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The River Torrens Catchment in Adelaide has suffered from poor water quality and flooding for decades. To address these challenges, a green infrastructure project, specifically a Linear Park, was created within the catchment. Although the project has functioned reasonably well since its implementation, its complex nature poses several management challenges. Despite the scale of this project, there is little scholarly literature available. Hence, to analyse these management challenges, this paper reviews the original project documentation, as well as regulations and policy documents together with findings from interviews with key project informants. The aim is to investigate the key drivers for implementation; the major stakeholders involved; and the challenges emerging from the multidimensional attributes of the project. The challenges relate to the inconsistent and informal management structure, the involvement of multiple stakeholders, and pressure from surrounding development. The challenges are further grouped under four main themes, including communication and collaboration, project design goals, institutional and political frameworks, and planning and development regulations. This paper argues that green governance is the key to the successful implementation and management of sustainable green infrastructure projects. The findings from this case study can inform policymakers, planners and researchers to propose appropriate scenarios to manage urban stormwater and to reclaim neglected waterways. • Linear parks have emerged as an increasingly valuable green space typology. • The morphology of a linear park can present complex issues relating to governance. • The River Torrens Linear Park exhibits such complexities. • Green governance is essential for sustainable development of linear parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In urban and suburban areas, stormwater runoff is a primary stressor on surface waters. Conventional urban stormwater drainage systems often route runoff directly to streams and rivers, thus exacerbating pollutant inputs and hydrologic disturbance, and resulting in the degradation of ecosystem structure and function. Decentralized stormwater management tools, such as low impact development (LID) or water sensitive urban design (WSUD), may offer a more sustainable solution to stormwater management if implemented at a watershed scale. These tools are designed to pond, infiltrate, and harvest water at the source, encouraging evaporation, evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge, and re-use of stormwater. While there are numerous demonstrations of WSUD practices, there are few examples of widespread implementation at a watershed scale with the explicit objective of protecting or restoring a receiving stream. This article identifies seven major impediments to sustainable urban stormwater management: (1) uncertainties in performance and cost, (2) insufficient engineering standards and guidelines, (3) fragmented responsibilities, (4) lack of institutional capacity, (5) lack of legislative mandate, (6) lack of funding and effective market incentives, and (7) resistance to change. By comparing experiences from Australia and the United States, two developed countries with existing conventional stormwater infrastructure and escalating stream ecosystem degradation, we highlight challenges facing sustainable urban stormwater management and offer several examples of successful, regional WSUD implementation. We conclude by identifying solutions to each of the seven impediments that, when employed separately or in combination, should encourage widespread implementation of WSUD with watershed-based goals to protect human health and safety, and stream ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]