IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p2071-d499623.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green Infrastructure for Sanitation in Settlements in the Global South: A Narrative Review of Socio-Technical Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Michaela F. Prescott

    (Monash Art Design and Architecture, Monash University, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, VIC 3145, Australia
    Joint first authors.)

  • Meredith F. Dobbie

    (Monash Art Design and Architecture, Monash University, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, VIC 3145, Australia
    Joint first authors.)

  • Diego Ramirez-Lovering

    (Monash Art Design and Architecture, Monash University, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, VIC 3145, Australia)

Abstract

In the developing economies of the Global South, a fundamental challenge in the transition of settlements from rural or periurban to urban is increased environmental contamination as a result of poor sanitation and sanitation management. With governments’ limited ability to connect all neighbourhoods to a city’s existing municipal water, sewerage and other services, decentralised approaches using green infrastructure offer potential to address this challenge. In addition, green infrastructure might facilitate a move towards a holistic response to manage the full water cycle. This paper presents a narrative review of green infrastructure projects, involving constructed wetlands or their variants for wastewater treatment, within vulnerable communities in the Global South. It describes the scale and scope of each project, identifies the challenges of implementation, and reflects on their outcomes for different stakeholder groups. The review demonstrates that decentralised sanitation programs using constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment can provide a range of advantages/benefits/services, dependant on the specific sociocultural, political and biogeophysical contexts of each. Issues of governance and sociocultural appropriateness, rather than technical issues, challenged the implementation of green infrastructure for sanitation in these projects. Projects must be a collaboration between the government, nongovernment organisations and the community. Whether the project is organised from top-down or bottom-up, community consultation is essential. Context will determine the role of the community in the consultation process and the type of information required to guide the design, implementation and governance of the system. In every project to provide decentralised sanitation systems, the community must be participants, not simply beneficiaries.

