Towards an integrated water management

Comparing German and Dutch water law from a spatial planning perspective

Abstract

Water management increasingly deals with spatial aspects; spatial planning interferes and
depends in various ways on water management. Particularly in urban areas, this interference calls
for an integrated water management. As a result, water management and spatial planning meet.
Laws frame the interaction of the two institutions. In this contribution, Dutch and German water
law are compared in terms of the governance for water management they nurture and sustain.
A conceptual framework by Driessen et al. is applied, which incorporates analysing three
characteristics of governance: the actor relations, the institutional context, and the approaches to the
governance object – water – itself (Driessen et al., 2012). Finally this contribution aims to reveal
the relation between modes of governance and the law, and it makes a claim for governance
research: law matters.