From austericide to recommoning: counter-imaginaries for democratizing water governance
We address a key question around the extent to which a commons-oriented imaginary could offer alternatives to further democratize water governance by shifting public water governance institutions toward collective governance mechanisms. Two cities that have successfully remunicipalized their water g...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Resilience Alliance
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol29/iss4/art8 |
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| Summary: | We address a key question around the extent to which a commons-oriented imaginary could offer alternatives to further democratize water governance by shifting public water governance institutions toward collective governance mechanisms. Two cities that have successfully remunicipalized their water governance and engaged with commons-inspired governance arrangements are compared: Terrassa in Spain and Naples in Italy. The cases are both considered deviant examples of successful water remunicipalization that pushed a commons logic to public governance. Results indicate that although the success of Naples finds its strength in changing legal frameworks to recognize and protect water as a common good, the success of Terrassa is in the daily recommoning practices of citizens through its newly established Citizen Water Observatory. A discussion is presented on the extent to which each approach has succeeded in democratizing water governance, according to the definition of democracy as a continuing effort toward collective management of affairs by a community. We point to both strengths and pitfalls of a commons-oriented governance approach while assessing the type and degree of transformation made to local public water governance institutions in each case. We caution that commoning is not a panacea but rather one approach in nested governance to resist market logics imposed on water resources. |
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| ISSN: | 1708-3087 |