Watershed Democracy or Ecological Hinterland?

2003

The Tragedy of the Rivers: Building Authority over the British W ater Environment" examines the problem of rivers as common public resources in modern Britain. Viewed historically, the enduring problem of environmental pollution control in Britain has been the establishment of regulating authority over aspects of nature that are regarded simultaneously as economic resources, public utilities, and public amenities. Legislators, subject to pressure from industrial polluters, political parties, and advocates for environmental quality, sought at different times to locate authority at local, regional, national and extra-national levels. Each effort failed to resolve the issue of authority over the environment, because administrative solutions merely shifted the pollution elsewhere. The administrative solution of nationally directed, regionally administered multipurpose agencies ultimately failed as they were undermined by internal conflicts of interest fueled by competing popular conceptions of river water as a natural economic resource, a common commodity, or as an amenity for recreation and leisure. Three themes are evident from the study. The first was the struggle to define the appropriate level at which authority over the environment was vested. The second concerned the structural composition of institutions that were both regulator and polluter. The British experience suggests that the multipurpose structural arrangement of the regional water authorities, who were both regulator and polluter, could not effectively function to protect the river common. The third was how to use scientific and technical knowledge. Advocates for one position or another have used scientific and technical knowledge as a neutral "authority" to demonstrate the correctness of their position. However, there has been a gradual Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. recognition that such knowledge is tentative, dependent upon conditions and subject to change, which in one sense redefines the "authority" of this resource. Lastly, natural ecosystems, such as river basins or watersheds, provided a geographical and natural framework for regulatory control especially with regard to integrated resource management and pollution control. The British experience in the 1970s suggests that while the proper decision in regards to geographic size was ultimately made, the authorities created lacked the necessary legislative powers to match their river systems. This remained a challenge for the future. The work is based upon primary materials gathered from the British Library, Public Record Office, Thames W ater PLC, the Port of London Authority, and the archives of the City of London and the GLC. Contemporary materials include newspaper accounts, letters and conference proceedings on related subjects and interviews with government officials, related water and sanitary engineers, and pollution control officers. Relevant secondary literature was also utilized. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

Labour/Le Travail, 2019

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The London Journal, 2015

Neoliberal environments: False promises and unnatural consequences, 2007

Surprisingly, very little work has systematically explored the application of neoliberal policies to environmental governance and environmental change. This volume explores this nexus between nature, markets, deregulation and valuation, using theoretically sharp and empirically rich real-world case studies and analyses of actually existing policy from around the world and across a range of resources. In short, it answers the questions: does neoliberalizing nature work and what work does it do? More specifically, this volume provides answers to a series of urgent questions about the effects of neoliberal policies on environmental governance and quality. What are the implications of privatizing public water utilities in terms of equity in service provision, resource conservation and water quality? Do free trade agreements erode the sovereignty of nations and citizens to regulate environmental pollution, and is this power being transferred to corporations? What does the evidence show about the relationship between that marketization and privatization of nature and conservation objectives?

Technology and Culture

The London Journal, 2015

Being neither large, nor unusual in its natural attributes, environmental and historical interest in south London's River Wandle lies in the human impact on water quality, habitat modification, maintenance of discharge and physical channel form. Problems emerged during the first half of the nineteenth century deriving from sewage and industrial development, so that between about 1930 and 1970, with the authorities negligent, the river channels became functionally open foul sewers. Recovery since then has included efforts to improve water quality, restore the banks and associated habitats and create enabling initiatives within all economic sectors. This article describes the Wandle's significance as an arena for scrutinizing water resource conflicts since the 1950s, its contribution towards Integrated Water Resources Management and the rise of an urban nature conservation ethos. Questions remain around howand to what conditionthe river might be restored.

The London Journal, 2011

personalpages.manchester.ac.uk

The largely unseen channelling, culverting and controlling of water into, through and out of cities is the focus of our cartographic interpretation. This paper draws on empirical material depicting hydraulic infrastructure underlying the growth of Manchester in mapped form. Focusing, in particular, on the 19th century burst of large-scale hydraulic engineering, which supplied vastly increased amounts of clean drinking water, controlled unruly rivers to eliminate flooding, and safely removed sewage, this paper explores the contribution of mapping to the making of a more sanitary city, and towards bold civic minded urban intervention. These extensive infrastructures planned and engineered during Victorian and Edwardian Manchester are now taken-for-granted but remain essential for urban life. The maps, plans and diagrams of hydraulic Manchester fixed particular forms of elite knowledge (around planning foresight, topographical precision, civil engineering and sanitary science) but also facilitated and freed flows of water throughout the city.

2014

The modelling and visualisation of digital geoscientific data as an aid to land-use planning in the urban environment; an example