Cities 135 (2023) 104216

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Cities
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cities

City-to-city learning to enhance urban water management: The

contribution of the City Blueprint Approach
Carel Dieperink a, d, *, Stef H.A. Koop a, b, Mado Witjes a, c, Kees Van Leeuwen a, b,
Peter P.J. Driessen b
a
Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, the Netherlands
b
KWR Water Research Institute, Groningenhaven 7, 3433 PE Nieuwegein, the Netherlands
c
Province of Utrecht, Archimedeslaan 6, 3584 BA Utrecht, the Netherlands
d
The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO), Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, the Netherlands

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Cities face several water challenges which ask for more pro-active management approaches. One option that
City-to-city learning cities have is to start networking and build learning alliances with other cities. Forming meaningful alliances
Water governance however asks for clear and easily accessible city-matching methodologies which are based on a standardised
City Blueprint
assessment approach and the presence of structured and large databases. The City Blueprint Approach is an
Governance capacity
Social learning
example of such a methodology. Aim of this paper is to demonstrate the potential of this approach as a sub­
Twinning stantive methodology for enhancing learning on urban water management. This is done by illustrating the use of
City networks the approach in four cities, which were studied in the H2020 project POWER (Political and sOcial awareness on
Water EnviRonmental challenges) and by comparing the results found with good practices present in the City
Blueprint database. These good practices however cannot simply be copy-pasted from one city to another. We
therefore outline in what way more in-depth city-to-city (C2C) learning results can be achieved and be tailored to
best-fit particular urban areas. The paper concludes with some suggestions for enhancing the potential for C2C
learning in urban water management networks.

1. Introduction coast, delta's and rivers (Ligtvoet et al., 2014). Sea level rise, extreme
weather events and land-use change only further exacerbate their
The future is urban. In 2009, the number of people living in cities vulnerability. Cities are also a key source of pollution. Plastics, untreated
surpassed the number of people living in rural areas. Cities are projected sewage discharge, combined sewer overflow and stormwater runoff
to grow with an unprecedented 2.7 billion people amounting to two pollute local water bodies, rivers and oceans, causing eutrophication,
third of the projected world population of 9.7 billion in 2050 (UN DESA, biodiversity loss, threatening drinking water, fisheries, aquaculture and
2009). Already approximately 80 % of the world's GDP is produced by tourism (Zarf et al., 2011). Also the vulnerability to heatwaves is
cities, and 75 % of the global energy and material flows are consumed amplified by both climate change and the urban environment which
here too (UNEP, 2013). As a result, cities face many environmental often lacks a cooling effect of vegetation and water bodies (Yu et al.,
challenges (Koop & Van Leeuwen, 2017). According to a global survey, 2020). As such, the pressure exerted on cities but also their innovative
one in four large cities (population > 750,000) is water stressed (water potential are likely to increase exponentially (Meijer & Bolivar, 2016).
use / availability ratio > 0.4; McDonald et al., 2014). Prime examples, Although each city has its unique contextual setting (Koop et al.,
such as the nearly emptied water reservoirs in Melbourne in 2007, São 2018), there are many cities facing rather similar challenges related to
Paulo in 2014 and Cape Town's threat of day zero in 2018, are likely to water, waste and climate change. The almost unlimited potential of
unfold more frequently, with far-reaching consequences. On the other sharing know-how between these cities is widely recognised in
end, too much water, in the form of floods already pose a projected 15 % academia (e.g. Kern & Bulkeley, 2009; Shefer, 2019) and acted upon by
of the global population at risk. This is mainly the case in urbanities Transnational Municipal Networks (TMNs) such as C40, 100Resil­
including almost all the mega-cities that are situated along the world's ientCities, the Climate Alliance and Energy-Cities. The exchange of

* Corresponding author at: Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, the Netherlands.
E-mail address: [email protected] (C. Dieperink).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104216
Received 30 March 2022; Received in revised form 6 October 2022; Accepted 16 January 2023
Available online 6 February 2023
0264-2751/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
C. Dieperink et al. Cities 135 (2023) 104216

Fig. 1. Best scores of 135 cities for each of the 24 indicators of the City Blueprint Framework. The figure shows that there is always a potential for C2C learning as for
all indicators good practices can be identified in the CBF database.

