At the beginning of this new millennium, the earth has arrived at a historical point of inflexion. For the first time in history the world is becoming predominantly urban with more people living in cities than in rural areas. Many municipalities are hardly able to keep pace with the speed of the urban growth and face great difficulties to provide sustainable infrastructure to their citizens. This is particularly true for mega-cities in developing countries that are most affected by these rampant urbanisation trends. The character of the urban growth is often informal (unplanned) and takes place predominantly in periurban areas and the city fringes, resulting in a high number of unserved people, who are exposed to severe health and environmental risks.

Today’s conventional urban infrastructure planning approaches are top-down, expert-based approaches which are most often disposal or discharge oriented. To combat the worldwide sanitation crisis, it is necessary that more participatory and sustainable approaches reach the cities. These approaches must move beyond sectoral barriers and address ‘integrated coverage’ of sustainable sanitation including basic services such as water supply, excreta and wastewater management as well as rainwater and solid waste management.

The overall aim of this working group will be to develop strategies on how cities can adopt an appropriate planning, implementation, and management process that leads towards more sustainable sanitation solutions. The main outcomes of the working group will be a thematic paper on “Sustainable sanitation for cities” and a book on “Sustainable sanitation for cities” ideally accompanied by a collection of “case studies and good practice examples for sustainable sanitation in cities”.

Leads

The leads of this working group are Christoph Lüthi and Rahul Ingle:            This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Eawag/Sandec, Switzerland This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it GIZ, Germany

 

How to join the working group?

Individuals who are not yet registered, but are interested in joining the thematic working group, are very welcome. Please register as a member and choose the respective working group(s) you wish to join: http://susana.org/index.php/lang-en/component/register/?view=member If you are already registered, but wish to join another or more working group(s), you can easily change the details by logging in here: http://www.susana.org/lang-en/your-details Why become a member of a working group? You can work with other experts on several issues to promote sustainable sanitation You will gain access to information on working group processes You can be active by hosting SuSanA meetings and/or by organising activities/events to promote sustainable sanitation You can take part in discussions within the working group by using the e-mail mailing list This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   Note that this e-mail list is moderated in order to avoid spam. You can join and take part in stimulating discussions on the SuSanA Discussion Forum in the WG 6 section