Liveability is all of those things that make a place somewhere people want to live, communities flourish and businesses choose to invest.
To be long lasting and resilient, a liveable city or region must consider the needs of future generations and use systems thinking to understand and respond to shocks and long-term change.
WSAA recognises the growing contribution water utilities make towards liveability. Delivery of essential services to safeguard the health of community and the environment are a given. Less recognised services include water for cooling and greening cities, contributing to healthy waterways, water security and more.
Based on the premise of ‘what gets measured, gets managed’, WSAA members have developed a suite of indicators to measure and build on urban water’s contribution to liveability. Occasional Paper No. 31: Liveability Indicators provides a ‘menu’ of indicators that the water industry can draw on to measure its contribution in a consistent way. These indicators cover amenity and well-being, productivity, sustainability and future focus.
This paper is also a useful tool to inform the policy environment and engage with other sectors to further enhance and support urban liveability.