Managing Water for the City of the Future

What is SWITCH?

SWITCH is the name of an action research programme, implemented and co-funded by the European Union and a cross-disciplinary team of 33 partners from 15 countries around the world.

Why SWITCH?

Increasing global change pressures, escalating costs and other risks inherent to conventional urban water management are causing cities to face ever increasing difficulties in efficiently managing scarcer and less reliable water resources. As well, satisfying water uses/services and waste water disposal without creating environmental, social or economic damage is an increasingly difficult challenge.

How can SWITCH help?

SWITCH aims to bring about a paradigm shift in urban water management away from existing ad hoc solutions to urban water management and towards a more coherent and integrated approach. The vision of SWITCH is for sustainable urban water management in the 'City of the Future'.

How does SWITCH work?

The SWITCH Consortium represents academics, urban planners, water utilities and consultants. This network of researchers and practitioners work directly with civil society through 'learning alliances' in ten global cities. These are platforms which bring city stakeholders (utilities, planners, NGOs, finance departments etc) together with researchers. Other methods used to accelerate the sharing and adoption of more sustainable urban water solutions across different geographical, climatic and socio-cultural settings are demonstrations, research, training and knowledge sharing.