Book excerpt: The strategic planning of urban water systems is a complex task. The Urban Water programme covered projects from various disciplines at 9 Swedish Universities, from 1999 to 2006. The projects developed a "toolbox" for strategic planning of drinking-, waste- and stormwater management, covering aspects such as the environment, health and hygiene, financing, organisation, households, and technical function. Strategic Planning of Sustainable Urban Water Management synthesises the results and presents a comprehensive approach, which includes not only the technical, economic and environmental aspects, but also the challenges of institutional capacity and public participation in the planning process. Furthermore, the experience from a number of case studies are summarised and can offer readers inspiration for their own planning situations.