ESPON WATER
Governing water-resilient territories
ESPON
Envisioning Translocality
Enabling Institutions
Enforcing Practices
ESPON WATER – Governing Water-Resilient Territories contributes to the ESPON Programme’s mission to provide territorial evidence for policy and practice across Europe. The project supports the implementation of the European Water Resilience Strategy and responds to the ESPON Thematic Action Plan “Governance of New Geographies.”
ESPON WATER conceives water resilience as a territorial governance challenge: water flows, risks and competing uses often extend beyond administrative borders, while responsibilities, policies and resources remain fragmented across sectors and scales.
ESPON WATER will take a transcalar approach, connecting European and national policy frameworks with River Basin Districts, cross-border basins, inland-coastal-marine systems, regional and local territories. It will investigate how governance arrangements, institutional capacities and financing mechanisms support water resilience; where mismatches persist between hydrological systems and governance structures; and which multi-level, cross-sectoral and cross-border approaches can address shared vulnerabilities and competing water uses.
Over 18 months, the project will develop a pan-European water-governance analysis, a harmonised evidence base and River Basin District fiches, territorial typologies of governance challenges and resilience profiles, a portfolio of effective practices and four in-depth case studies. These results will inform policy recommendations and implementation guidance for EU, national, regional and local decision-makers.
Coordinated by DAStU – CRAFT, Politecnico di Milano, ESPON WATER brings together a multidisciplinary consortium including OSMOS, University of Alcalá, IMDEA Water and CNR-IRSA, in cooperation with ESPON EGTC. At Politecnico di Milano, the team also involves CALL – Cities in Action for Learning Lab, MAUD and the Environmental Intelligence Lab at DEIB, combining expertise in territorial governance, spatial analysis, water research, environmental economics, stakeholder engagement and policy design.
