This project is in line with the call objectives by focusing on a fundamental aspect of the ecological and digital transition. The way we plan water management in cities has to change, especially in Mediterranean touristic cities which are particularly water stressed, involving major investments in redefining existing infrastructures and the solutions provided to face environmental and socio-economic water issues in cities. The current model is linear and implies a clear centralization for drinking and wastewater treatment, with combined sewers and little or no water reuse. Most cities are very dense and paved, with river and sewers overflows episodes during rain events. The multitude of potential water futures include the progressive naturalization of conventional technologies (from grey to blue-green, considering hybrid approaches). At the same time, the future also entails the gradual digitalisation of an increasing number of water management processes, with the benefits and concerns which have not yet been well studied.

CLEPSIDRA aims to contribute to the transition towards more sustainable and circular urban futures by studying the complex interrelationships between the environmental, social and economic indicators that constitute the urban hydrosocial cycle. CLEPSIDRA aims to provide guidance to urban planners and policymakers on how to manage the complexity of the urban water management, faced with such a variety of options and interactions. Relying on the concept of hydrosocial cycle project will offer urban planners a knowledge toolkit for designing urban water futures.

The specific objectives of CLEPSIDRA are the following:

1) Define a set of alternative urban water future schemes compared to the current business as usual, including green, grey and hybrid technologies, and taking as case-study a Mediterranean touristic city.

2) Review, structure and complement existing indicators to measure environmental, economic and social impacts of the potential water technologies considered when planning the urban hydrosocial cycle.

3) Identify the existing tools for urban planning at different scales (city, neighbourhood and building) and the available databases related to hydrosocial aspects in the city.

4) Design a conceptual map of the identified relationships between the environmental, economic and social indicators in the framework of the hydrosocial cycle.

5) Define a list of potential future scenarios related to climate change, socio-economy and digitalisation for any Mediterranean and touristic city.

6) Apply the conceptual model to the case study of Girona under the different scenarios defined, to validate the results of comparing the alternative water schemes and technologies in a Mediterranean touristic city.

7) Design a virtual twin as a planning simulation toolkit for the ecological transition alternatives of the hydrosocial cycle in the cities of the future.

8) Disseminate the results among a pool of interdisciplinary stakeholders and provide policy recommendations to regulate and speed up the uptake of the hydrosocial cycle concept in a wide range of governance frameworks.

Principal Investigators: Dr. Ignasi Rodriguez-Roda and Dr. Manel Poch