How Inner West Council used the Healthy Waterways Method to Strategically
Prioritise Green Infrastructure to Improve Liveability and Resilience.
Sadeq Zaman, Jean Brennan
Inner West Council, Sydney, Australia
Inner West Council was formed in May 2016 following amalgamation of three former
Inner West Sydney councils - Marrickville, Leichhardt and Ashfield. Falling within the
Parramatta River and Cooks River catchments, the Council population is now
185,000 and expected to increase. The land use and development is predominantly
residential with industrial and commercial pockets. Open space is mainly
concentrated along waterway corridors.
The main challenges currently facing by Inner West Council include:
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Population pressures, growth and development and increasing urban density
(intensification and densification of development) - Greater Sydney urban
development programs in the LGA which include the Parramatta Road
Corridor and Sydenham-Bankstown Urban Growth Corridor.
Major transport infrastructure projects (e.g. WESTCONNEX and Sydney
Metro).
Change of land use and increase imperviousness and its impacts on urban
water management.
Potential climate change impacts on biophysical and social environments.
Reduction of biodiversity cover to accommodate development and growth.
Increased pollution levels due to development and redevelopment activities.
Improvement of receiving water environments through regional projects with
other Councils.
Inner West Council has been implementing its water strategy and developed
integrated place-based plans to improve liveability and resilience of urban areas
through green infrastructure including water sensitive design. Through developing
neighbourhood-scale 'subcatchment' plans with detailed biophysical, social and
institutional profiles, appropriate sites for constructing water sensitive facilities (i.e.
biofiltration and stormwater harvesting systems) are identified and then prioritised.
This paper outlines the background, rationale, process and outcomes and evaluation
of adapting the Healthy Waterways method to prioritise WSUD projects for
integration in works programs. The Living Waterways categories for developing
goals, objectives, outcomes, criteria and measures of the projects include the
following considerations in the assessment process.
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Living water - environmental consideration
Living places - social consideration
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Living communities - social consideration
Living local economies - economic consideration
The above considerations were used in the development of an assessment
framework which includes criteria and sub-criteria for projects' performance
evaluation based on its benefits and limitations on biophysical, economic and social
environments. The framework includes both quantitative and qualitative criteria and
sub-criteria which were developed based on the Healthy Waterways Method for the
assessment of life cycle projects' performance. The outputs from analytical and
modelling processes were used in evaluating the project performance using
quantitative components of the assessment framework. The remaining components
of the framework were evaluated using the background knowledge, judgement and
expected trends of projects' performance in a collaborative manner by engaging
relevant teams and specialists.