Global urbanization and climate change impacts have exacerbated the urban water crisis. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are promoted globally as ‘just’ and equitable strategies to build sustainable and resilient cities for environmental risks and societal challenges. However, there is still a gap in synchronizing socio-spatial perspectives to understand the cumulative impacts of environmental risks and evolve strategies accordingly. It is also envisaged that future urbanization will be led by small and medium-sized cities from Global South which are more vulnerable due to limited infrastructure, economic and institutional capacity, yet they offer easier management and better stakeholder coordination to integrate resilient strategies. This study attempts to evolve nature-based solutions for urban water security in the fast-emerging medium-sized city of Dehradun in India while bringing socio-spatial perspectives to examine the risks.
The evolving research paradigm in urban water security and NbS point towards community-oriented scholarship to promote inclusive urbanism. The research was designed to empirically embed socio-spatial perspective in resilience framework through external and internal biophysical and social factors of hydrometeorological risks, built-environment, socio-economic demographics, perceptions, attitudes participation and representation for these risks. The study employed a multi-level socio-spatial exploratory and explanatory methodology, examining integrated spatial patterns of drought and flooding risks at city level to generate hotspots. It gathered social perspectives on the risks in a critical hotspot and also recorded the preferences for NbS through a semi-structured questionnaire from 452 respondents at neighbourhood-level. The parameters helped identify the key socio-spatial determinants for urban water security to contextualize NbS.
Household income, education, and size; dwelling unit plot size and structure were the critical internal socio-spatial determinants for urban water security. Results show very little percentage of participation and representation in the study area, yet, the role of participatory process was a crucial external social factor in determining urban water security. Suitable strategies were considered based on identified socio-spatial determinants, NbS preferences and participation interest of the respondents. The preferences for various types of NbS were collated with their social, environmental, and economic benefits as well as spatial scale of implementation. A close synergy between the socio-economic demography and the built-environment was observed. This influences the cost and scale of NbS which subsequently determine the prospects of benefits. Effective participation and representation can enhance water security but its absence can adversely impact the livelihood, health or property of different groups even within one community which can lead to inequity and injustice.
From the overall results it can be inferred that small-scale NbS had better synergies with the social determinants as compared to large-scale solutions. Hence, to maximize the benefits with equitable and ‘just’ measures, small-scale NbS need to be upscaled by replication. This also offers a unique opportunity for emerging cities which can embed them locally and replicate them in new neighbourhoods as the cities grows. Since these cities often have a strong sense of local identity, engagement with the community and enabling actors is also crucial for the successful contextualization of NbS. Thus, socio-spatial perspective becomes decisive for the multiple benefits sought from NbS while playing a significant role in equitable social inclusion to achieve urban water security.:1 Introduction
1.1 Global Urbanization Prospects
1.2 Sustainable Development Goals & the New Urban Agenda-III
1.3 The Growing Urban Water Crisis
1.4 Research Rationale
1.5 Structure of the Dissertation
2 Theoretical Background
2.1 Inclusive Urbanism
2.1.1 What is Inclusive Urbanism? Why is it needed?
2.1.2 Three dimensions for inclusion
2.1.3 Equity, Justice and Participation
2.2 Urban Water Security: Evolving Definitions & Parameters
2.3 Nature-based Solutions
2.3.1 Definitions and Implications
2.3.2 NbS Environmental, Social, Economic and Spatial Aspects
2.4 Inclusive Urbanism for Urban Water Security & NbS in Socio-spatial Perspective
3 State-of-the-art Literature Review
3.1 Literature Search and Analysis Criteria
3.2 Codes and Coding
3.3 Emergent Themes and Trends
3.4 Evidences of NbS for Urban Water Flooding & Drought
3.5 Evidences on Scale of Implementation of NbS
3.6 Evidences of NbS for Social, Environmental and Economic Aspects
3.7 Methodological Evidences for Social Inclusion in NbS
3.8 Gaps and Opportunities: Formulation of Research Questions
4 Research Design
4.1 Conceptual Framework
4.1.1 The Lens of Resilience
4.1.2 Enabling Social Inclusion in Urban Resilience
4.2 Operationalizing the Conceptual Framework
Epistemological and Ontological Considerations
4.3 Methodological and Analytical Framework
4.3.1 Research Objectives
4.3.2 Case Study Selection
4.3.3 Spatial Assessment - Parameters, Methods & Tools
4.3.4 Social Assessment - Parameters, Methods & Tools
4.4 Scope and Limitations of the Study
5 Spatial Perspectives on Urban Water Security
5.1 Case Study Profile: Dehradun City
5.2 Demographics and Urbanization Trends
5.3 Climate and Seasonal Trends
5.4 LPA Precipitation Trends and Spatial Pattern
5.5 Groundwater Trends and Spatial Pattern
5.6 Urban Flooding Spatial Pattern
5.7 Study Area Selection
5.7.1 Hotspots Identification
5.7.2 Validation and Selection of Study Area
5.7.3 Study Area
6 Social Perspectives on Urban Water Security
6.1 Respondents’ Profile
6.2 Multi Factor Analysis
6.3 MFA Model
6.3.1 MFA Analysis Steps
6.3.2 Dimensions, Contributions & Selection
6.4 Ordinal Exploration of Significant Parameters
6.4.1 Perception and Attitudes towards Biophysical Environment
6.4.2 Role of Participatory Processes in Water Security
6.4.3 Summary of Results
6.5 Categorical Association of Significant Parameters
6.5.1 Association of Socio-economic Demographics with Water Security
6.5.2 Association of Built-environment with Water Security
6.5.3 Summary of Results
6.6 Urban Water Security in Socio-Spatial Perspective
7 Synthesizing NbS for Urban Water Security
7.1 Considerations for NbS from Socio-spatial Perspectives
7.2 NbS Awareness and Preferences from Surveys
7.3 NbS Preferences in Social Environmental and Economic Aspects
7.4 Spatial Aspects in NbS Preferences
7.5 Evolving NbS in Socio-spatial Context: Synergies & Trade-offs
7.6 NbS Prospects in Urban Planning, Policy and Practice
7.6.1 From ‘S.E.E.’ to ‘S.E.E.S.’
7.6.2 Enabling via Participation
7.6.3 Enabling via Policy and Regulations
7.6.4 Contextualizing NbS via Practice
7.7 Ensuring Equity and Justice through NbS
8 Conclusion: Contribution and Way Forward
8.1 Revisiting Research Questions, Aims & Objectives
8.2 Contributions of this Research
8.2.1 Research Contributions
8.2.2 Policy and Practice Contributions
8.3 Implications for Small and Medium-sized Cities
8.4 Limitations and Further Scope
8.5 NbS as Driver of Inclusive Urbanism for Urban Water Security
8.6 Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
8.7 A Note on Open Science Practice in the Thesis
Annexure-1 Papers selected for state-of-the-art literature review
Annexure-2 Spatial Assessment Tables
Annexure-3 Social Survey Questionnaire
Annexure-4 Multi Factor Analysis Test and Supplementary Tables
Annexure-5 Code Scripts
Bibliography
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:89216 |
| Date | 24 January 2024 |
| Creators | Habeeb, Riyan |
| Contributors | Wende, Wolfgang, Ortlepp, Regine, Technische Universität Dresden |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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