knowledge, experiences, learning practices, policies or governance they are the key demonstration cities that have been engaged in the
models - within TMNs or bilaterally - is generally referred to as city-to- H2020 POWER-project (Political and sOcial awareness on Water Envi­
city (C2C) learning (though many authors point out the difference be­ Ronmental challenges) (https://www.power-h2020.eu/) which aims to
tween knowledge exchange and learning) (Haupt et al., 2019). How­ strengthen digitally-supported citizen engagement in local urban water
ever, against the often praised learning potential, many studies show management and enhance the potential for comparison, benchmarking
that actual C2C-learning generally provides a somewhat more disap­ and ultimately learning between cities. The results of our application are
pointing picture (Castanho, 2019; Haupt et al., 2019; Kern & Bulkeley, provided in Sections 4 and 5 whereas Section 6 provides for the dis­
2009). The time, effort and thoughtfulness required to translate general cussion and Section 7 for the conclusion.
expectations into a specific set of learning targets and activities that can
bring about mutual learning, is all too often underestimated (Dolowitz & 2. C2C-learning and TMNs, some conceptual clarifications
Marsh, 2000). In addition, based on the organisational structure of many
TMNs, it may be observed that cities are often treated as being a single City to city learning is a form of social learning, a process of change
actor instead of the network of actors that they are. In order to learn in understanding, that goes beyond the individual and aims at collective
from other city networks, it is necessary to first identify development action. The notion of social learning as a process points to ‘actors
priorities together with local stakeholders. Only then, specific city alli­ developing shared meanings, values, and understanding through inter­
ances may be established where various professionals representing action, which may provide the basis for joint future action’ (Den Boer
different organisations can mutually learn from one another. Such a et al., 2019). Contrary to individual learning social learning is based on
content-based ‘city-matching’ methodologies are however hardly deliberation (Den Boer et al., 2019). As such the concept of social
addressed in the literature on urban water governance, TMNs or C2C learning relates to notions of ‘learning communities’ and ‘communities
learning. Hence, we aim to address this knowledge gap by showing the of practice’, communities that consist of people that share a common
potential of the City Blueprint Approach (CBA) for enhancing C2C concern and pursue knowledge through regular interaction, based in
learning. The CBA is a standardised approach for assessing the perfor­ practice.
mance of cities' urban water management and required governance ca­ C2C-learning can range from more simple forms of translating and
pacity. The CBA consists of the City Blueprint Framework (CBF) that improving good practices up to long-term dynamics of monitoring,
assesses the city's water management performance and the Governance evaluation and cross-stakeholder learning both within and between city
Capacity Framework (GCF) that assesses the required capacities to networks. The level of learning may be limited to incremental learning
govern water-related challenges (Koop & Van Leeuwen, 2020a, 2020b, to refine current management practices and policies (i.e., single-loop
2020c) (Fig. 1). Central to the paper is the following research question. learning). C2C learning can however also enable critical investigation
In what way can the CBA methodology contribute to C2C learning and of assumptions and key relations and reframe problems to arrive at more
thus to better urban water management? fundamental changes in a city's water management (i.e., double-loop
In order to answer this question, we first elaborate on the concept of learning). It can also foster a more radical form of learning by ques­
C2C-learning and the potential role of TMNs for enhancing C2C learning tioning underlying norms and values, and in doing so transform the
and improving urban water management and policy. Next, Section 3 wider social and institutional structure that shapes water management
clarifies how the CBA can be used as city-matching methodology. Sec­ in a city (Pahl-Wostl, 2009). The level of learning depend strongly on the
tions 4, 5 and 6 illustrate how it can be used to improve water man­ motive, length and depth of engagement (e.g. Betsill & Bulkeley, 2004;
agement in four cities – Leicester, Milton Keynes, Sabadell and Hakelberg, 2011). Learning may inspire changes in behavior, but we do
Jerusalem. These cities have been selected as illustration cases because not argue that all learning directly results in behavioral changes.
(i) they are actively seeking to seize C2C learning opportunities, (ii) they Literature on TMNs reveals that their added value is largely deter­
represent a diversity in water management foci and hydrological and mined by their ability to provide tangible results for their members
socioeconomic contexts that is common of TMN collaboration, and (iii) (Fünfgeld, 2015; Haupt et al., 2019). Such results may include the

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C. Dieperink et al. Cities 135 (2023) 104216

