Kirsty Carden | University of Cape Town (original) (raw)

Papers by Kirsty Carden

Stormwater harvesting via managed aquifer recharge in retrofitted infrastructure has been posited... more Stormwater harvesting via managed aquifer recharge in retrofitted infrastructure has been posited as a method for resource augmentation in Cape Town. However, the existing guidelines on stormwater retrofits are technically inclined, occidental, and generally misaligned with the realities and socioeconomic contexts of developing nations like South Africa. Water and urban practitioners from developing nations cannot just 'copy and paste' existing guidelines as different socioeconomic dimensions and colonial histories typically hinder 'traditional' approaches. This paper assesses how a transdisciplinary team navigated these realities in a case study of a retrofitted pond in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. A decolonial thinking framework was applied for reflection and thematic content analysis. The framework was used to unpack how the team encountered, addressed, and learned from the challenges during the retrofit process. The research team found that the retrofit process within a context of under-resourced South African communities can be viewed as developmental work with a strong emphasis on continuous community engagement. Thus, it is suggested that in the South African context, water practitioners should consider, at the fore, interaction with local communities, including awareness of racialised histories, to ensure projects are successfully implemented and completed.

Urban planning, Oct 14, 2021

As South African cities urbanise alongside climate change, resource constraints, and socioeconomi... more As South African cities urbanise alongside climate change, resource constraints, and socioeconomic challenges, water sensitive (urban) design (WSD) is slowly gaining traction as a framework to address water security goals and entrench resilience. This article reflects on the progression of WSD in South Africa and discusses the broadening of its initial association with stormwater and physical infrastructure to include critical governance and institutional arrangements and social engagements at the core of a water sensitive transition. The approach is being adapted for the socioeconomic challenges particular to South Africa, including basic urban water and sanitation service provision, WSD related skills shortages, a lack of spatial planning support for WSD, and the need for enabling policy. Since 2014, a national WSD Community of Practice (CoP) has been a key driver in entrenching and advancing this approach and ensuring that the necessary stakeholders are involved and sufficiently skilled. The WSD CoP is aimed at promoting an integrative approach to planning water sensitive cities, bridging the gaps between theory and practice and blending the social and physical sciences and silo divisions within local municipalities. Three South African examples are presented to illustrate the role of a CoP approach with social learning aspects that support WSD : (1) the "Pathways to water resilient South African cities" interdisciplinary project which shows the institutional (policy) foundation for the integration of WSD into city water planning and management processes; (2) the Sustainable Drainage Systems training programme in the province of Gauteng which demonstrates a skills audit and training initiative as part of an intergovernmental skills development programme with academic partners; and (3) a working group that is being established between the Institute for Landscape Architecture in South Africa and the South African Institution of Civil Engineering which illustrates the challenges and efforts of key professions working together to build WSD capacity.

H2Open journal, 2020

Between 2015 and 2018, the Western Cape region of South Africa experienced three consecutive year... more Between 2015 and 2018, the Western Cape region of South Africa experienced three consecutive years of below average rainfall. The local authority of Cape Town imposed water restrictions to avert 'Day Zero', an event that was expected to occur if the storage capacity of the main dams supplying the city fell to below 13.5%. This study analyses how different residential areas in Cape Town responded to water restrictions and tariffs that were imposed from January 2016 to October 2018 during the midst of the water crisis. It further explores the potential implications for tariff adjustments that were designed to sustain water conservation measures beyond the drought, while also being sensitive to the ability of poorer households to access sufficient water at an appropriate per capita cost. Different socioeconomic groups displayed a different response to the restrictions. A delay or lagtime was observed in lower-income suburbs during the initial phases of water restrictions, while middle-and higher-income suburbs responded immediately. Once the water crisis eased by mid-2018 and restrictions were reduced, more affluent suburbs began relaxing their water conservation efforts. Nevertheless, lower-, middle-, and higher-income suburbs significantly reduced their water demand by 32, 59, and 58%, respectively, over the study period. It can therefore be concluded that water restrictions and accompanying tariffs altered water use of all users regardless of socioeconomic status.

WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, Jun 27, 2016

South Africa is a rapidly-urbanising developing country with complex water management challenges,... more South Africa is a rapidly-urbanising developing country with complex water management challenges, both in terms of significant resource shortages as well as access to water-based services, with associated negative impacts on surface and groundwater quality. Alternative approaches to conventional water management which aim to facilitate a change from 'water-wasteful' to 'water-sensitive' environments are required if serious economic and socio-political threats are to be averted. As a first step towards advancing this vision for South African cities, a Water Sensitive Design (WSD) Community of Practice programme was established in 2014, with the aim of highlighting the critical linkages between the various aspects of this new paradigm through engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. The main focus areas have been the establishment of a project register to aid in the broad consolidation of WSD practices throughout the country, the development of an information transfer system, awareness-raising and training activities (using the recently-published implementation framework and guidelines for the adoption of WSD in South Africa, and including the development and monitoring of appropriate Learning Alliances and other information-exchange platforms), and scoping studies to identify the main drivers and barriers associated with implementing WSD into the planning and implementing environment at local and national government level. Initial findings indicate that the Community of Practice programme has the potential to generate a new understanding about innovative practices and reflexive learning within WSD in South Africa, and to develop knowledge connected to policy development and change to influence planning and design towards water sensitive cities.

Environmental Science & Policy, Oct 1, 2022

Water SA, May 22, 2012

Poor service provision in developing countries, and particularly the provision of water-related s... more Poor service provision in developing countries, and particularly the provision of water-related services, present serious challenges to urban development. It is estimated that 300 m. people in Africa do not have access to safe drinking water and 313 m. have limited access to adequate sanitation. The critical situation in the water sector continues to undermine strategies for poverty eradication and retards development. It is possible that the failure in service provision can in part be attributed to an inability by policy makers to address urban water management in a holistic manner. In this study, a systems approach has been adopted to develop a composite index that could be used to assess the potential of a town or city to be sustainable. This index, the Sustainability Index for Integrated Urban Water Management (SIUWM) is composed of 5 components which disaggregate into 20 indicators and ultimately into 64 variables. Two Southern African urban centres, Hermanus and Maputo, were selected as initial case studies to test the applicability and validity of the index and to compare their sustainability index scores. Results of the SIUWM application demonstrate that the index could highlight areas for improvement and ultimately guide appropriate action and policy-making towards better service delivery and improved resource management.

Frontiers in sustainable cities, Mar 2, 2023

Until recently, Cape Town, South Africa's second largest city relied entirely on surface water fo... more Until recently, Cape Town, South Africa's second largest city relied entirely on surface water for water supply. Low rainfall between and caused extreme water scarcity and water insecurity, even though the city is located on a number of significant aquifers. Water demand management measures instituted during the drought accelerated the transition to a decentralized, hybrid system. Groundwater played an important role in this transition, particularly for households, the bulk users of utility-supplied water. The current water governance and management is ill-equipped for the emergent hybrid system underpinned by an engineering approach that treats water narrowly as a resource for supply and use. This approach is problematic because it does not adequately consider water as one of multiple systems comprising the environment that supplies critical ecosystem services. Even though the City of Cape Town, as local government, e ectively does not have a groundwater management role, its responsibilities for water and sanitation services, spatial planning, land-use management and environmental management all intersect with groundwater management. Significant water governance reform is therefore necessary for sustainable groundwater use and resilience in Cape Town and other South African cities.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Jun 4, 2021

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Water, Oct 9, 2021

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

This study investigates sustainable options for community-level management of greywater in low-in... more This study investigates sustainable options for community-level management of greywater in low-income settlements without on-site waterborne sanitation in South Africa. As a consequence of the limited resource base of both the local authorities and the inhabitants of the settlements, these options need to be inexpensive, technologically simple and socially acceptable. A variety of social and technological options are thus being implemented in collaboration with the inhabitants and the local authorities, and their efficacy evaluated. The hypothesis is that involving the inhabitants in the development of solutions is likely to be more effective in the management of greywater in these settlements than the traditional approach where the local authorities provide rudimentary engineered services after minimal consultation. Following an initial scoping study that covered six of the nine provinces of South Africa, four settlements in the Western Cape Province were selected for a second, more detailed study. The study employs the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method which emphasises participation, collaboration and consensual decision-making with the goal of ensuring long term sustainability of social and technological interventions.

