Can

Abstract

<p class="Default"><em>The world appears to be on track to halve the number of people without access to safe clean water. However, in the urban Global South, this success masks regional and local inequalities and this is particularly acute in the growing peripheries or peri-urban fringes of existing cities. These areas are marked by high levels of inequality where the marginal people lack access to basic infrastructural amenities like piped drinking water supply and sanitation. Water supply and sanitation (WATSAN) services in these areas are characterized by lack of public policy-driven initiatives and there now seems to be widespread agreement that in developing countries the state alone will be unable to meet the internationally agreed targets for reducing the number of urban dwellers with no access to these services. On the other hand, recent attempts to involve private investors in this sector have not yielded the desired results of expanding network coverage to low-income urban and peri-urban settlements which are regarded as less profitable than wealthier and more central areas of cities</em></p> <p><em>Within this context, the study emphasizes on building upon innovative planning and governance interventions by conceptualizing peri-urban areas not only as regions marked by high levels of inequality but also active experimentation in new ways to fill in provision gaps. It moves beyond dichotomous public-private debates to explore and recognize the potential of alternative needs-driven WATSAN arrangements for and by the peri-urban poor. Along with an emphasis on understanding and documentation of needs-driven initiatives from below, the paper also explores if WATSAN governance gap can be addressed by abridging (or coproducing) community-led efforts with those of the state not just to fill provision gaps but also to make it operational at scales, while integrating watershed management and activating citizens&rsquo; rights and entitlements. It inquires if &lsquo;coproduction&rsquo; can be considered as the major innovative strategic intervention towards new configurations of WATSAN governance. The theoretical framework of the paper is based upon thorough empirical research findings in peri-urban parts of eastern Kolkata.</em></p>

Full Text: PDF