enhancement of lobby and bargaining powers. TMNs however could also Minkman et al. (2018) refer to several factors, such as transferability,
offer learning opportunities by enabling the exchange of knowledge, process design and adoptability, that can have an influence on such
experiences and good practices. translation processes.
TMNs may strengthen lobby and bargaining powers of like-minded However, in order to learn and translate policies from another city to
cities that aim to get issues (like climate adaptation) higher on politi­ meet their own needs, cities first have to get a holistic view on their
cal agendas. International high-profile TMNs like the C40 network are water, management performance. Next they have to find cities to learn
an example of this. Due to their size, they may be an easy access to from. The CBA can help them to structure these processes by identifying
decision-makers. These global networks however lack enforcing bodies C2C learning opportunities.
that can ensure compliance of member cities through common policies
and guidelines. Regionally-oriented TMNs such as the Climate Alliance 3. Four steps in C2C-learning
and Energy-Cities seem to be able to provide more incentives for
members to develop a climate action plan than the international high- We argue that in general C2C-learning is a four steps approach. First
profile C40 network (Hakelberg, 2011). Apart from incentivising plan a city's water-related performances and challenges have to be assessed.
development TMNs can also provide access to existing financial re­ Next in order to allow for city matching frontrunner cities must be
sources (Betsill & Bulkeley, 2004). By joining TMNs, cities may get ac­ identified that may offer learning opportunities. In a third step an in-
cess to first-hand information about funding opportunities and new depth analysis of the frontrunner cities must be done in order to find
legislation (Fünfgeld, 2015). out what governance capacities have enabled the implementation of
The learning opportunities that TMNs may offer are of course not water management solutions. These capacities form the starting point
restricted to possible funding opportunities or emerging legislation. for the development of programmes for policy translation.
Since water management performances may differ between cities in a
TMN frontrunners and laggards can be found. Implementation of inno­ 3.1. Assess a city's water management performances
vative policies generally requires larger administrative staffs and in-
house expertise typically associated with larger and wealthier cities Water managers that are willing to learn must first develop an un­
that can allocate the necessary resources (Collier, 1997; Dannevig et al., derstanding of the key water-related challenges of their city and how
2012; Den Exter et al., 2014; Mathy, 2007; Rashidi & Patt, 2018). Such well they perform in addressing these challenges. The CBF can be used
early adaptors or front-running cities are the ones that tend to be for this. This framework consists of 24 performance indicators that are
strongly committed to TMNs (Hawkins et al., 2016; Krause, 2012). This divided over seven broad categories covering key components of urban
may result in TMNs that are effectively becoming ‘networks of pioneers water management: i. basic water services, ii. water quality, iii. waste­
for pioneers’ (Aall, 2012; Kern & Bulkeley, 2009). Within the TMN, the water treatment, iv. water infrastructure, v. solid waste, vi. climate
frontrunners may offer learning opportunities by exchanging their adaptation, and vii. plans and actions (Koop & Van Leeuwen, 2020a,
knowledge, experiences and (good) practices. Based on these knowledge 2020b, 2020c). As Fig. 1 shows many of the City Blueprint indicators
exchanges, benchmarking or certification systems can be developed. refer to the implementation of technological measures (see a.o. the in­
Cities can use the latter to improve their reputation and visibility, which dicators on secondary and tertiary waste water treatment, nutrient and
may be helpful for attracting additional funding for existing projects or energy recovery, sewage sludge recycling etc.). The indicators are
ambitions (Heinrichs et al., 2013). scored from 0 (ample room for improvement) to 10 (high performance)
Regional networks can be established around frontrunner cities that and are scored through an indicator specific standardised scoring
can share tailored solutions to their neighbouring cities (Den Exter et al., method that is available online: https://library.kwrwater.nl/publicati
2014) that face similar regulations, often speak the same language and on/61397318/.
can also strengthen each other with a coordinated approach for regional The scoring of the indicators is done in co-production with local
challenges such as a joint lobbying, monitoring, education and profes­ stakeholder such as utilities, municipalities, regional water authorities
sional training programmes. In this way, smaller municipalities with and private parties. In this way, the most accurate and timely informa­
limitations in staff and resources can benefit from the know-how of their tion available is collected. The City Blueprint results are presented in a
neighbouring frontrunners. spider web (Fig. 1) with the simple message ‘the bluer the better’. The
A more intimate option of C2C learning is twinning. Twinning is a geometric average of the 24 indicators provides an overall score named
form of collaboration between two institutions that have similar tasks the Blue City Index or BCI.
and responsibilities through a peer-to-peer exchange of staff (Bontenbal, At present, the method has been applied in 135 cities in 57 countries.
2013; Jones & Blunt, 1999). The personal exchange of like-minded The results of the analyses have been published in academic papers
professionals is an important C2C learning strategy (Baud et al., 2010; (Koop & Van Leeuwen, 2015a, 2015b, 2017; Koop et al., 2022) and in
Bontenbal, 2013; Johnson & Wilson, 2006). Since most adult learning popular media such as the Urban Water Atlas for Europe (Gawlik et al.,
occurs at the workplace and is largely self-directed (Brookfield, 1987; 2017).
Tough, 1971), the exchange of professionals is arguably more promising
in changing work routines and organisational approaches than profes­ 3.2. Find comparative cases to learn from
sional training or the exchange of only information. Twinning ap­
proaches focus on establishing personal relationships, constructive The priorities identified by the application of the City Blueprint in­
dialogue and trust which forms a basis for long-term mutual learning dicators may form the starting point to consult the database of 135 city
(Johnson & Wilson, 2006). assessments to find a match with another city that scores higher on
Cities may be inspired by other cities' objectives, strategies, action particular indicators. Even the best performing cities such as Singapore,
plans, implementation, or monitoring and evaluation approaches. Good Seoul or Amsterdam, still show ample room for improvement in their
water management practices in frontrunner cities may offer learning indicator scores (e.g. Kim et al., 2018). However, when the highest CBF
opportunities for other cities. However, following Mukhtarov (2014) we scores of each indicator for all cities assessed so far are plotted, a
don't argue that that the good practices can simply be transferred from completely blue CBF spider diagram is obtained (see Fig. 1). This implies
one city to the other. The good practices have to be tailored – translated that for all indicators good practices can be found and that know-how,
to fit the particular local context. Such a policy translation must there­ experiences and policy approaches are available. These good practices
fore be understood as a “process of modification of policy ideas and can serve as a starting point for cities that want to improve their per­
creation of new meanings and designs in the process of cross- formances. As a first step some more insights in the frontrunners' good
jurisdictional travel of policy ideas” (Mukhtarov, 2014, p. 6). performance can be obtained by exploring the frontrunners' scores using

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C. Dieperink et al. Cities 135 (2023) 104216

