Working with water citizens: towards a redesign of water governance

Water insecurity issues (floods, droughts, pollution, depletion and degradation, lack of access), once considered symptoms of underdevelopment in Southern countries, are increasingly affecting Northern countries. Traditional "techno-managerial" models of water governance, implemented by government departments or private companies, are proving insufficient to meet these challenges and often fail to engage in meaningful dialogue with water users and communities. In response to these growing insecurities, citizen initiatives are emerging across Europe to address water-related issues.

In this workshop, we explore the potential of citizen initiatives in Europe to reshape water governance. To do so, we draw lessons from the experience of local citizen initiatives in Montpellier (France) and Ilkley (United Kingdom), analyzing them as emerging institutions of collective action, mediating interactions between people and the environment and reshaping citizen-state relations. Our goal is to better understand how people engage with water issues, how citizen-led institutions emerge and evolve, what kinds of environmental and social impacts they generate, and how these processes can be supported and facilitated.

In the workshop, we will also experiment with "reversing perspectives," i.e., adapting the knowledge and approaches generated in Southern countries to the study of citizen initiatives in Northern countries. By undertaking joint learning with citizen initiatives, we aim to creatively bridge the gaps between different contexts; between researchers, citizens, and water professionals; between scientific knowledge and lay knowledge.