The conference focused on how to put sustainable urban water management into practice. It aimed at:

• Identifying the best approaches to promote effective change at different scales. What are the lessons from recent implementation experiences in stakeholder engagement, participatory approaches, communication and media engagement around water in cities, their effectiveness, and how they have been contributing to improved water management and governance
• Analysing how cities, local authorities and other key stakeholders have effectively addressed issues of social inclusion in urban water management, and supported progress towards international commitments including the Millennium Development Goals
• Identifying how can we do 'better' in urban water management through sharing lessons from recent city experiences, and inspiring participants to do 'better'. Case studies from cities will illustrate experiences on how effective change can be promoted aiming to inspire others and highlight some of the crucial ingredients for success. They will also identify the general and locally specific difficulties, challenges, barriers and failures that we cannot ignore and can learn from (failure being a key ingredient in innovation).