Table 1 to improve) correlations can be sought between the good practice in­
The Governance Capacity Framework (Koop & Van Leeuwen, 2020a, 2020b, dicator and the capacity indicators shown in Table 1.
2020c). More details about the meaning and scoring of the indicators can be Capacity indicators that have a positive correlation with the good
found at https://library.kwrwater.nl/publication/61397218/. practices indicator seem to be relevant and need a more in-depth anal­
Dimensions Conditions Indicators ysis. This selection of most positively correlated capacities can form a
Knowing 1 Awareness 1.1 Community knowledge basis for more in-depth contextual learning and the translation of pol­
1.2 Local sense of urgency icies that enabled good practices in the frontrunner city. The correla­
1.3 Behavioral internalization tions are based on a growing number of governance capacity
2 Useful knowledge 2.1 Information availability assessments done across the globe (n = 27 at present).1
2.2 Information transparency
2.3 Knowledge cohesion
3 Continuous learning 3.1 Smart monitoring 3.4. Develop programmes for policy translation
3.2 Evaluation
3.3 Cross-stakeholder learning
Wanting 4 Stakeholder engagement 4.1 Stakeholder inclusiveness As said before insights in the good performance and underlying
process 4.2 Protection of core values governance capacity characteristics of frontrunner cities have to be
4.3 Progress and variety of options tailored to improve water management of cities that want to do better.
5 Management ambition 5.1 Ambitious and realistic
They have to be tailored to deal with local peculiarities and capacities.
management
5.2 Discourse embedding By organising exchange programmes, a more in-depth understanding of
5.3 Management cohesion the frontrunner's capacities and the possibility to translate them, can be
6 Agents of change 6.1 Entrepreneurial agents identified. The lessons learned from the frontrunner city can serve as an
6.2 Collaborative agents input in societal debates with important stakeholders at the municipal
6.3 Visionary agents
Enabling 7 Multi-level network 7.1 Room to maneuver
level. For getting societal acceptance of a policy design we want to stress
potential 7.2 Clear division of that it is important to involve relevant stakeholders in an early stage of
responsibilities the process (Koop et al., 2017; OECD, 2015a, 2015b; Romano & Akh­
7.3 Authority mouch, 2019). In this way “water-only” or “water-smart” discussions
8 Financial viability 8.1 Affordability
that overlook other policy challenges in cities can be avoided and op­
8.2 Consumer willingness to pay
8.3 Financial continuation tions for co-creation and effective and efficient win-win solutions can be
9 Implementing capacity 9.1 Policy instruments found (Koop & Van Leeuwen, 2017). Leading question in the de­
9.2 Statutory compliance liberations that follow will be to what extent the identified success
9.3 Preparedness conditions are already present in the municipality, which are lacking
and what leverage points can be identified in order to change things for
reports in the CBA database and additional data to be retrieved by search the better. This asks for an in-depth analysis of the local situation for
engines like Google Scholar or Scopus. which the indicators of Table 2 can be used.
Next the general public must be involved. This can be done by
organising hearings, referenda or by using online platforms (Mukhtarov
3.3. Identify lessons by assessing governance capacities
et al., 2018). Finally for the actual implementation of the policy tender
procedures may be organised which creates competition between po­
In a next step it must be found out why the good practice could have
tential implementing agencies. The latter must further tailor the policy
emerged. How have the frontrunners managed to get things done? How
(also into technological designs) and in the end the best option must be
did they manage to get new technologies implemented? Which societal
selected by the local council.
and institutional conditions were needed to make it happen? Akhmouch
In the following sections we illustrate how these steps can be worked
(2016) has stressed the importance of institutional conditions for water
out in practice.
management in a clear statement. “If you want to fix the water pipes,
you must fix the institutions” and in line with this the OECD (2015a,
4. Step 1 & 2: the identification of water management gaps and
2015b) states that water crises often emerge from poor governance such
learning parties in four cities
as institutional fragmentation, ambiguous legislation, poor imple­
mentation o, as well as matters such as limited capacity at local level,
As Table 2 shows both Leicester and Milton Keynes (United
unclear allocation of roles and responsibilities, fragmented financial
Kingdom), Jerusalem (Israel) and Sabadell (Spain) face challenges in
management and uncertain allocation of resources. Often, long-term
their urban water management.
strategic plans and sufficient resources to be able to monitor perfor­
Table 2 shows that none of the four cities has got the maximum BCI
mance and implementation are lacking, which leads to weak account­
score of 10. For some indicators however maximum scores are given.
ability and little transparency. These challenges tend to result from a
lack of coordination between goals and a lack of steering of the in­
teractions between relevant stakeholders. Plans are developed but, all in 1
The 27 cities are Ahmedabad (Aartsen et al., 2018), Amsterdam, Rotterdam,
all, they do not add up to a clearly signposted route heading in a com­
Utrecht (Brockhoff et al., 2019; Koop et al., 2017), Antofagasta (Šteflová et al.,
mon sustainable direction (Makarigakis & Jimenez-Cisneros, 2019;
2021), Bandung (Rahmasary et al., 2020), Cape Town and Durban (Madonsela
Romano & Akhmouch, 2019). Frontrunner cities however have over­ et al., 2019), Cork, Jerusalem. Lagos, Leicester, Milton Keynes (Koop et al.,
come these issues by continuously developing their governance 2018), Libreville, Lusaka, Melbourne, New York City (Feingold et al., 2018),
capacities. Quito (Schreurs et al., 2018), Sabadell (Šteflová et al., 2018), Rio de Janeiro
So, in order to find more in-depth and more encompassing lessons (Okumura et al., 2021), Seoul (Kim et al., 2018), Seville, Taipei (Rahmasary
the existing governance capacities in the frontrunner cities must be et al., 2019), Tianjin (Chang et al., 2020), Toronto, Ulaantaabar (Munkhsuld
analysed and explained. The dimensions, conditions and indicators of et al., 2020) and Windhoek. We calculated linear correlations using the
the GCF (Koop et al., 2017; Koop & Van Leeuwen, 2020c) can be used as following formula:
an diagnostic tool for supporting this. Table 1 gives an overview of the ∑
n( xy) − ( x)( y)
∑ ∑
GCF dimensions, conditions and indicators. The indicators scores range r = √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
[ ∑ ∑ ] [ ∑ ∑ ]
n x2 − ( x)2 n y2 − ( y)2
from very limiting (1), to very encouraging (5). In order to find out what
is needed to implement a good practice (and what a learning city needs

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C. Dieperink et al. Cities 135 (2023) 104216

