Water supply to the urban poor: Governance approaches and challenges of situated informalitie

Water supply to the urban poor is one of the biggest challenges of urban governance in developing countries. With the unpredictable and uncontrollable process of the urbanization of poverty, the situation of water scarcity has also been rapidly deteriorating. There is evidence of initiatives for water supply to the urban poor, but they are temporary and insufficient to meet their actual needs. Drawing on this problem, this research aims to contribute to a better understanding of water supply systems in the slum of Dhaka city. First, it explores the types of water provisions available for the urban poor. Second, it investigates the actors, processes and challenges of informal and formal water supply provisions in the slum. In particular, it aims to examine the relationship between water provisions and local situated informalities in which the poor are embedded. It argues that despite the mission of participatory governance in development, which has experienced success in different cities and countries, there are still many old and new developmental challenges to overcome. Therefore, this research intends to examine the socio-spatial embeddedness of the poor as they attempt to access water services, and seeks to sketch the local informal constraints constituting the problems of water governance for the urban poor in Dhaka.;The research finds that understanding situated informalities of the urban informal settlements is imperative for successful implementation of participatory urban governance. It further suggests recognizing the heterogeneity of the informal communities, as well as the dynamics and everyday tactics employed by the urban poor in pursuing their livelihood which are locally situated, rather than externally imposed, and created not only by the lack of formal structural processes, but also through a self-sustained survival mechanism in which the urban poor are embedded. While there are informal and illegal opportunities of services in Karail, the process of a formal community-based governance of only a single utility service (like water) might be contested by locally situated socioeconomic, political and spatial factors. In addition, the formal-informal dichotomy might be a false division while the formal water system still accepts many informal practices, and this dualistic thinking only serves to benefit the already powerful actors in the informal community. Therefore, this research argues that a better understanding of the situated informalities of an urban slum community in the process of making 'sustainable urban development' and an 'inclusive city', is inevitable for the successful implementation of participatory governance approaches. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).