Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2
The current state of technology determines how
close we might get to these theoretical limits
at any given moment at time.
3
To achieve that technological possibility
requires arranging resources in the right place, in
the right quantities, at the right time. This is an
organizational as well as a spatial problem.
The extent to which one form of organization
will enable resources to be used more effectively
and sustainably than another formof organization
is one aspect of governance. This aspect is the
simple functional question of how do we do
more with less through the better organization of
the conversion of resources and the bringing
together of resources. There is evidence that
there are considerable frictional costs in trans-
forming resources to meet objectives, including
Coase's (1988) 'transaction costs' and Stiglitz's
(2008) 'information costs'. As Coase (1991) argued,
consideration of the relative transaction costs
of different institutional frameworks has to be
a central concern. At the simple level, resources
can be wasted: labour is wasted if the tools,
materials or equipment are not simultaneously
available, or the necessary precursor tasks have
not been completed.
Additionally, different institutional frame-
works have a significant effect upon the efficiency
with which resources can be transformed to
deliver objectives. One of the arguments for
framework agreements with contractors is that
in a competitive contract, each contractor has to
tender the bill of quantities and not the job
(Egan 1998). That is, if the contractor could do
the job cheaper than by the means specified in the
bill of quantities, then the client cannot take
advantage of this knowledge.
Another example is that institutional frame-
works can inhibit or prevent the adoption of
specific technologies that offer a potential
improvement in efficiency. For example, the legal
definition of a 'sewer', essentially as a pipe, has
been argued to be inhibiting the adoption of
Sustainable Urban Drainage options
use of resources. The other, equally necessary,
aspect of governance is: what ought to be the
nature of social relationships?
What is Governance?
There have been many attempts to define
'governance' (Paproski 1993; Allison 2002; Evans
et al. 2005; Moench et al. 2003; Rogers and
Hall 2003; Cleaver and Franks 2005;Moretto 2005;
Swyngedouw 2005; Brandes and Maas 2006),
either exclusive of government or inclusive of it.
Because governance is about power and who
should have it, the definition of governance,
particularly of 'good governance', is necessarily
contested. But probably the best descriptive
definition of governance as a process is:
The exercise of political, economic and adminis-
trative authority in the management of
a country's affairs at all levels. Governance
comprises the complex mechanisms, processes,
and institutions through which citizens and
groups articulate their interests, mediate their
differences, and exercise their legal rights and
obligations.
UNDP (1997)
Governance is therefore about the joint
problems of how we decide what to do, and then
do it.
Effectively, governance is concerned with
power (Lukes 1974):
.
Who has it now?
.
Who should have it?
.
Who may use what forms of power for what
purposes?
'Power' here is being used in the purely functional
sense of the ability to change or influence
the world. The domains of power are therefore
over:
.
the physical world - the ability to physically
change the world;
.
the self - the scope that the individual has to act;
.
the others - the extent to which one party can
influence the actions of others.
(SUDS)
SUDS by the wastewater companies.
One side of governance is therefore: what social
relationships are most effective in relation to the
