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Polycentric Water Governance in the Urban Global South

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Sustainability in Natural Resources Management and Land Planning

Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

Abstract

Polycentric governance (PCG) and the management of common-pool resources (CPR) have been the main theoretical approaches elaborated by Elinor and Vincent Ostrom and adopted in numerous research projects by the Indiana School in Bloomington, having gained major influence in the field of natural resources management. However, their findings concerning local “communities of individuals”, being able to identify and struggle for their common interests, and moreover, to govern their commons autonomously on behalf of the collectivity, may encounter limits in more complex socio-political and institutional settings as we regularly find in huge metropolitan areas. In this chapter we explore the theoretical concept of PCG, in order to better understand the potentialities and the limits of the concept for water governance in metropolises in the Global South. Within this theoretical framework, we analyze the political and institutional transformation that occurred during the recent water crisis in the São Paulo Macrometropolis. Our research revealed, on the one hand, a weak resilience of the polycentric governance structure in this crisis situation and an insufficient integration of water governance with land use planning, and on the other, the state government falling back into traditional authoritarian governance patterns, favoring powerful economic interests, in detriment to democratic participation, as well as social, environmental and territorial justice. We conclude with some considerations on the possibilities and challenges of polycentric governance for transformational change in the Global South.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) for the support given to carry out this research (processes no. 2018/23771-6, 2015/03804-9 & 2019/06536-6) and to the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI): SGP-HW 056 (GovernAgua Project), for a grant given to one of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of ABC, Alameda da Universidade, São Bernardo do Campo/SP, 09606-070, Brazil

    Klaus Frey

  2. Federal University of ABC, UFABC, São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil

    Ruth Ferreira Ramos & Lidiane Alonso Paixão dos Anjos

  3. Institute of Energy and Environment, University of São Paulo, IEE/USP, São Paulo, Brazil

    Beatriz Milz & Pedro Roberto Jacobi

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  1. Klaus Frey
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  2. Ruth Ferreira Ramos
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  4. Beatriz Milz
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  5. Pedro Roberto Jacobi
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Correspondence to Klaus Frey .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. FTZ-ALS, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Ulisses Miranda Azeiteiro

  3. Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Andréia Faraoni Freitas Setti

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Frey, K., Ferreira Ramos, R., Alonso Paixão dos Anjos, L., Milz, B., Jacobi, P.R. (2021). Polycentric Water Governance in the Urban Global South. In: Leal Filho, W., Azeiteiro, U.M., Setti, A.F.F. (eds) Sustainability in Natural Resources Management and Land Planning. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76624-5_4

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