The relationship between community engagement in urban waterway management and community well-being

Abstract

The Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management was engaged by Christchurch City Council to review the published international literature on collaborative community management of urban water resources in order to: highlight the social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits that communities can derive from participation in collaborative management efforts; and present examples of monitoring frameworks or key indicators used to measure the contribution of such engagement and collaboration for community well-being. The key conclusion and recommendation to emerge from this review is that collaborative environmental community groups do provide a range of social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits, therefore they should be supported by agencies normally responsible for environmental management. Almost every study reviewed provided recommendations for collaborative group success. In light of this, the following recommendations summarise key messages from the literature, and might inform agencies considering supporting such groups.