June 7, 2022

Public Water Services in times of emergency: the case of the Covid19 outbreak

By Gemma Gasseau. The book “Public Water and Covid-19: Dark Clouds and Silver Linings”, discusses how the Covid19 outbreak has underlined once again the importance of water and other basic services for human life, and re-opened the debate on the role of the state in managing such services.
October 19, 2021

Autogestión, reclaiming the right to self-management of water

By Marcela Olivera and Stefano Archidiacono Twenty-one years after the Water War in Cochabamba (Bolivia), we reflect on “autogestión” of water as a practical and cultural dimension of the commons. A new piece for the series “Reimagining, remembering, and reclaiming water: From extractivism to commoning”.
July 20, 2021

Where have all the commons gone in Italy? A new podcast

By Emanuele Fantini In Italy, the success of the referendum against water privatisation pushed many social movements to reframe their struggles – on labour, education, debt, land use…. – in the name of the commons. Emanuele Fantini explores the legacy of that season in a podcast, here presented for the series “Reimagining, remembering, and reclaiming water: From extractivism to commoning”.
June 17, 2021

Transforming capitalism? The role of the commons and direct democracy in struggles against water privatisation in Europe.

By Andreas Bieler In his new book “Fighting for Water: Resisting Privatization in Europe” Andreas Bieler analyses the struggles against water privatization in Europe since the early 1990s. In this post for the series “Reimagining, remembering, and reclaiming water: From extractivism to commoning” he explores to what extent these struggles point towards a potential future beyond capitalism.
May 27, 2021

Commoning through blogging: Reflections on our “Reimagining, remembering and recommoning water” series

By Irene Leonardelli, Gustavo García López and Emanuele Fantini. In two webinars at the IASC 2021 Water Commons Virtual Conference (19-21 May 2021), past and future contributors reflected on the joint UndEnv-FLOWs series “Reimagining, remembering, and reclaiming water: From extractivism to commoning”.
January 14, 2021

The Many Faces of Municipalisation

A long-term historical perspective on a city’s infrastructures can reveal radically diverse agendas behind the call for municipalisation.
December 9, 2020

“There is no future here”: the psychological burden of water scarcity

By Maja Ženko and Filippo Menga. Water scarcity negatively impacts mental health of the affected water users through various pathways.  
November 17, 2020

Not a “wasted” enterprise: political ecologies of wastewater wetlands in Kolkata

By Jenia Mukherjee and Amrita Sen Jenia Mukherjee and Amrita Sen reflect on multiple ways of knowing, experiencing and engaging with wastewater in East Kolkata Wetlands (India). This plurality offers original insights into a provocative question:  is wastewater always toxic, polluting and hazardous? A new post of the series “Reimagining, remembering, and reclaiming water: from extractivism to commoning”.
August 18, 2020

A swimming commons

By Elliot Hurst. The summer episode of the series “Reimagining, remembering, and reclaiming water: from extractivism to commoning” co-organized by the Undisciplined Environments and FLOWs blogs, explores swimming as a political act to reclaim social and ecological justice.
July 21, 2020

Scaling-up territorial alternatives to water extractivism: Mini hydroelectric plants in Ecuador

By Emilie Dupuits In the second post of series “Reimagining, remembering, and reclaiming water: From extractivism to commoning” ,co-organized by the Undisciplined Environments and FLOWs blogs, Emilie Dupuits discusses controversies and challenges in scaling-up social struggles for water conservation and sustainable livelihoods in the Intag Valley, Ecuador.
June 30, 2020

There’s more than just dirt beneath the lush lawns

By Lauren Tropeano Australia’s colonial water histories run deep and flow into the present. The nation’s lush lawns are anything but apolitical.