Toward Effective Change in Urban Water Policy: The Role of Collaborative Governance and Cross-Scale Integration

This report investigates collaboration and integration of governance across scales and organisations, themes that were identified in previous research on innovation adoption processes in the A3.1 Subproject, Better governance for complex decision-making. The premise of the research is that no individual stakeholder, alone, is able to solve the complex problems of enabling Water Sensitive Cities (WSCs). Rather, individual stakeholders need to collaborate with other water utilities, government departments, and professional organisations. It is argued that collaboration among such organisations is essential to develop effective and robust solutions that are well supported by policy and regulation and by community education. Investigations into six successful Australian and international case studies and one unsuccessful Australian case revealed that a variety of collaborative strategies are needed for the three innovation phases (initiation, experimentation, and integration) identified by Bettini and Head (2015) in Governance structures and strategies to support innovation and adaptability. The mix of informal strategies (those that are based on networked, voluntary, and collaborative arrangements) and more formal strategies (more structured, sometimes mandated, and specified by rules and regulation) seems to be important in determining how innovation proceeds through various stages of development. Firstly, informal strategies appear to be more important during the initiation phase.
Secondly, in the experimentation phase, both formal and informal strategies are important. Finally, formal strategies are more important during the integration phase. These observations correspond with the different stakeholders that are involved with innovative projects over time: a smaller number of stakeholders are involved in the initiation phase and a larger number and wider variety are likely to be involved in the integration phase.
The examination of governance across scales and organisations also focused on international and Australian case studies; eight cases were studied. An examination of governance across scales and organisations revealed that there is no single ideal network structure, although having a central, leading, or coordinating organisation can help to maintain participants’ focus and momentum over time. In contrast, consistent cultural characteristics were identified across the cases – valuing stakeholder engagement, innovation, and flexibility, and being outcome focused – which will provide a sound foundation for coordinating activities across organisations, scales, and time. The perceived legitimacy of these network structures was enhanced through connections with the democratic process and, where these connections were lacking, strategic and ongoing engagement with political stakeholders was identified as an important strategy influencing the project’s success.
Overall, key insights into strategies for advancing collaboration among stakeholders include the following:
 Informal and formal methods of collaboration have advantages and disadvantages, which indicates that these different methods are more or less appropriate during different innovation phases. Initially, before public commitments have been made, informal methods are likely to be effective as stakeholders can express doubts, ask questions, and overcome any reservations before making public statements of support. More formal collaboration strategies are likely to be effective during the experimentation and integration phases.
 Opportunities for advancing novel projects through each innovation phase need to be sought; informal networks may provide these unexpected opportunities.
 Having transparent processes and sharing information develops trust and shared understandings over time. Establishing and continuing these practices is important throughout the three phases of innovation adoption.
 A core team within an organisation or among organisations, with an open culture to facilitate collaboration, can also support colleagues through the challenging innovation process; this was particularly important during the integration phase.
In advancing integration of governance across scales and organisations, the following insights were identified:
 A potential lack of legitimacy can be overcome by basing the governance network within broad democratic structures and processes or, alternatively, developing and implementing a comprehensive and open engagement strategy.
 A central organisation can enhance coordination across the network. Either a pre-existing or newly established organisation can be effective. When coordinating across organisations, a specific bridging organisation can offer an advantage because participating organisations can be represented in the bridging organisation.
 Cultural attributes of valuing stakeholder engagement, innovation, and flexibility, and being outcome focused are likely to provide a sound foundation for coordinating activities across organisations, scales, and time.