A city without crisis: politics of institutional culture in urban water management in Melbourne

Urban water management (UWM) issues shape and frame the future of millions of people living in rapidly expanding cities. Yet understandings of the politics of institutional culture and responses to crisis in water management in rapidly growing conurbations have been conceptually and empirically limited. This study examines UWM in the context of crisis by approaching the issue of UWM through an understanding of the politics of institutional culture. In doing so, the thesis argues that UWM in growing cities amidst climate uncertainty and rapid urbanisation is crisis-prone and remains a product of complex institutional cultures, and state actions that together challenge approaches to sustainable urban water management.