The potential of Digital Social Platforms in enhancing urban water governance: Report on the UWCS governance analyses of the Key Demonstration Cities – POWER – Political and sOcial awareness on Water EnviRonmental challenges

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the potential of Digital Social Platforms (DSPs) to enhance the governance capacity by facilitating a process of collaborative learning in the Key Demonstration Cities (KDCs) and beyond. The analytical framework applied in this study includes three steps. The first step is the water Governance Capacity Framework (GCF), which is a comprehensive analysis of the main enabling conditions that determine the governance capacity needed to address specific water challenges. The second step is the in-depth case study, which is an analysis of collaborative learning where we specifically focus on how learning takes place among diverse actors, and how a particular socio-economic, political, cultural and technological setting influence the process and outcomes of information sharing and knowledge co-production for dealing with various urban water challenges. The third step includes a reflection on the characteristics and the potential of the DSP to enhance collaborative learning and thereby improve the capacity to jointly govern water challenges in cities.