Repairing urban water governance through informality

Comparing governance capacities for reparation in Indian cities

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21697166
AutoresNeha Mungekar (0000-0002-4663-0716, a Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO 1738, Room T16-53, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands, autor correspondente), Katharina Hölscher (0000-0002-4504-3368, Utrecht University), Annelli Janssen (0000-0003-0592-4803, a Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO 1738, Room T16-53, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Derk A Loorbach (0000-0002-4422-0019, a Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO 1738, Room T16-53, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Ano2025
Volume27
Fascículo4
Páginas521-539
Data de publicação2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoWater Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1366-7017 • E-ISSN: 1996-9759
EditoraIWA Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2166/wp.2025.273
OpenAlexW4408521654
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas21

Addressing water challenges in resource-constrained ‘Southern’ cities requires ‘reparation’, a transformative governance approach rooted in restorative justice. In India, formal governance often struggles to tackle social stratification and colonial legacies effectively, sometimes even reinforcing them. This study compares how informality can foster reparative transformation towards the water-sensitive city approach, further referred to as ‘water sensitivity’ in secondary cities like Bhuj and Bhopal. Our findings reveal that informal strategies foster consolidative and jugaadu (innovation within constraints) capacities, which help reveal the multifaceted nature of water problems, dismantle hierarchical power structures, promote care, and enable the improvisations crucial for reparation. However, informality also risks perpetuating existing inequalities and may overlook long-term environmental sustainability without a clear normative focus on reparation. To address this, combining informal approaches within formal regulatory frameworks mitigates the instability and lack of sustainability inherent in informality. While informal strategies provide flexibility and innovation, formal frameworks offer the necessary stability, legitimacy, and continuity, ensuring the embedding of reparative efforts in the socio-cultural fabric. In conclusion, informality is critical to reparative efforts as it facilitates the incorporation of transdisciplinary perspectives from non-experts and sustains necessary improvisations through fostering a sense of care, ultimately advancing water-sensitive governance

Business · Corporate governance · Economic geography · Environmental planning · Geography · Regional science · Social and Economic Development in India · Finance