This paper by the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities' Think Tank presents Australian examples where water utilities are playing a leadership role in broader city planning, through their advocacy, their whole-of-system perspective and technical excellence, as well as their investment in community engagement and industry capability.

The Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) has developed a Water Sensitive Cities (WSC) Index that offers users the ability to benchmark cities (at the metropolitan or municipal scale), based on performance against a range of urban water indicators that characterise the water sensitive city.

This research looks at how water sensitive urban design (WSUD) has been adopted in modern statutory planning frameworks and whether current frameworks are sufficient to maximise the uptake of WSUD opportunities in Australia’s cities.