Table 2 Table 3
City Blueprint indicator scores for the cities of Leicester (Lei) in the United Overview of water governance improvement options for the four case studies.
Kingdom (UK), Milton Keynes (Mil) in the UK, Jerusalem (Jer) in Israel and City Improvement options Frontrunner Best practices
Sabadell (Sab) in Spain. cities
Category Indicator Lei Mil Jer Sab Leicester Improving Melbourne Stormwater is separately
I Basic water services 1 Access to drinking water 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 stormwater Amsterdam collected.
2 Access to sanitation 10.0 9.9 9.9 10.0 separation & Malmö Comprehensive
3 Drinking water quality 10.0 9.9 10.0 10.0 increasing green stormwater harvesting
II Water quality 4 Secondary WWT 10.0 9.9 9.0 8.7 space schemes where stormwater
5 Tertiary WWT 5.0 9.9 5.0 6.8 is collected, treated and
6 Groundwater quality 6.0 10.0 5.0 6.9 used to irrigate gardens,
III Wastewater 7 Nutrient recovery 4.5 0.0 8.2 0.0 sport fields or public parks.
treatment 8 Energy recovery 1.0 0.3 7.0 1.0 Green roofs that create
9 Sewage sludge recycling 8.6 10.0 8.2 8.7 green space, have a cooling
10 WWT energy efficiency 8.0 10.0 9.0 4.0 impact, enhance
IV Water 11 Stormwater separation 0.0 5.0 10.0 0.0 biodiversity and store the
infrastructure 12 Average age sewer 2.0 4.0 7.4 0.0 stormwater (Kruuse &
13 Water system leakages 5.1 7.8 7.5 6.2 Verchou, 2005; Van der
14 Operation cost 7.4 5.3 4.1 1.9 Hoek et al., 2014; Van
recovery Leeuwen, 2017)
V Solid waste 15 Solid waste collected 3.6 2.9 1.4 3.0 Milton Improving nutrient Amsterdam Biogas installation for
16 Solid waste recycled 6.4 5.6 1.4 3.7 Keynes and energy recovery sewage sludge. Local
17 solid waste energy 4.5 5.4 0.0 1.5 from waste water heating system using waste
recovered water and production of
VI Climate 18 Green space 2.0 10.0 1.3 3.8 struvite which can be used
adaptation 19 Climate adaptation 9.0 10.0 10.0 6.0 to produce fertilisers (Van
20 Climate-robust 8.0 10.0 9.0 7.0 der Hoek et al., 2016)
buildings Jerusalem Improving solid Copenhagen Prevention, preparing for
VII Plans and actions 21 Management and 8.0 10.0 10.0 7.0 waste recycling and Oslo reuse, recycling, other
action plans energy recovery from Stockholm recovery and disposal
22 Water efficiency 6.0 10.0 10.0 4.0 solid waste approach for solid waste
measures treatment (City of
23 Drinking water 7.9 9.9 9.4 10.0 Copenhagen, 2014).
consumption Campaigns for waste
24 Attractiveness 4.0 10.0 9.0 4.0 reduction and separation (
Blue City Index (BCI) 5.3 6.7 6.1 4.0 Luccarelli & Røe, 2013).
Efficient biogas and bio-
(Source: Koop and Van Leeuwen (2019).) fertiliser production from
separately collected food
waste (Scandinavian
The table also shows that each city performs far from optimal on
Biogas, n.d.)
particular indicators (0–2 points). Lessons can be learned from other Sabadell Strengthening public Rotterdam Citizen's jury to make
cities that score high on these indicators (8–10 points). By screening the participation Melbourne recommendations about
scores of 135 cities in the CBF database, it was possible to identify Minimising the Amsterdam the 10 Year Financial Plan
average age of the to address climate change
forerunner cities that may offer learning opportunities for the
sewer and promote long-term
improvement of urban water management in each of the four cases liveability, including new
(Table 3). Some additional desk research has been conducted to further strategies for waste
explore what the high scores of the frontrunner cities entail. management and
recycling, drainage, tree
coverage and adoption of
4.1. Leicester new technologies (Dean
et al., 2016).
Real-time sewer control
In Leicester, a city with approximately 330,000 residents (ONS, system and multi-value
2011a), the performances on stormwater separation and green space creation and multi-benefit
could be strengthened to minimise flood risk in cases of downpours and planning for long-term
sewer refurbishment plans
to improve urban water quality. In cases of downpours, sewers have to
(Van der Hoek et al., 2014)
process so much water in a short time that they overflow. As a result
dirty sewage is discharged into the surface water. By disconnecting
stormwater from the waste water sewer, peak volumes in the sanitary drought and flatten peak water demands. Amsterdam is pioneering with
sewers will decrease. Consequently, wastewater treatment plants will a strategy that combines flood adaptation with infrastructural renova­
perform better and rainwater can be infiltrated into the soil and thus tions and with measures to reduce heat stress, air pollution or water
supplement groundwater. issues as a result of extreme precipitation (Dai et al., 2018; Koop et al.,
If we check the City Blueprint database we see that both Melbourne 2018). Amsterdam is implementing a real-time sewer control system
and Amsterdam score high on the priority indicators and therefore could that optimises the storage capacity of the sewer to ensure a constant flow
serve as good practices in stormwater separation (Van der Hoek et al., to the wastewater treatment plant (De Korte et al., 2009). Moreover,
2014; Van Leeuwen, 2017). In Melbourne, the State Government of new gutters and storm water collection systems are constructed to
Victoria together with the local water supplier “Melbourne Water” have temporarily store rainwater (Van der Hoek et al., 2014). In Amsterdam's
developed a “Stormwater Strategy”. As a result of this urban stormwater new neighbourhoods, rainwater and waste water flows are separated
is collected and treated to irrigate gardens, sport fields and golf courses (Waternet, n.d.). On the online platform “Amsterdam Rainproof”, ideas,
(State Government of Victoria, 2021). The percentage of households initiatives and information on how to make Amsterdam rainproof are
with a rainwater harvesting tank also increased substantially. With shared.
advanced water storage control systems based on storage monitoring The implementation of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI), e.g. parks,
and weather forecasts, rainwater can be optimally used to mitigate

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C. Dieperink et al. Cities 135 (2023) 104216

