Work

Defending water, defending place: Water insecurity and neighbour-based organising in Mexico City's popular neighbourhoods

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines what water defence means in a popular neighbourhood, produced through the labour of its residents. It conceptualises water insecurity as a force of displacement and examines how this unfolds in popular neighbourhoods. It focuses on the Water Defence Committee of Santo Domingo (WDC), a neighbour-based organisation in southern Mexico City that emerged in response to unreliable supply and the political manipulation of water distribution, and that campaigned for a new well connected to the pipe network. The analysis shows that water defence in this context involved reducing uncertainty, confronting clientelist forms of distribution, and shaping the neighbourhood's future. It argues that these are interrelated mechanisms through which water defence became a form of place defence. For WDC members, defending water meant defending their capacity to live and remain in their neighbourhood. By analysing water defence as place defence, the article contributes to debates on water insecurity, urban political ecology, infrastructural citizenship, and everyday environmentalism. Una versión del texto en español está disponible como material complementario. • Water insecurity operates as a slow displacing force, with particular relevance in popular neighbourhoods • Defending water becomes a form of collective place defence in this context • Water defence reduces uncertainty and stabilises the conditions for social reproduction at the neighbourhood scale • Water defence disrupts clientelist water distribution and reconfigures the forms of political mediation for water access • Water defence is oriented towards imagining and securing the possibility of dwelling and remaining in a place over time

Source: Political Geography

DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2026.103647

Author: Andrés Emiliano Sierra Martínez

Institution: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Language: English

Topic: Water Governance and Infrastructure

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Clean water and sanitation, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,540