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Research ArticleCase Study
Open Access

Restoration of Urban Water Commons: Navigating Social-Ecological Fault Lines and Inequities

Amrita Sen, Hita Unnikrishnan and Harini Nagendra
Ecological Restoration March 2021, 39 (1-2) 120-129; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/er.39.1-2.120
Amrita Sen
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India, and Visiting Faculty, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, Karnataka,
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  • For correspondence: [email protected]
Hita Unnikrishnan
Urban Institute, The University of Sheffield and Visiting Faculty, Azim Premji University, School of Development, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
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Harini Nagendra
Professor of Sustainability, School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
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ABSTRACT

The networked tank/lake system of Bengaluru has been created by human intervention, with a documented history as far back as the 9th century C.E. The construction and maintenance of the tanks was overseen by local chieftains, and supported by local communities, further managed by caste-based and gender-based systems of manual labor. With urban expansion, the lakes lost their importance as the primary sources of water, leading to large scale degradation. Land-use transformations impacted the socio-ecological commons landscape, exacerbating marginalization in nature-dependent communities such as grazers and fishers due to loss of livelihoods. State initiatives coupled with community interventions helped in revival of some lakes in the past decade, though others remain severely degraded. Privileged and underprivileged caste groups describe a very different picture of the past, demonstrating rather divergent perspectives on the way in which urbanization and lake revival has impacted their lives. Based on a case study of selected lakes in Bengaluru, we establish how social inclusions and exclusions are manifested through decision making on lake management. We also seek to understand how these hierarchies have changed in response to urbanization, with aspirations towards a rhetoric of restoration, but a focus on urban greening and recreational aesthetics in practice. The impacts of urban transition and lake revival are shaped by differing power relationships manifested within the caste hierarchy.

Keywords:
  • commons
  • community
  • lake management
  • urban India
  • © 2021 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

This open access article is distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) and is freely available online at: http://er.uwpress.org

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Ecological Restoration: 39 (1-2)
Ecological Restoration
Vol. 39, Issue 1-2
March and June, 2021
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Restoration of Urban Water Commons: Navigating Social-Ecological Fault Lines and Inequities
Amrita Sen, Hita Unnikrishnan, Harini Nagendra
Ecological Restoration Mar 2021, 39 (1-2) 120-129; DOI: 10.3368/er.39.1-2.120

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Restoration of Urban Water Commons: Navigating Social-Ecological Fault Lines and Inequities
Amrita Sen, Hita Unnikrishnan, Harini Nagendra
Ecological Restoration Mar 2021, 39 (1-2) 120-129; DOI: 10.3368/er.39.1-2.120
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Keywords

  • commons
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