A Systemic Perspective on the Global Sanitation Challenge

The sanitation target of the millennium development goals (MDGs) was not reached and progress toward the sustainable development goal on water and sanitation (SDG6) is very slow. The lack of sanitation is especially persistent in cities in the Global South, as the world is rapidly urbanizing. This problem demands long-term fundamental transformations of urban sanitation services and infrastructures. This chapter analyzes the challenges and opportunities of innovations that have the potential to contribute to solving urban sanitation problems. The authors therefore use a sociotechnical systems perspective that draws on insights from innovation studies and the sustainability transitions literature. Such a systemic perspective enables the analysis of the interplay between technologies, infrastructures and their associated actor networks, and institutions and user and provider practices. The chapter presents the analysis of the case of sanitation in Nairobi, Kenya, building on qualitative data from 104 expert interviews. Based on the analysis, the authors show that innovative efforts should focus on improving alignments between the various sanitation service regimes in the city—for example, through making utility services work in informal settlements or improving collaborations in the efforts to scale on-site sanitation innovations. The chapter illustrates how factors hindering innovation development toward reaching SDG6 often go beyond technological aspects, but rather represent system weaknesses related to actors, networks, and institutional aspects.