Advancing urban water security: The urbanization of water–society relations and entry–points for political engagement

ABSTRACT

We seek to advance a critical and relational concept of urban water security that theorizes urban processes in relation to the hydro-social dynamics that produce experiences of water securities and insecurities at multiple scales. Our intention is to set out an analytical framework that both examines the social relations that underpin water insecurity and goes beyond the urban as merely the context in which water provision and risk take place. We seek to mobilize this concept to envision meaningful water policies and hydro-social practices to enhance social equity and empowerment for urban communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Water governance
• water security
• urbanization
• political ecology
• uneven development
• territory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP – São Paulo Research Foundation) [grant numbers 2015/03804-9; 2018/17626-3; 2019/02074-8; and 2019/13233-0]; the British Council via BNRL Urban Water Security in Brazil from Infrastructure to Social Action 360/FAPESP [grant numbers 2018/50088-5]; the UK Academies-FAPESP [grant number 2018/03355-8]; ESRC-Cambridge Postdoctoral Fellowship [grant number ES/T008792/1]; U.S. National Science Foundation Household Water Insecurity Experiences Research Coordination Network [(BCS-17759972) and grant number 1560962]; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - MCTIC/CNPq Nº 28/2018 [grant number 422814/2018-0]; Carlos Chagas Filho Research Support Foundation (FAPERJ)[grant number E-26/010.002461/2019]; and Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES [grant number 88887.337883/2019-00].