Water and the (All Too Easy) Promised City: A Critique of Urban Water Governance
The reform of urban water services, and the related reorganisation of environmental conservation, has been influenced by novel approaches focused on flexibility, adaptability and partnership that are commonly described as the agenda of water governance. T
- PDF / 158,354 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 439.37 x 666.14 pts Page_size
- 56 Downloads / 173 Views
Water and the (All Too Easy) Promised City: A Critique of Urban Water Governance Antonio A.R. Ioris
Abstract The reform of urban water services, and the related reorganisation of environmental conservation, has been influenced by novel approaches focused on flexibility, adaptability and partnership that are commonly described as the agenda of water governance. This new agenda, widely accepted worldwide in the last three decades, entails a convergence of de-regulation and re-regulation policies, including incentives for decentralisation and market-based solutions. The chapter specifically examines the influence of urban water governance reforming public services and environmental conservation in Glasgow (UK) and in Lima (Peru). These two case studies, despite their idiosyncratic complexities, are highly emblematic of the controversies surrounding water governance. Glasgow is an intriguing example of a post-industrial European conurbation and Lima is a paradigmatic case of an emerging megacity at the intersection of post-colonial legacies and market globalisation. In both metropolitan areas, recent projects and policy adjustments reveal the achievements, but also the shortcomings of water governance. One main problem is that public participation has been appropriated by the same agencies that in the past promoted highly centralised, disjointed and politically asymmetric administration. Furthermore, positive results from increased investments and rationalisation of water services have been undermined by the discriminatory and short-term basis of the discourse and practice of urban water governance.
12.1
Introduction
The need to improve urban water systems has been the object of wide-ranging institutional reforms and considerable investment programmes, particularly in the last three decades, when it became increasingly evident the convergence of systemic problems such as growing water pollution, deficient supply and worrying levels of inefficiency. Regulators, experts and the general public have explicitly recognised the socio-ecological complexity of urban water management and called for a better A.A.R. Ioris (*) School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 S. Bell et al. (eds.), Urban Water Trajectories, Future City 6, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42686-0_12
179
180
A.A.R. Ioris
integration of multiple and historically disconnected demands (United Nations 2004). Most of these recent and ongoing responses have been highlighted in the principles and instruments of the water governance agenda, which has entailed a transition to more adaptable practices, beyond the traditional forms of government interventions, aiming to include the action of both the state and a myriad of organisations and movements that constitute the non-state (Conca 2006). Urban water governance is now a central pillar of the promise for enhanced life and better cities through gradual changes in existing policies and mainstream procedures (Gunawansa and B
Data Loading...