Civil Engineering = Siviele Ingenieurswese, Jun 1, 2015

South Africa is a rapidly urbanising country with complex water management challenges, including ... more South Africa is a rapidly urbanising country with complex water management challenges, including significant resource shortages, fragmented institutional structures, as well as associated negative impacts on the quality of surface and groundwater resources. Alternative approaches to conventional water management, which aim to facilitate a change from 'water-wasteful' to 'water-sensitive' environments, are required if serious economic and socio-political threats are to be averted. Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is such an approach. It reflects a paradigm shift in the way urban environments are planned and designed so that issues of water sustainability and environmental protection are paramount, together with the provision of multiple benefits and opportunities to overcome specific challenges of water management.

The City of Cape Town (South Africa) faces numerous challenges in respect of water supply, draina... more The City of Cape Town (South Africa) faces numerous challenges in respect of water supply, drainage and sanitation services. It is hypothesised that the potential for long term sustainability in urban water systems can be established through the application of a five component sustainability index. This paper describes the development of such an index, the “Sustainability Index for Integrated Urban Water Management” (SIUWM), for specific application to southern African cities. It reviews the results from initial testing of the index on Cape Town, discusses its usefulness in terms of sustainability assessment, and provides a way forward for continuation of the research. It concludes that, by drawing on the numerous connections that link the different aspects of urban water management, the SIUWM is able to highlight several critical areas of “unsustainability” in the City and shows that sustainability will remain a pipe dream if these challenges are not addressed systematically and urgently.

Water SA, Jul 3, 2013

Urban water management-and the impacts that rapid population growth, industrialisation and climat... more Urban water management-and the impacts that rapid population growth, industrialisation and climate change are having on it-is gaining increasing attention worldwide. In South Africa (SA), cities are under pressure to respond to not only the challenges of water availability and quality, but also to economic transformation and social division. New solutions for improving the sustainability of cities need to be found, including the development of tools to guide decision-makers. Several benchmarking initiatives have been implemented in the SA water sector-mostly in terms of performance measurement of specific water services for regulatory purposes-but none provide an integrated analysis to enable a deeper understanding of sustainability. The research described in this paper was thus focused on using a systems approach to create an understanding of, and measure the potential for, sustainability in a South African urban water context. This has been achieved through the development and evaluation of a composite index, the Sustainability Index for Integrated Urban Water Management (SIUWM). The first step involved compiling a vision of sustainability for the SA water sector, and expanding it into a sustainability framework to help identify suitable indicators for the assessment process, as well as those which link with existing measurement initiatives. Key performance indicator results from the Department of Water Affairs' Regulatory Performance Management System (RPMS) and the Blue Drop / Green Drop schemes were used as partial input to the SIUWM, and scores were computed for the nine member cities of the South African Cities Network (SACN). The SIUWM links the results from the regulatory systems with a broader sustainability assessment process to provide a more detailed analysis which can be used to establish goals and inform strategic processes to leverage support for improved water services. In this way, the connections that link the different aspects of urban water management can be used to generate a greater awareness of the underlying issues by key decision makers and thus guide appropriate action.

Frontiers in Sustainable Cities

Development of guidance for sustainable irrigation use of greywater in gardens and small-scale ag... more Development of guidance for sustainable irrigation use of greywater in gardens and small-scale agriculture in South Africa

Stormwater harvesting via managed aquifer recharge in retrofitted infrastructure has been posited... more Stormwater harvesting via managed aquifer recharge in retrofitted infrastructure has been posited as a method for resource augmentation in Cape Town. However, the existing guidelines on stormwater retrofits are technically inclined, occidental, and generally misaligned with the realities and socioeconomic contexts of developing nations like South Africa. Water and urban practitioners from developing nations cannot just 'copy and paste' existing guidelines as different socioeconomic dimensions and colonial histories typically hinder 'traditional' approaches. This paper assesses how a transdisciplinary team navigated these realities in a case study of a retrofitted pond in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. A decolonial thinking framework was applied for reflection and thematic content analysis. The framework was used to unpack how the team encountered, addressed, and learned from the challenges during the retrofit process. The research team found that the retrofit process within a context of under-resourced South African communities can be viewed as developmental work with a strong emphasis on continuous community engagement. Thus, it is suggested that in the South African context, water practitioners should consider, at the fore, interaction with local communities, including awareness of racialised histories, to ensure projects are successfully implemented and completed.

