cities in water-stressed environments are seeking sustainable alternatives to traditional solutions such as supply augmentation and water restrictions. One alternative is to upgrade urban water systems in an integrated manner. Design of an integrated urban water system (IUWS) requires an understanding of the risk of the IUWS failing to deliver sustainable outcomes. We present a rationale for enhancing well-established risk assessment and management tools with concepts of ecosystem resilience. Although traditional risk assessment focuses on the states of controls that operate on specific system components and the likelihood and consequences of control failure, resilience theory addresses whole-of-system behavior. In identifying critical controls, risk management focuses on the ability to prevent failure and stabilize a certain system state, whereas resilience focuses on the "uncontrollable" to identify pathways for managing system adaptation to change. Based on conceptual analysis of two key resilience metaphors, the "stability landscape" and the "adaptive cycle," we investigate pathways toward risk-based IUWS design and management that explicitly include system resilience as an overarching measure of sustainability. Areas for future research include development of methodologies for measuring system adaptive capacity, and identifying and quantifying emerging thresholds. The challenge for the risk assessment community is to reconsider what "risk" is: In a resilience context, events traditionally seen as risky are not necessarily bad, and may become opportunities. The challenge for the resilience community is to identify thresholds and the system's proximity to them. © 2008 ASCE.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/9379