Scale, governance and the management of river basins: A case study from Central Iran

Molle, François; Mamanpoush, A.

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.08.004

Cited by 47 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Although traditionally water resources management has been considered a technical matter for hydrologists and engineers, social scientists have increasingly begun to analyze the political nature of water and processes of its governance, transformations and contestation [6,13,23,24]. Over the last decades, debates have focused on the suitable spatial scale and the boundaries for water management [3,39,40], the consequences of decentralization and deregulations [25,26], the commodification of water resources [27,41], and socio-political transformations in relation to international development initiatives [8,42]. Recent research by Harrys and Alatout [38] and Bourblanc and Blanchon [17] contributed to the debate by exploring the connections between power geometries and rescaling processes by focusing on the Middle East and South Africa, respectively.…”

Section: Scale Politics Of Scale and Rescaling Processes In Water Gomentioning

confidence: 99%

IWRM and the Politics of Scale: Rescaling Water Governance in Uzbekistan

Zinzani

Bichsel

2018

Water

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Over the last two decades, politics of scale and rescaling processes in relation to water have been debated by several scholars, especially by geographers and political ecologists, who emphasized their socio-political nature and their interactions with the environment. By contributing to this debate, this paper analyses rescaling processes in water governance in relation to the implementation politics of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Uzbekistan. IWRM and related initiatives were promoted worldwide, especially in the "Global South". These initiatives proposed the shift in water governance from administrative to hydrographic, or river basin, units. Empirically, the analysis focuses on the Middle Zeravshan valley in Uzbekistan, where IWRM was promoted as a part of post-Soviet water reforms. The analysis demonstrates that rescaling water governance towards IWRM and hydrographic units is inherently political. The evidence shows that the process is deeply interlinked with interests and power of Uzbek hydraulic bureaucracies at multiple scales. Firstly, the IWRM sponsored establishment of hydrographic units coincided with a recentralization of water management, supported by national hydraulic bureaucracies. Secondly, the design of the hydrographic unit and related boundaries in the Middle Zeravshan valley was driven by controversial multi-scalar power dynamics and relations between national and province levels, which emphasized the complexity and the multi-scalar nature of rescaling processes rooted in Post-Soviet political transformations.

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Section: Scale Politics Of Scale and Rescaling Processes In Water Gomentioning

confidence: 99%

IWRM and the Politics of Scale: Rescaling Water Governance in Uzbekistan

Zinzani

Bichsel

2018

Water

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“…This river, tied to a historical context of sociocultural norms, used to be the main source of verdure and fertility of the Isfahan region and played a critical role in supporting the farming (sub-practice) of the people of that region, as well as other traditional livelihoods (Harandi 2016;Khatounabadi 2014). The use of this water in this particular sociocultural context was long governed through the wisely structured system overseen by a Mirab, as elaborated by Molle and Mamanpoush (2012):…”

Section: The Zayandeh Rud Dam and Its Normative Rulesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology Development as a Normative Practice: A Meaning-Based Approach to Learning About Values in Engineering—Damming as a Case Study

2017

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Engineering, as a complex and multidimensional practice of technology development, has long been a source of ethical concerns. These concerns have been approached from various perspectives. There are ongoing debates in the literature of the philosophy of engineering/technology about how to organize an optimized view of the values entailed in technology development processes. However, these debates deliver little in the way of a concrete rationale or framework that could comprehensively describe different types of engineering values and their multi-aspect interrelations in real engineering practices. Approaching engineering values from a meaning-based perspective, as in this paper, can be a reliable method of tackling such a controversial problem. This paper therefore proposes that technology development be considered a systemic normative practice and attempts to provide a comprehensive view of various built-in values, their different origins and features, and a way of prioritizing them in real engineering processes. Studying two cases of the Zayandeh Rood Dam and the Abbasi Dam will lead to practical insights into how to understand norms in technology development and incorporate them into engineering practice.

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“…This approach originated in the early 1960s and has been strengthened in recent decades. It predominately had root in "a modernist ethos that considered traditional village irrigation [systems] as primitive" (Molle and Mamanpoush, 2012), and increased the pace of Iran"s hydro-oriented so-called development. This was fostered by a copied plan to develop agriculture as a backbone for large industrial development (Balali, 2011).…”

Section: Iran"s Mode Of Development and Qanatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An appraisal of the qualifying role of hydraulic heritage systems: a case study of Qanats in central Iran

Harandi

Vries

2014

Water Supply

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Hydraulic heritage systems, both underground and exposed, have been known to be sustainable for millennia. Persian and also Roman aqueducts are examples of such hydrosystems.Their values are often overlooked but they have undeniable advantages: they have functional interconnectedness with their surrounding society and ecology, which sometimes leads to revitalization plans. By using the notion "qualifying role", this paper will raise questions concerning the disregarded functions and early and historical positions of hydraulic heritage systems.This article illustrates the qualifying role of Qanats in urban drainage by describing the skill in their planning and construction. This is shown by a problematic case study in Iran, where the construction of a drainage system modelled on bygone Qanat"s techniques resulted in a dramatic drawdown in the water level of the area soon after construction.

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Scale, governance and the management of river basins: A case study from Central Iran

Cited by 47 publications

References 18 publications

IWRM and the Politics of Scale: Rescaling Water Governance in Uzbekistan

IWRM and the Politics of Scale: Rescaling Water Governance in Uzbekistan

Technology Development as a Normative Practice: A Meaning-Based Approach to Learning About Values in Engineering—Damming as a Case Study

An appraisal of the qualifying role of hydraulic heritage systems: a case study of Qanats in central Iran

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