Urban planning, Oct 14, 2021

As South African cities urbanise alongside climate change, resource constraints, and socioeconomi... more As South African cities urbanise alongside climate change, resource constraints, and socioeconomic challenges, water sensitive (urban) design (WSD) is slowly gaining traction as a framework to address water security goals and entrench resilience. This article reflects on the progression of WSD in South Africa and discusses the broadening of its initial association with stormwater and physical infrastructure to include critical governance and institutional arrangements and social engagements at the core of a water sensitive transition. The approach is being adapted for the socioeconomic challenges particular to South Africa, including basic urban water and sanitation service provision, WSD related skills shortages, a lack of spatial planning support for WSD, and the need for enabling policy. Since 2014, a national WSD Community of Practice (CoP) has been a key driver in entrenching and advancing this approach and ensuring that the necessary stakeholders are involved and sufficiently skilled. The WSD CoP is aimed at promoting an integrative approach to planning water sensitive cities, bridging the gaps between theory and practice and blending the social and physical sciences and silo divisions within local municipalities. Three South African examples are presented to illustrate the role of a CoP approach with social learning aspects that support WSD : (1) the "Pathways to water resilient South African cities" interdisciplinary project which shows the institutional (policy) foundation for the integration of WSD into city water planning and management processes; (2) the Sustainable Drainage Systems training programme in the province of Gauteng which demonstrates a skills audit and training initiative as part of an intergovernmental skills development programme with academic partners; and (3) a working group that is being established between the Institute for Landscape Architecture in South Africa and the South African Institution of Civil Engineering which illustrates the challenges and efforts of key professions working together to build WSD capacity.

H2Open journal, 2020

Between 2015 and 2018, the Western Cape region of South Africa experienced three consecutive year... more Between 2015 and 2018, the Western Cape region of South Africa experienced three consecutive years of below average rainfall. The local authority of Cape Town imposed water restrictions to avert 'Day Zero', an event that was expected to occur if the storage capacity of the main dams supplying the city fell to below 13.5%. This study analyses how different residential areas in Cape Town responded to water restrictions and tariffs that were imposed from January 2016 to October 2018 during the midst of the water crisis. It further explores the potential implications for tariff adjustments that were designed to sustain water conservation measures beyond the drought, while also being sensitive to the ability of poorer households to access sufficient water at an appropriate per capita cost. Different socioeconomic groups displayed a different response to the restrictions. A delay or lagtime was observed in lower-income suburbs during the initial phases of water restrictions, while middle-and higher-income suburbs responded immediately. Once the water crisis eased by mid-2018 and restrictions were reduced, more affluent suburbs began relaxing their water conservation efforts. Nevertheless, lower-, middle-, and higher-income suburbs significantly reduced their water demand by 32, 59, and 58%, respectively, over the study period. It can therefore be concluded that water restrictions and accompanying tariffs altered water use of all users regardless of socioeconomic status.

WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, Jun 27, 2016

South Africa is a rapidly-urbanising developing country with complex water management challenges,... more South Africa is a rapidly-urbanising developing country with complex water management challenges, both in terms of significant resource shortages as well as access to water-based services, with associated negative impacts on surface and groundwater quality. Alternative approaches to conventional water management which aim to facilitate a change from 'water-wasteful' to 'water-sensitive' environments are required if serious economic and socio-political threats are to be averted. As a first step towards advancing this vision for South African cities, a Water Sensitive Design (WSD) Community of Practice programme was established in 2014, with the aim of highlighting the critical linkages between the various aspects of this new paradigm through engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. The main focus areas have been the establishment of a project register to aid in the broad consolidation of WSD practices throughout the country, the development of an information transfer system, awareness-raising and training activities (using the recently-published implementation framework and guidelines for the adoption of WSD in South Africa, and including the development and monitoring of appropriate Learning Alliances and other information-exchange platforms), and scoping studies to identify the main drivers and barriers associated with implementing WSD into the planning and implementing environment at local and national government level. Initial findings indicate that the Community of Practice programme has the potential to generate a new understanding about innovative practices and reflexive learning within WSD in South Africa, and to develop knowledge connected to policy development and change to influence planning and design towards water sensitive cities.