green roofs as well as blue and green spaces can make a significant climate. The city has a low score on indicators related to green space and
contribution to reduce stormwater runoff (EEA, 2012; Zimmermann indicators related to solid waste. The per capita waste production is
et al., 2016), facilitate temperature reductions in cities while delivering relatively high, whereas the recycling of waste is low and there is no
co-benefits such as pollution alleviation and biodiversity (Norton et al., energy recovered from the collected solid waste. Issues related to solid
2014). In order to achieve a certain amount of green space and to waste - air, water and soil contamination (Rahmasary et al., 2020) - form
minimise sealed areas, the city of Malmö uses a “green space factor”. a key point for improvement. For addressing these challenges the city
Different types of surfaces are given credits. No credits are given to may find inspiration in Copenhagen, Oslo and Malmö.
sealed surfaces, whereas plant beds, climbing plants, green roofs and Copenhagen sends <2 % of waste to landfills. Approximately 60 % of
ponds get high credits (Kruuse & Verchou, 2005). Developers can use the the waste is recycled and maximum use is made of residual waste to
tool for calculating green space requirements for new developments generate heat for the city's district heating network. The city has six local
(Lehner, 2017). To educate people about green roofs, guided tours and recycling hubs (City of Copenhagen, 2014). All households separate
in-depth technical visits are organised. The rooftops in the Augustenborg recyclable waste like paper, cardboard, metal, rigid plastic, hazardous
Botanical Garden contain >20 vegetated areas with “inspiration gardens waste, glass and electronic waste. Bulky waste and garden waste can be
for urban farming and biodiversity” (SGRI, n.d.). collected from the households by agreement with the municipality or be
delivered at the recycling stations (Urban Waste, n.d.). The international
4.2. Milton Keynes demand for Danish waste solutions is growing (Copenhagen Capacity,
2012).
Milton Keynes is a relatively new city with approximately 249,000 In 2006, Oslo established the “Waste Management Strategy towards
inhabitants which is expected to increase considerably in the future 2025”. This strategy sets ambitious goals linked to a circular economy
(ONS, 2011b). Despite its high BCI score energy and nutrient recovery (EC, 2019). The strategy mainly focuses on waste reduction, reuse and
from waste water remain as Milton Keynes' main water governance recycling and is considered to be inspirational as the European Com­
challenges. Wastewater has for a long time been considered a human mission has awarded Oslo the European Green Capital 2019 title (City of
health concern and environmental hazard, but the paradigm is shift­ Oslo, 2019). In Oslo (and Norway at large) landfills are prohibited since
ing towards a proactive interest in recovering nutrients and energy 2009. Household waste is separated at source and collected accordingly
from waste water. Nutrients especially phosphorus and potassium are in order to get homogenous waste streams which can be better recycled.
finite resources and will become increasingly expensive and more A green bag is used for food waste, a blue bag is used for plastic waste,
difficult to mine (Cordell & White, 2011; EC, 2014). Zeeman (n.d.) and a white bin is used for paper and cardboard; whereas there are also
calculated that recovering phosphates from black and grey water separate containers for other waste including glass, fabric, electronic
could satisfy “a quarter of the present worldwide artificial phosphorus and hazardous waste (City of Oslo, n.d.; Ruhm, 2016). In the world's
fertiliser use”. Nutrient recovery is also beneficial for decreasing biggest optic sorting plant the various coloured bags are separated by
surface water pollution. Subsequently, treated waste water can be means of optic recognition. In order to support waste separation Oslo
reused for various purposes which in turn can provide ecological has initiated several awareness raising activities including advertising
benefits, reduce the demand of potable water and augment water campaigns in media and public spaces, involving celebrities and door-to-
supplies (Van der Hoek et al., 2016). The reuse of nutrients can either door campaigns. The City of Oslo is also considering sanctioning housing
be done by using the sewage sludge as fertiliser on agricultural land cooperatives if waste separation rates are low (EU, n.d.). Waste handling
or by producing struvite (a phosphate mineral) from wastewater (Van is fully financed by citizens, the “pay as you throw” principle is applied
Leeuwen et al., 2018). as household charges depend on the bin size, beginning at 443 Euros per
Amsterdam could serve as a source of inspiration for Milton Keynes year for 140 litre bins with weekly collection. Collected waste is recy­
as it has adopted and specified the circular city concept in documents cled. Garden waste is composted and sold to citizens as soil for their
like the “Sustainability Agenda Amsterdam” (Waternet, 2016). Recovery gardens. Oslo also has its own biogas plant, which can process 50,000 t
of resources and materials is one of the targets mentioned in this of biological substances into biogas and bio-fertilisers. Biogas is used as
document. Waternet, Amsterdam's public water utility has invested in fuel by buses and garbage collection trucks in the city, while the bio-
the recovery of resources from the city's waste water (Van der Hoek fertilisers are used by farmers to produce food (Luccarelli & Røe,
et al., 2016). Waternet produces 13 million m3 biogas per year at 12 2013; EU, n.d.).
wastewater treatment plants. This biogas is used to heat Waternet's Sweden recovers more energy from each tonne of waste than any
buildings, in the sludge digestion process at the treatment plant. Most of other country (SCS, n.d.). In Stockholm landfills are almost non-existent.
it (80 %) is distributed to households or used as fuel for company cars Most of the household waste is incinerated. The City is ambitious its
(Van der Hoek et al., 2016). Waternet has also developed an installation “Waste Management Plan” for 2017–2020 since one of the objectives
(called “Fosvaatje”) for recovering struvite. Fosvaatje is one of the pilot mentioned in this plan is that at least 70 % of food waste is to be
projects of the “Energy and Raw Material Factory” programme, in which collected for biogas production and nutrient recovery (Stockholm Vatten
regional water authorities, businesses and universities try to boost och Avfall, n.d.). In 2015, a new plant was taken into operation for the
innovation and explore new markets for the recovered materials (Van digestion of food waste in Stockholm. On an annual basis the plant can
Leeuwen et al., 2018). The installation produces 2500 kg of struvite per convert 50,000 tonnes of food waste into biogas and biofertiliser
day (enough for the annual fertilisation of 10,000 football fields) (De (Scandinavian Biogas, n.d.), approximately one third of all food waste
Jong, 2017; Nutrient Platform, n.d.). Waternet is also actively exploring created in Stockholm. The plant has a capacity of 80 GWh biogas which
the possibilities of thermal energy in the Buiksloterham district. By equalises 8.8 million L of petrol. Moreover, approximately 14,000
linking heat exchanger to a heat-cold storage at each household or tonnes of bio-fertiliser can be generated every year (ibid).
apartment block, heat is extracted from greywater and transported back
to the households for reuse. Furthermore, a bio-refinery is developed 4.4. Sabadell
within this district which is a small-scale treatment unit in which ma­
terials and energy can be recovered from black waste water (Waternet, Sabadell (211,000 residents, GENCAT, 2018) faces several water
2019). management challenges including a high average age of the sewer and a
lack of public participation. Sabadell's sewage infrastructure is old.
4.3. Jerusalem Degradation of the city's sewer pipes can lead to seepage of eroded fine
particles to the surrounding soil which may lead to pipe cracking and
Jerusalem, 882,700 residents (JIPR, 2018) is situated in a dry groundwater pollution. Water losses can amount up to 19.4 % (Šteflová

