The Innovation Deficit in Urban Water: The Need for an Integrated Perspective on Institutions, Organizations, and Technology

摘要

Interaction between institutional change and technological change poses important constraints on transitions ofnurban water systems to a state that can meet future needs. Research on urban water and other technologydependentnsystems provides insights that are valuable to technology researchers interested in assuring that theirnefforts will have an impact. In the context of research on institutional change, innovation is the development,napplication, diffusion, and utilization of new knowledge and technology. This definition is intentionally inclusive:ntechnological innovation will play a key role in reinvention of urban water systems, but is only part of whatnis necessary. Innovation usually depends on context, such that major changes to infrastructure include not onlynthe technological inventions that drive greater efficiencies and physical transformations of water treatment andndelivery systems, but also the political, cultural, social, and economic factors that hinder and enable suchnchanges. On the basis of past and present changes in urban water systems, institutional innovation will be ofnsimilar importance to technological innovation in urban water reinvention. To solve current urban water infrastructurenchallenges, technology-focused researchers need to recognize the intertwined nature of technologiesnand institutions and the social systems that control change.