Environmental Science & Policy, Oct 1, 2022

Water SA, May 22, 2012

Poor service provision in developing countries, and particularly the provision of water-related s... more Poor service provision in developing countries, and particularly the provision of water-related services, present serious challenges to urban development. It is estimated that 300 m. people in Africa do not have access to safe drinking water and 313 m. have limited access to adequate sanitation. The critical situation in the water sector continues to undermine strategies for poverty eradication and retards development. It is possible that the failure in service provision can in part be attributed to an inability by policy makers to address urban water management in a holistic manner. In this study, a systems approach has been adopted to develop a composite index that could be used to assess the potential of a town or city to be sustainable. This index, the Sustainability Index for Integrated Urban Water Management (SIUWM) is composed of 5 components which disaggregate into 20 indicators and ultimately into 64 variables. Two Southern African urban centres, Hermanus and Maputo, were selected as initial case studies to test the applicability and validity of the index and to compare their sustainability index scores. Results of the SIUWM application demonstrate that the index could highlight areas for improvement and ultimately guide appropriate action and policy-making towards better service delivery and improved resource management.

Frontiers in sustainable cities, Mar 2, 2023

Until recently, Cape Town, South Africa's second largest city relied entirely on surface water fo... more Until recently, Cape Town, South Africa's second largest city relied entirely on surface water for water supply. Low rainfall between and caused extreme water scarcity and water insecurity, even though the city is located on a number of significant aquifers. Water demand management measures instituted during the drought accelerated the transition to a decentralized, hybrid system. Groundwater played an important role in this transition, particularly for households, the bulk users of utility-supplied water. The current water governance and management is ill-equipped for the emergent hybrid system underpinned by an engineering approach that treats water narrowly as a resource for supply and use. This approach is problematic because it does not adequately consider water as one of multiple systems comprising the environment that supplies critical ecosystem services. Even though the City of Cape Town, as local government, e ectively does not have a groundwater management role, its responsibilities for water and sanitation services, spatial planning, land-use management and environmental management all intersect with groundwater management. Significant water governance reform is therefore necessary for sustainable groundwater use and resilience in Cape Town and other South African cities.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Jun 4, 2021

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Water, Oct 9, 2021

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

This study investigates sustainable options for community-level management of greywater in low-in... more This study investigates sustainable options for community-level management of greywater in low-income settlements without on-site waterborne sanitation in South Africa. As a consequence of the limited resource base of both the local authorities and the inhabitants of the settlements, these options need to be inexpensive, technologically simple and socially acceptable. A variety of social and technological options are thus being implemented in collaboration with the inhabitants and the local authorities, and their efficacy evaluated. The hypothesis is that involving the inhabitants in the development of solutions is likely to be more effective in the management of greywater in these settlements than the traditional approach where the local authorities provide rudimentary engineered services after minimal consultation. Following an initial scoping study that covered six of the nine provinces of South Africa, four settlements in the Western Cape Province were selected for a second, more detailed study. The study employs the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method which emphasises participation, collaboration and consensual decision-making with the goal of ensuring long term sustainability of social and technological interventions.

Civil Engineering = Siviele Ingenieurswese, Jun 1, 2015

South Africa is a rapidly urbanising country with complex water management challenges, including ... more South Africa is a rapidly urbanising country with complex water management challenges, including significant resource shortages, fragmented institutional structures, as well as associated negative impacts on the quality of surface and groundwater resources. Alternative approaches to conventional water management, which aim to facilitate a change from 'water-wasteful' to 'water-sensitive' environments, are required if serious economic and socio-political threats are to be averted. Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is such an approach. It reflects a paradigm shift in the way urban environments are planned and designed so that issues of water sustainability and environmental protection are paramount, together with the provision of multiple benefits and opportunities to overcome specific challenges of water management.

