ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out to analyze the dynamics, discourses, identities and material conditions that evolve with increasing urbanization and associated transformations of rural–urban (dis)connections. Focusing on water connections and disconnections that link rural and urban spaces necessarily involves attention to struggles over water use and control as well as over decision making, identities, discourses and associated politics of recognition. The chapter describes how urbanization needs to be understood as a process of constant making and remaking of multiscalar territorial networks and interactions that extend beyond traditional city boundaries. It elaborates on how the contributions of this issue exemplify and enrich our understanding of the aspects of a political ecology of rural–urban water struggles. Water supply projects connect far-away rural territories with the city, impacting rural environments, livelihoods, political positioning and identities. Similarly, powerful agro-export companies delivering to urban populations around the globe divert water to the detriment of nearby towns.
