Project description

The project examines the relationship between ’maintenance’ and ’transition’ in Swedish municipal water infrastructure. Municipalities are struggling with aging systems, underfunding, and capacity shortages, threatening economic development and sustainability. The project challenges the assumption that maintenance hinders change, and investigates how innovative maintenance practices can contribute to system transformation. Through comparative case studies, three typical situations are examined: innovative maintenance, maintenance during infrastructure expansion, and emergency maintenance. The aim is to develop a conceptual framework, generate policy recommendations, and identify strategies that can be replicated in other Swedish municipalities and internationally.

Project period: 2025-2029
Funded by: Handelsbankens Research Foundations

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