From fragmentation to integration and back again

The politics of water infrastructure in Accra’s peripheral neighbourhoods

Bibliographic Data

ID8963609
AuthorsJ Uitermark (0000-0002-5274-1455, Amsterdam School for Social Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands), Joris Tieleman (0000-0002-8729-3517, Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) Erasmus University of Rotterdam Rotterdam The Netherlands, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume46
Issue2
Pages347-362
Publication date2020-10-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tran.12420
OpenAlexW3093439534
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited44

This paper examines the dynamics of fragmentation and integration in Accra’s water infrastructure. Inspired by figurational sociology, we analyse infrastructure as both reflective and constitutive of interdependencies between different class fractions and parts of the urban region. We draw on historical archives, the in‐depth ethnographic study of one suburban neighbourhood, a survey of eight additional neighbourhoods, and statistics from Ghana’s census to investigate the mechanisms and drivers of infrastructural integration as well as fragmentation. Our analysis shows that, following Ghana’s independence, the piped water network gradually expanded to integrate different class fractions and parts of the urban region. But this process has more recently hit its limits on Accra’s peri‐urban fringe, where the wealthy are disconnecting from the public piped water network and, by implication, from those who still depend on it. The progressive expansion of the pipe network thus grinds to a halt, giving way to a fragmented constellation of water infrastructures

Census · Economic geography · Economics · Economy · Ethnography · Fragmentation (computing · Geography · Interdependence · Megacity · Neighbourhood (mathematics · Political science · Politics · Population · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Law · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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