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City Blueprints: Baseline Assessments of Sustainable Water Management in 11 Cities of the Future

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  • C. Leeuwen

Abstract

The necessity of Urban Water Cycle Services (UWCS) adapting to future stresses calls for changes that take sustainability into account. Megatrends (e.g. population growth, water scarcity, pollution and climate change) pose urgent water challenges in cities. In a previous paper, a set of indicators, i.e., the City Blueprint has been developed to assess the sustainability of UWCS (Van Leeuwen et al., Wat Resour Manage 26:2177–2197, 2012 ). In this paper this approach has been applied in 9 cities and regions in Europe (Amsterdam, Algarve, Athens, Bucharest, Hamburg, Reggio Emilia, Rotterdam, Oslo and Cities of Scotland) and in 2 African cities in Angola (Kilamba Kiaxi) and Tanzania (Dar es Salaam). The assessments showed that cities vary considerably with regard to the sustainability of the UWCS. This is also captured in the Blue City Index (BCI), the arithmetic mean of 24 indicators comprising the City Blueprint (Van Leeuwen et al., Wat Resour Manage 26:2177–2197, 2012 ). Theoretically, the BCI has a minimum score of 0 and a maximum score of 10. The actual BCIs in the 11 cities studied varied from 3.31 (Kilamba Kiaxi) to 7.72 (Hamburg). The BCI was positively correlated with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person, the ambitions of the local authorities regarding the sustainability of the UWCS, the voluntary participation index (VPI) and all governance indicators according to the World Bank. The study demonstrated that the variability in sustainability among the UWCS of cities offers great opportunities for short-term and long-term improvements, provided that cities share their best practices. Copyright The Author(s) 2013

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  • C. Leeuwen, 2013. "City Blueprints: Baseline Assessments of Sustainable Water Management in 11 Cities of the Future," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(15), pages 5191-5206, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:27:y:2013:i:15:p:5191-5206
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-013-0462-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    2. Christos Makropoulos & David Butler, 2010. "Distributed Water Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(11), pages 2795-2816, September.
    3. Xuemei Bai, 2007. "Industrial Ecology and the Global Impacts of Cities," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 11(2), pages 1-6, April.
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    Cited by:

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    2. S. H. A. Koop & C. J. Leeuwen, 2017. "The challenges of water, waste and climate change in cities," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 385-418, April.
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    4. Steven Koop & Cornelis Leeuwen, 2015. "Application of the Improved City Blueprint Framework in 45 Municipalities and Regions," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(13), pages 4629-4647, October.
    5. Horea Olosutean & Maria Cerciu, 2022. "Water Sustainability in the Context of Global Warming: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-14, July.
    6. Steven Koop & Cornelis Leeuwen, 2015. "Assessment of the Sustainability of Water Resources Management: A Critical Review of the City Blueprint Approach," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(15), pages 5649-5670, December.
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    8. Hassan Tolba Aboelnga & Lars Ribbe & Franz-Bernd Frechen & Jamal Saghir, 2019. "Urban Water Security: Definition and Assessment Framework," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-19, November.

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