Suggested Citation

  • Michaela F. Prescott & Meredith F. Dobbie & Diego Ramirez-Lovering, 2021. "Green Infrastructure for Sanitation in Settlements in the Global South: A Narrative Review of Socio-Technical Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2071-:d:499623
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2071/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2071/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shervin Hashemi, 2020. "Sanitation Sustainability Index: A Pilot Approach to Develop a Community-Based Indicator for Evaluating Sustainability of Sanitation Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-12, August.
    2. Martín Alejandro Iribarnegaray & María Laura Gatto D’Andrea & María Soledad Rodriguez-Alvarez & María Eugenia Hernández & Christian Brannstrom & Lucas Seghezzo, 2015. "From Indicators to Policies: Open Sustainability Assessment in the Water and Sanitation Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-21, October.
    3. Sinharoy, Sheela S. & Pittluck, Rachel & Clasen, Thomas, 2019. "Review of drivers and barriers of water and sanitation policies for urban informal settlements in low-income and middle-income countries," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Pedersen Zari, Maibritt & Kiddle, Gabriel Luke & Blaschke, Paul & Gawler, Steve & Loubser, David, 2019. "Utilising nature-based solutions to increase resilience in Pacific Ocean Cities," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Sara Todeschini & Sergio Papiri & Carlo Ciaponi, 2018. "Placement Strategies and Cumulative Effects of Wet-weather Control Practices for Intermunicipal Sewerage Systems," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 32(8), pages 2885-2900, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nzelibe, T. N. & Oyinloye M. A. & Ilesanmi F. A. & Popoola O. O., 2024. "Modelling the Nexus between Physical Infrastructure Adequacy and Livelihood Conditions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State, Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(5), pages 2017-2036, May.
    2. Jia Zhong & Shaoquan Liu & Min Huang & Sha Cao & Hui Yu, 2021. "Driving Forces for the Spatial Reconstruction of Rural Settlements in Mountainous Areas Based on Structural Equation Models: A Case Study in Western China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-18, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elyfas Allyjackson Morais Rodrigues & Artur Paiva Coutinho & Júlia Daniele Silva de Souza & Ialy Rayane de Aguiar Costa & Severino Martins dos Santos Neto & Antonio Celso Dantas Antonino, 2022. "Rural Sanitation: Scenarios and Public Policies for the Brazilian Semi-Arid Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Anitha Vidhyadharan, 2023. "Disparities in Drinking Water and Sanitation in the Urban Slums of Kerala, India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, May.
    3. Richard Filčák & Daniel Škobla, 2021. "Sanitation Infrastructure at the Systemic Edge: Segregated Roma Settlements and Multiple Health Risks in Slovakia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-11, June.
    4. Vanesa García-Searcy & Mariana Villada-Canela & María Concepción Arredondo-García & Marisol Anglés-Hernández & María Candelaria Pelayo-Torres & Luis Walter Daesslé, 2022. "Sanitation in Mexico: An Overview of Its Realization as a Human Right," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-38, February.
    5. Kelsey Shaw & Christopher Kennedy & Caetano C. Dorea, 2021. "Non-Sewered Sanitation Systems’ Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Balancing Sustainable Development Goal Tradeoffs to End Open Defecation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Badir S. Alsaeed & Dexter V. L. Hunt & Soroosh Sharifi, 2022. "Sustainable Water Resources Management Assessment Frameworks (SWRM-AF) for Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-31, November.
    7. Jedidiah S. Snyder & Graeme Prentice-Mott & Charles Boera & Alex Mwaki & Kelly T. Alexander & Matthew C. Freeman, 2020. "The Sustainability and Scalability of Private Sector Sanitation Delivery in Urban Informal Settlement Schools: A Mixed Methods Follow Up of a Randomized Trial in Nairobi, Kenya," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-17, July.
    8. Shervin Hashemi, 2020. "Sanitation Sustainability Index: A Pilot Approach to Develop a Community-Based Indicator for Evaluating Sustainability of Sanitation Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-12, August.
    9. Almeida, Renan P. & Hungaro, Lucas, 2021. "Water and sanitation governance between austerity and financialization," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Mitsunori Odagiri & Ann Thomas & Maraita Listyasari & Freya Mills & Robert E. S. Bain & Zainal Muhammad & Tom Slaymaker & Aldy Mardikanto & Anita Gultom & Asri Indiyani & Hasnani Rangkuti & Juliet Wil, 2021. "Safely Managed On-Site Sanitation: A National Assessment of Sanitation Services and Potential Fecal Exposure in Indonesia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-16, August.
    11. Surachman, Eko Nur & Perwitasari, Sevi Wening & Suhendra, Maman, 2022. "Stakeholder management mapping to improve public-private partnership success in emerging country water projects: Indonesia’s experience," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Vélez-Ramírez, Alberto & Rivera-Castañeda, Patricia & Muñoz-Pizza, Dalia M., 2022. "Institutional capacity determinants in a global south city: the case of a wastewater utility in Zacatecas, Mexico," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    13. Anna Thoms & Stephan Köster, 2022. "Potentials for Sponge City Implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-21, September.
    14. Chiuhsiang Joe Lin & Remba Yanuar Efranto, 2023. "Do Age and Gender Change the Perception of Workplace Social Sustainability?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-15, March.
    15. Ian White & Tony Falkland & Taaniela Kula, 2020. "National Versus Local Sustainable Development Plans and Island Priorities in Sanitation: Examples from the Kingdom of Tonga," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-25, November.
    16. Ahmed M. N. Masoud & Marika Belotti & Amani Alfarra & Sabrina Sorlini, 2022. "Multi-Criteria Analysis for Evaluating Constructed Wetland as a Sustainable Sanitation Technology, Jordan Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-24, November.
    17. Fabian Delpy & Maibritt Pedersen Zari & Bethanna Jackson & Rubianca Benavidez & Thomas Westend, 2021. "Ecosystem Services Assessment Tools for Regenerative Urban Design in Oceania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-22, March.
    18. Yang Liu & Liangang Hou & Wei Bian & Banglei Zhou & Dongbo Liang & Jun Li, 2020. "Turbidity in Combined Sewer Sewage: An Identification of Stormwater Detention Tanks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-10, April.
    19. Bhandari, Pratik & Creighton, Douglas & Gong, Jinzhe & Boyle, Carol & Law, Kris M.Y., 2023. "Evolution of cyber-physical-human water systems: Challenges and gaps," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    20. Yang, Qing & Liu, Gengyuan & Casazza, Marco & Campbell, Elliot T. & Giannetti, Biagio F. & Brown, Mark T., 2018. "Development of a new framework for non-monetary accounting on ecosystem services valuation," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(PA), pages 37-54.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2071-:d:499623. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.