Day Zero and The Infrastructures of Climate Change: Water Governance, Inequality, and Infrastructural Politics in Cape Town's Water Crisis

Millington, Nate; Scheba, Suraya

doi:10.1111/1468-2427.12899

Cited by 55 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 65 publications

(84 reference statements)

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“…It draws on a project that sought to understand water service issues and strengthen community-based adaptation in low-income areas of Cape Town, South Africa; this project has been described in Enqvist et al (2020). The city's recent experience of a crippling drought brought home the importance of adapting to urban climate risk (Simpson, 2019), but also served as a reminder that low-income households have lacked adequate water services for decades (Enqvist & Ziervogel, 2019;Millington & Scheba, 2020;. Urban water vulnerability is complex and depends as much on land-use management and planning as it does on climate change (Ahmed et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting transformative climate adaptation: community-level capacity building and knowledge co-creation in South Africa

et al. 2021

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Calls for transformative adaptation to climate change require attention to the type of capacity building that can support it. Community-level capacity building can help to ensure ownership and legitimacy of longer-term interventions. Given that marginalized communities are highly vulnerable to climate risk, it is important to build their capacity to adapt locally and to integrate their perspectives into higherlevel adaptation measures. Current adaptation policy does not pay sufficient attention to this. Using a Cape Town-based project on water governance in lowincome urban settlements, this paper explores how a transdisciplinary research project supported capacity building. Our findings suggest that knowledge cocreation at the community level is central to the capacity building that is needed in order to inform transformative adaptation. The collaborative methodology used is also important; we illustrate how a transdisciplinary approach can contribute to transformative adaptation where knowledge is co-produced to empower community-level actors and organizations to assert their perspectives with greater confidence and legitimacy. We argue that if capacity building processes shift from the top-down transferal of existing knowledge to the co-creation of contextual understandings, they have the potential to deliver more transformative adaptation. By considering diverse sources of knowledge and knowledge systems, capacity building can start to confront inequalities and shift dominant power dynamics. Adaptation policy could provide more guidance and support for community-level transdisciplinary processes that can enable this type of transformative adaptation. Key policy insights. To address equity and justice issues as well as climate risk, adaptation policy needs to better support transformative adaptation. . Community-level capacity building, called for by developing countries, will benefit from more attention to bottom-up approaches as a complement to top-down ones. . Community-led research that draws on a diversity of knowledge systems can effectively inform the development of transformative adaptation interventions. . Transdisciplinary research methods present a promising pedagogical approach to building transformative adaptation capacity. . Adaptation policy for capacity building would benefit from a broader understanding of governance that includes local participation and values bottom-up contributions. . A priority for capacity building is getting previously excluded actors a spot at the negotiating table as well as skills to substantiate their arguments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting transformative climate adaptation: community-level capacity building and knowledge co-creation in South Africa

et al. 2021

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“… 27. Millington, N and S Scheba (2020), “Day Zero and the infrastructures of climate change: water governance, inequality, and infrastructural politics in Cape Town’s water crisis”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research . …”

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confidence: 99%

COVID-19 responses: infrastructure inequality and privileged capacity to transform everyday life in South Africa

Groot¹,

Lemanski²

2020

Environment and Urbanization

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Throughout the early months of 2020, COVID-19 rapidly changed how the world functioned, with the closure of borders, schools and workplaces, national lockdowns, and the rapid normalization of “self-isolation” and “social distancing”. However, while public health recommendations were broadly universal, human capacity to accordingly transform everyday life has differed significantly. We use the example of South Africa to highlight the privileged nature of the ability to transform one’s life in response to COVID-19, arguing that the virus both highlights and exacerbates existing inequalities in access to infrastructure. For those living in urban poverty in South Africa, where access to basic infrastructure is limited, and where overcrowding and high density are the norm, it is frequently impossible to transform daily life in the required ways. The failure of global public health recommendations to recognize these inequalities, and to adapt advice to national and local contexts, reveals significant limitations that extend beyond this specific global pandemic.

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“…The water crisis could be blamed on climate change which increased uncertainties but also delayed infrastructure investment (Muller 2017). It may have led to a deepening of inequalities in water access with a reinforcement of the logics of commercialisation of water as the municipality withdrew the universal provision of free basic water and changed its tariff structure (Millington & Scheba 2021); there has been also a multiplication of off-grid solutions by the wealthy (Simpson et al 2020).…”

Section: High-carbon Versus Low-carbon Paths?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and strategic low-carbon planning in African cities after COVID-19: inclusiveness or chaos?

Lemaire¹

2021

JBA

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Cities in sub-Saharan African countries are feeling the impact of climate change with an increase in climate refugees and they have to deal with more intense flooding, land degradation and erosion, droughts, and heatwaves affecting in particular the poor living in informal settlements. Strategies on how to adapt and move to more resilient cities are being designed. But the question is how this transition can be done while municipalities in sub-Saharan Africa are facing difficulties coping with demographic growth, budget scarcity, and poor governance. Most local authorities in sub-Saharan Africa have consistently failed to address the fundamental basic needs of communities, even before the current acute environmental crisis. This paper analyses the persistent urban planning bias preventing transition to sustainability, emerging alternative strategic options promoting resilience and inclusivity while moving toward low-carbon cities, and how the discourse on post-COVID cities is relevant to the context of urban Africa.

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Day Zero and The Infrastructures of Climate Change: Water Governance, Inequality, and Infrastructural Politics in Cape Town's Water Crisis

Cited by 55 publications

References 65 publications

Supporting transformative climate adaptation: community-level capacity building and knowledge co-creation in South Africa

Supporting transformative climate adaptation: community-level capacity building and knowledge co-creation in South Africa

COVID-19 responses: infrastructure inequality and privileged capacity to transform everyday life in South Africa

Climate change and strategic low-carbon planning in African cities after COVID-19: inclusiveness or chaos?

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