The City of Cape Town (South Africa) faces numerous challenges in respect of water supply, draina... more The City of Cape Town (South Africa) faces numerous challenges in respect of water supply, drainage and sanitation services. It is hypothesised that the potential for long term sustainability in urban water systems can be established through the application of a five component sustainability index. This paper describes the development of such an index, the “Sustainability Index for Integrated Urban Water Management” (SIUWM), for specific application to southern African cities. It reviews the results from initial testing of the index on Cape Town, discusses its usefulness in terms of sustainability assessment, and provides a way forward for continuation of the research. It concludes that, by drawing on the numerous connections that link the different aspects of urban water management, the SIUWM is able to highlight several critical areas of “unsustainability” in the City and shows that sustainability will remain a pipe dream if these challenges are not addressed systematically and urgently.

Water SA, Jul 3, 2013

Urban water management-and the impacts that rapid population growth, industrialisation and climat... more Urban water management-and the impacts that rapid population growth, industrialisation and climate change are having on it-is gaining increasing attention worldwide. In South Africa (SA), cities are under pressure to respond to not only the challenges of water availability and quality, but also to economic transformation and social division. New solutions for improving the sustainability of cities need to be found, including the development of tools to guide decision-makers. Several benchmarking initiatives have been implemented in the SA water sector-mostly in terms of performance measurement of specific water services for regulatory purposes-but none provide an integrated analysis to enable a deeper understanding of sustainability. The research described in this paper was thus focused on using a systems approach to create an understanding of, and measure the potential for, sustainability in a South African urban water context. This has been achieved through the development and evaluation of a composite index, the Sustainability Index for Integrated Urban Water Management (SIUWM). The first step involved compiling a vision of sustainability for the SA water sector, and expanding it into a sustainability framework to help identify suitable indicators for the assessment process, as well as those which link with existing measurement initiatives. Key performance indicator results from the Department of Water Affairs' Regulatory Performance Management System (RPMS) and the Blue Drop / Green Drop schemes were used as partial input to the SIUWM, and scores were computed for the nine member cities of the South African Cities Network (SACN). The SIUWM links the results from the regulatory systems with a broader sustainability assessment process to provide a more detailed analysis which can be used to establish goals and inform strategic processes to leverage support for improved water services. In this way, the connections that link the different aspects of urban water management can be used to generate a greater awareness of the underlying issues by key decision makers and thus guide appropriate action.

Frontiers in Sustainable Cities

Development of guidance for sustainable irrigation use of greywater in gardens and small-scale ag... more Development of guidance for sustainable irrigation use of greywater in gardens and small-scale agriculture in South Africa

outh Africa (RSA) is a water scarce country challenged with transforming its unsustainably resour... more outh Africa (RSA) is a water scarce country challenged with transforming its unsustainably resource-intensive economy whilst also addressing the legacy of Apartheid . The adequate provision of water to RSA’s citizens is one of the most significant challenges facing the countryThis is particularly relevant in the rapidly-urbanising areas owing to the fact that they are hubs of economic growth, and could without proper management become major drivers for increased water demand. It is evident that alternative, systems-based approaches to conventional water management of water supply and modes of ensuring water quality are required. A systems approach with multiple objectives is called for; one that takes into account community values and aspirations when dealing with water supply, wet and dry sanitation, biological and chemical treatment of associated contaminants, drainage and the management of industrial effluents, whilst also acknowledging the range of users, including: residential, institutional, commercial and industrial. An integrated systems-based approach such as this has the potential to facilitate a change in urban areas, from ‘water-wasteful’ to ‘water-sensitive’ settlements, where a ‘settlement’ is to be broadly understood as comprising a concentration of people within a specific area and serviced by some public infrastructure and services. This study was thus aimed at providing strategic guidance to urban water management decision-makers (primarily city managers and other local authority officials) on the use of WSUD in a South African context. It introduces the philosophy of WSUD – a new paradigm in urban water management – and starts to build the case for its adoption in a water scarce country such as RSA, as well as providing a base for future studies. It is aimed at defining what ‘water sensitivity’ might mean within the RSA context – including expanding the definition of ‘city’ in WSC to include a broader range of settlement types – so as to motivate for adopting a context-specific vision for water sensitivity. In this regard it suggests a strategic framework with four different components to enable the transformation to Water Sensitive Settlements (WSS) in RSA, and provides guidance on the various WSUD strategies that could be adopted to achieve this, as well as giving an indication of appropriate modelling tools. A policy review (including institutional and legal issues) was also carried out in order to identify obstacles to WSUD and to provide recommendations on how they may be overcome.