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C. Dieperink et al. Cities 135 (2023) 104216

Fig. 2. Governance capacity indicators with the highest correlation with solid waste energy recovery and solid waste recycling based on 27 city assessments.

et al., 2018). 5. Step 3 & 4: the identification of lessons and the development
Amsterdam has an extensive sewage system (1658 km) which func­ of programmes for policy translation
tionality is tested on a regular basis. As said before Amsterdam aims to
separate stormwater from wastewater. New gutters and stormwater In the previous section we have shown have cities can find learning
collection systems are constructed to temporarily store rainwater (Van opportunities by identifying frontrunner cities they can learn from. In
der Hoek et al., 2014). Amsterdam is also implementing a real-time this section we will illustrate how the governance capacity indicators
sewer control system that optimises the storage capacity of the sewer can be used to identify more in-depth lessons. This will be done for two
to ensure a constant flow to the wastewater treatment plant (De Korte of Jerusalem's water management challenges, solid waste recycling and
et al., 2009). In order to make the sewage infrastructure more resilient energy recovery from solid waste.
and sustainable, the local water utility Waternet has set out various So far the governance capacities for 27 cities have been assessed. The
objectives in the “Municipal Sewage Plan Amsterdam” (Waternet, Pearson correlation coefficients we can calculate can be interpreted as
2016). negligible (r = 0.0–0.3), low (r = 0.3–0.5), moderate (r = 0.5–0.7) or
For improving its performance on public participation Sabadell may high (r = 0.7–1.0). As a result we are able to show that there is a cor­
find inspiration in Melbourne or Rotterdam. In Melbourne public relation between solid waste recycling and energy recovery, the overall
participation is considered an essential part of planning projects and governance capacity score (the arithmetic average of the 27 indicators
decision making. The City of Melbourne has developed the platform scores listed in Table 1) and some capacity indicators in particular.
“Participate Melbourne” where people can sign up and join the con­ Fig. 2 shows 7 governance capacity indicators with the highest cor­
versation to influence the plans like the “City River Strategy”. Such relations with solid waste energy recovery and solid waste recycling.
participation guides the Council's future planning of the inner section of Although these correlations are not proven to be causal, they are an
the river. Citizens can provide feedback by attending an in-person important pointer for identifying further learning opportunities (Fig. 2).
meeting, completing an online survey and by submitting an idea to Fig. 2 shows that advanced waste recycling and energy recovery turn
the Ideas Forum. All ideas submitted are publicly displayed and citizens out to be associated with statutory compliance, stakeholder inclusive­
can like the ideas that they support (City of Melbourne, 2019). In 2014, ness, affordability, the effective use of policy instruments and knowl­
the City of Melbourne implemented a citizen's jury to make recom­ edge. By outlining what these indicators entail we can identify pointers
mendations about its 10 Year Financial Plan. The jury provided rec­ to focus on for a more in-depth C2C-learning.
ommendations to address climate change and promote long-term
liveability, including new strategies for waste management and recy­ 5.1. Statutory compliance
cling, drainage, tree coverage and the adoption of new technologies.
Evaluations showed that jury members supported greater citizen The extent that legislation and compliance is well-coordinated, clear
involvement in policy making. Moreover, increased levels of trust and and transparent, and that stakeholders respect agreements, objectives,
confidence in the Council were reported, as well as a greater satisfaction and legislation seems to be an important for both energy recovery from
with future plans for the city of Melbourne (Dean et al., 2016). solid waste and waste recycling.
Public participation is also very much embedded in Rotterdam's
decision-making processes. Multiple networking initiatives exist to
share opinions and ideas. The “Blue Cityinitiative” for instance focuses 5.2. Stakeholder inclusiveness
on the idea of circular entrepreneurship and the circular economy, and
gives start-ups space, guidance and a network. A 150 members strong The level of interaction with all relevant stakeholders in the decision-
citizen jury provides the municipality with recommendations twice a making process – ranging from being only merely informed, stakeholder
year. Public participation is always organised in cases in which measures consultation up to having the opportunity to be actively involvement
are foreseen with an impact on a neighbourhood (City of Rotterdam, n. correlates with solid waste recycling and energy recovery. More active
d.). stakeholder engagement coincided with more waste recycling and en­
ergy recovery. An active engagement of stakeholders is an important
conditions for setting up a separate collection and in turn recycling of
both industrial and domestic solid waste.

