Where will the water come from? Verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framing

Three prominent narratives exist within urban drought literature: that there is a global impending urban water crisis; that water will be reallocated from rural to urban uses; and that water scarcity is a socially constructed, rather than natural, problem. Many of these claims arise from studies whi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rugland, E
Other Authors: Grecksch, K
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
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author Rugland, E
author2 Grecksch, K
author_facet Grecksch, K
Rugland, E
author_sort Rugland, E
collection OXFORD
description Three prominent narratives exist within urban drought literature: that there is a global impending urban water crisis; that water will be reallocated from rural to urban uses; and that water scarcity is a socially constructed, rather than natural, problem. Many of these claims arise from studies which do not use primary data from cities at scale. In response, this study uses qualitative content analysis to investigate urban drought issue framing within 123 city planning documents in 30 cities globally. Results indicate that cities are acutely aware of climate impacts on the extent and frequency of drought in their bounds, yet that global models are insufficient for local needs. Cities also have more holistic conceptions of drought and water scarcity than presented within global models. Additionally, rural-urban water transfers are not planned in this cohort of cities, and urban areas support agriculture during drought in ways that blur the idea of urban-rural competition. Finally, the connection between problem definition and solution is found to be nonlinear within urban drought planning, but that several inputs—including formal drought definitions—have little bearing on resultant drought mitigation strategies. Overall, this study reveals the wide gap between research and practice in regard to drought management, and implores researchers and organisations alike to engage with primary data from cities.
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spelling oxford-uuid:e8110b5b-5f7f-4d2e-a6db-b995975e1d262024-10-09T07:31:20ZWhere will the water come from? Verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framingThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccuuid:e8110b5b-5f7f-4d2e-a6db-b995975e1d26City planningWaterGeographyEnglishHyrax Deposit2024Rugland, EGrecksch, KGarrick, DThree prominent narratives exist within urban drought literature: that there is a global impending urban water crisis; that water will be reallocated from rural to urban uses; and that water scarcity is a socially constructed, rather than natural, problem. Many of these claims arise from studies which do not use primary data from cities at scale. In response, this study uses qualitative content analysis to investigate urban drought issue framing within 123 city planning documents in 30 cities globally. Results indicate that cities are acutely aware of climate impacts on the extent and frequency of drought in their bounds, yet that global models are insufficient for local needs. Cities also have more holistic conceptions of drought and water scarcity than presented within global models. Additionally, rural-urban water transfers are not planned in this cohort of cities, and urban areas support agriculture during drought in ways that blur the idea of urban-rural competition. Finally, the connection between problem definition and solution is found to be nonlinear within urban drought planning, but that several inputs—including formal drought definitions—have little bearing on resultant drought mitigation strategies. Overall, this study reveals the wide gap between research and practice in regard to drought management, and implores researchers and organisations alike to engage with primary data from cities.
spellingShingle City planning
Water
Geography
Rugland, E
Where will the water come from? Verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framing
title Where will the water come from? Verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framing
title_full Where will the water come from? Verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framing
title_fullStr Where will the water come from? Verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framing
title_full_unstemmed Where will the water come from? Verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framing
title_short Where will the water come from? Verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framing
title_sort where will the water come from verifying the urban water crisis through drought issue framing
topic City planning
Water
Geography
work_keys_str_mv AT ruglande wherewillthewatercomefromverifyingtheurbanwatercrisisthroughdroughtissueframing