Green Infrastructure, Grey Epistemologies, and the Urban Political Ecology of Pittsburgh's Water Governance

This article contributes to the urban political ecology of water through applied anthropological research methods and praxis. Drawing on two case studies in urban Sonora, Mexico, we contribute to critical studies of infrastructure by focusing on large infrastructural systems and decentralized alternatives to water and sanitation provisioning. We reflect on engaging with residents living on the marginal hillsides of two rapidly urbanizing desert cities using ethnographic methods. In the capital city of Hermosillo, Radonic emphasizes how collaborative reflection with barrio residents led her to reframe her analytical approach to water governance by recognizing informal water infrastructure as a statement of human resilience in the face of social inequality, resource scarcity, and material disrepair. In the border city of Nogales, Kelly-Richards reflects on the outcomes of conducting community-based participatory research with technical students and residents of an informally settled colonia around the construction of a composting toilet, while also investigating municipal government service provision efforts. Our article invites readers to view these infrastructure alternatives as ways to explore how applied anthropology can advance the emancipatory potential of urban political ecology through a collaborative investigation of uneven urbanization and basic service provisioning. We emphasize everyday situated relationships with infrastructure in informally organized neighborhoods. Using praxis to collectively investigate the complex and entangled relations between large piped water and sanitation projects and locally developed alternatives in under serviced areas, the two case studies reveal lessons learned and illuminate grounded research openings for social justice and environmental sustainability.Key words: Applied anthropology, infrastructure, political ecology, praxis, water governance, social justice

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A Transnational Urban Political Ecology of Water Infrastructures: Global Water Policies and Water Management in Hanoi

Public Works Management & Policy ◽

10.1177/1087724x18780045 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 195-212 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Lucía Wright-Contreras

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Drinking Water ◽

Political Ecology ◽

Water Governance ◽

Safe Drinking Water ◽

Urban Political Ecology ◽

Global Networks ◽

Developmental Issues ◽

Water Policies ◽

Global Water

Using the lens of a transnational urban political ecology of water infrastructures in Vietnam, this article contributes to the understanding of the intersections between urbanization patterns, socioecological problems, financial schemes, and the power relations embedded in Hanoi’s urban water supply through politics of scale that aim to ensure safe drinking water. With the analysis of global water policies and their implications in the Southeast-Asian context, the objectives of this work are to (a) reveal the scalar nature of Hanoi’s water infrastructures by situating water management processes in a broader context of developmental issues, and (b) review lessons and prospects of past and future global targets of access to safe drinking water. The evidence of multilevel water governance processes and cross-sectoral challenges of safe water provision emphasizes the need for global networks of cooperation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 and contribute to other sectors aiming to “transform our world.”

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Risk capital: Urban political ecology and entanglements of financial and environmental risk in Washington, D.C.

Environment and Planning E Nature and Space ◽

10.1177/2514848618770369 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (1-2) ◽

pp. 144-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Brett Christophers

Keyword(s):

Political Ecology ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Capital Investment ◽

Financial Risk ◽

Financial Risks ◽

Combined Sewer Overflows ◽

Risk Capital ◽

Urban Political Ecology ◽

Green Capitalism ◽

Critical Consideration

In endeavouring to deal with a longstanding problem of contamination of waterways in Washington, D.C. due to combined sewer overflows, the responsible utility, DC Water, has recently embarked on a two-fold, simultaneous ‘greening’ – firstly of the physical infrastructures being installed to address the overflow problem, and secondly of the financing of this capital investment. This article examines DC Water’s turn to green infrastructure and green bonds in order to consider the question of how environmental and financial processes in general – and environmental and financial risks in particular – co-determine not just one another but the transformation of contemporary urban socioecological landscapes more broadly. In the process, it aims to inject a greater sensibility both to finance and to ‘green capitalism’ into urban political ecology. Through a critical consideration of the interlocking temporal, spatial and monetary dimensions of DC Water’s two-fold greening project, the article shows that this project has served significantly to augment levels of environmental and financial risk, entangling them in significant new ways.

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Matthew Vitz 2018: A City on a Lake: Urban Political Ecology and the Growth of Mexico City. Durham, NC: Duke University Press

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research ◽

10.1111/1468-2427.12905 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 390-391

Author(s):

Creighton Connolly

Keyword(s):

Political Ecology ◽

Mexico City ◽

Urban Political Ecology ◽

Duke University

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Who defines 'whole': an urban political ecology of flood control and community relocation in Houston, Texas

Journal of Political Ecology ◽

10.2458/v24i1.20977 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 951 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kevin A. Lynn

Keyword(s):

Political Ecology ◽

Flood Control ◽

Planning Process ◽

Health Issues ◽

Public Agencies ◽

Urban Political Ecology ◽

Potential Health ◽

Public Agency ◽

The Us ◽

Flood Control Infrastructure

Abstract Even if public agencies sponsoring projects like flood alleviation have the best of intentions for relocated households, there may still be residents who do not agree with being forced to move. Federal relocation policy in the US has been, and continues to be, concerned primarily with housing economics and financial compensation. And yet, residents subject to relocation continue to express other concerns. The public agency responsible for relocation from flood-prone Kashmere Gardens in Houston, TX has promised to make households 'whole' in terms of finding new housing that is no more expensive (in terms of rent, mortgage payments, and equity) than vacated homes. While these considerations are important, this article illustrates how public agencies need to expand how they define 'whole.' Interviews with 53 households affected directly or indirectly by relocation show that the following factors need consideration when subjecting households to involuntary relocation: (1) suitability of new housing, (2) perceived competence of relocation specialists, (3) the relocation planning process, and (4) potential health issues for relocated households. Key Words: Kashmere Gardens, Houston, Uniform Relocation Act (URA), flood control infrastructure, urban political ecology

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“We Don’t Drink the Water Here”: The Reproduction of Undrinkable Water for First Nations in Canada

Water ◽

10.3390/w11051079 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 1079 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Warrick Baijius ◽

Robert J. Patrick

Keyword(s):

Political Ecology ◽

First Nations ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Water Governance ◽

Case Study Research ◽

First Nation ◽

Governance Capacity ◽

Water Problem ◽

Source Water Protection ◽

Current Water

First Nation communities in Canada are disproportionately plagued by undrinkable water and insufficient household sanitation. In addition, water resource management in First Nation communities has long been a technocratic and scientific mission controlled by state-led authorities. There has been limited engagement of First Nations in decision-making around water management and water governance. As such, problems associated with access to drinkable water and household sanitation are commonly positioned as hydrological or environmental problems (flood or drought) to be fixed by technical and engineering solutions. This apolitical reading has been criticized for not addressing the root cause of the First Nation water problem, but instead, of reproducing it. In this paper, an approach using political ecology will tease out key factors contributing to the current water problem in many First Nation communities. Using case study research set in source water protection planning, this paper explains how persistent colonial practices of the state continue to reproduce undrinkable water and insufficient household sanitation. Solutions to this ‘water problem’ require greater attention to First Nations water governance capacity and structures.

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