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C. Dieperink et al. Cities 135 (2023) 104216

5.3. Affordability number of cities for which a governance capacity analysis has been done
(n = 27) does not allow to identify statistically significant correlations
Availability and affordability of waste management services is found and moreover if these correlations would be significant they are not
to be moderately correlated with both indicators too. Affordability is­ proven to be causal re the proposed approach is only meant as a sup­
sues particularly limit waste recycling and energy recovery in poorer portive exercise for strengthening contextual learning. The alternative
cities like Ahmedabad (Aartsen et al., 2018), Bandung (Rahmasary et al., would be to rely on anecdotal information only. Although anecdotical
2020) or Naivasha (Ddiba et al., 2020). In some cases, the tariffs of waste information can be valuable, we think that it is essential to bring a bit
collection are kept low to ensure a larger service coverage. However, more focus to strategic learning processes. Empirically-based diagnoses
these low tariffs limit investments in waste separation and treatment based on the CBA can support this effort.
infrastructure. Thus, our data indicates that affordability can be un­ In our approach we match cities based on performance scores. One
derstood as a precondition for implementing more advanced waste may however argue that comparability of social and physical charac­
recycling and energy recovery. teristics is also a point in case. Literature reveals that cities not always
focus on frontrunners as partners for initiating a learning alliance. Other
5.4. Policy instruments factors are also relevant in the selection of partners. Practical factors
such as language, logistics and similarities in social, economic or envi­
Presumably, compliance with legislation is achieved through the ronmental contexts play an important role in determining from who to
effective use of policy instruments. Indeed, the use of advanced policy learn in what way. Particularly, compliance to similar legislation and
instruments such as price incentives, permits and quality requirements policies, increased access to joint funding sources (getting access to first-
for solid waste collection and treatment correlates with the actual level hand information about funding opportunities) as well as allocating the
of recycling and energy recovery practices. These correlations empha­ resources to exchange personnel and collaborate in long-term pro­
size the important role of policy implementation. grammes seems to play a key role (e.g. Betsill & Bulkeley, 2004; Bon­
tenbal, 2013; Fünfgeld, 2015). Cities may be more eager to learn from
5.5. Knowledge cohesion and information availability frontrunner cities with similar context characteristics. So adding and if
possible quantifying social and physical geographical characteristics as
Last but not least, the role of knowledge and information coincides well as institutional context characteristics can be of added value for the
with higher levels of waste recycling and energy recovery. Especially, further identification of cities that match best. It is also relevant to have
the extent that the use, production and sharing of information from such (quantified) data available in a database in the phase of the more
different sources is cohesive is important. Different methods are used in-depth analysis of the frontrunner city as these factors may interfere
and an integration of short-term targets and long-term goals amongst with the governance capacity factors that show high correlations with
different policy fields and stakeholders can be found. For waste recy­ the performance indicators.
cling, the cohesion of knowledge can be decisive in identifying new Some authors suggest that particularly regional C2C learning pro­
resources, applications and markets. grammes seem to be most promising for C2C-learning because they can
For a city such as Jerusalem that may want to learn more on build on already existing networks, do not face substantial logistical or
improving its solid waste recycling and energy recovery, these indicators financial barriers and need to align with similar policy requirements and
can form key foci in their C2C learning efforts and policy translation to contextual conditions (Betsill & Bulkeley, 2004; Bontenbal, 2013;
their own context. The indicators must be used in a more in-depth Fünfgeld, 2015). In cases in which the institutional context is similar
studies to figure out how they are manifest in (one of) the frontrunner (Amsterdam and Malmo – both share the EU legal context) single loop
cities Copenhagen, Oslo or Stockholm and how they relate to solid waste learning between cities may occur. Double (Amsterdam and Melbourne)
recycling and energy recovery. and triple loop (an African city and Melbourne) and learning may occur
In addition to this, exchange programmes must be set up and in- between cities with (highly) different institutional contexts.
depth reporting on the capacities of the frontrunners must be organ­ Apart from regional C2C-learning programmes, long distance
ised. The lessons learned can provide inputs for the multi-stakeholder learning programmes may be set up as well, for instance in the context of
discussions to be started in Jerusalem. As said before the ideas that aid programmes. For such exchange programmes to succeed, long-term
result from matching activities however are no panaceas but must be exchange of personnel seems to be key as well as establishing clear
tailored in order to deal with local particularities and context factors of mutual expectations (Bontenbal, 2013). The development of long dis­
the city that wants to learn. tance learning programmes is not limited to the aid programmes as they
can also be established between frontrunning cities that have sufficient
6. Discussion resources and are primarily interested in expanding their already
advanced practices by collaborating with other frontrunners (Betsill &
Transnational Municipal Networks are often being criticised for Bulkeley, 2004).
having a dominant focus on information sharing instead of actually The approach outlined in this paper may sound appealing but can
achieving professional learning (Haupt et al., 2019). We think that this also be criticised as being too rational and forward-looking. In many real
can be done better. In this paper we have therefore shown how the CBA world cases the policy focus is short-term based on the political life cycle
approach can support more in depth C2C-learning. and not proportional to the life cycle of people or the life cycle of cities
Successful C2C learning starts with knowing what to learn. Here the (Koop & Van Leeuwen, 2017). Practice also teaches that changes in
CBF may help by providing benchmarks and showing improvement urban water management often take place after shock events like a
options and that are already realised in other cities. Cities that score high storm (New York; Feingold et al., 2018), water scarcity (Melbourne and
on the practices that a city would like to improve form an important pool Cape Town; Van Leeuwen, 2017; Madonsela et al., 2019), urban heat
for more meaningful C2C learning. In cases in which an ideal match with incidents (Aartsen et al., 2018) took place. In our opinion however,
one city can be found it is not necessary for a city to engage with other urban water management is of such a high importance that more pro­
cities. However if this is not the case, a city may be inclined to find active approaches are needed in which C2C learning can play an
different other cities to learn from. Such multiple engagements are of important role.
course disproportionately more costly as compared to engaging with one
city. Next, understanding what capacities are associated with these good 7. Concluding remarks
practices is important in order to focus learning activities beyond
exchanging general experience or technologies. Since the limited In this paper we have shown and illustrated how the City Blue Print

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C. Dieperink et al. Cities 135 (2023) 104216

approach (CBA) can contribute positively to city-to-city (C2C) learning water governance analysis in the city of Ahmedabad. India Regional Environmental
Change, 18, 2445–2457.
and thus to better urban water management. Four steps must be taken to
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