Call for Papers to RGS-IBG 2015, Exeter:
Negotiating Rights and Understanding Water Needs: Knowledges and
politics of water management in small towns
Session convenors:
Eszter Kovacs, University of Cambridge ([log in to unmask])
Vishal Singh, Centre for Ecology Development and Research (CEDAR)
([log in to unmask])
Bhaskar Vira, University of Cambridge ([log in to unmask])
This session seeks to bring together novel insights and
interdisciplinary research examining the ways in which approaches to
small town urbanisation are affecting extant water provision strategies
which rely on natural ecosystems, and the relationships between their
up- and down- stream communities. Processes of water commodification and
re-regulation by government, donor-led development and private actors in
the global South are well- documented (Castree 2008; Swyngedouw 2005),
with hybrid public-private approaches to water management setting in
train organisational and institutional changes to water governance and
access (Bakker 2003). It is important that new interventions assess and
understand the heterogenous nature and trends of urban forms and the
environmental connectivities that underpin supply and source
sustainability, as well as distribution and demand-side water needs and
livelihood strategies. They must fit into a wider context of governance
strategies for environmental and urban management and planning, such as
land use zoning, often in contexts of rapidly evolving land use change,
construction and development. However, on the ground, such robust
evidence for holistic decision-making is often lacking, which results in
a very poor understanding of differential water use and access, as well
as the impacts of new schemes, socio-economically or environmentally.
This session will capture ongoing research into these issues, to
highlight in particular bottom-up and local stakeholder responses and
strategies for asserting their claims to water (and/or land), which may
be at odds with planned interventions. What is the nature of these
conflicts? What are “windows” for negotiation and influence? How do
local water practices and needs differ from new or advocated supply
strategies? How can these be understood and communicated to relevant
stakeholders?
In addition, developing grounded understandings of water needs and
governance modes of small towns relying on natural ecosystems requires
interdisciplinary research engagement from the fields of, for example,
bio-geo-hydrology, to evaluate and understand source sustainability and
ecosystem dynamics; the social sciences, to capture water access and
requirements; and legal and policy analyses to take into account the
pluralistic claims, interests and trade-offs that arise around water.
We welcome submissions for papers that engage with the above and
following themes:
· Changing water management interventions in small towns and
peri-urban areas
· The role, place and potentials of urban planning and zoning
for water management in small towns
· Understandings of local negotiations, opportunities and
barriers for influencing governmental or donor-led interventions around
water
· Case studies on the social, ecological and economic dimensions
of water management
· Experiences of interdisciplinary research for water management
Abstracts of no longer than 250 words should be sent to
[log in to unmask] by Thursday 12th February.
--
Eszter Krasznai Kovács
Postdoctoral Research Associate
http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/people/kovacs/
http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/watersecurityhimalayas/
Department of Geography
University of Cambridge
Downing Place
Cambridge CB2 3EN
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