The degrowth transition of infrastructures in the urbanised periphery. Mapping processes and uncovering socio-economic impacts in Southern Europe

根据联合国的数据，到2050年，世界上将有25亿人加入城市人口，根据欧洲自己的人口预测，到那时，83.7%的人口将生活在城市地区。然而，大多数人不会定居在统一的、高密度的、紧凑的城市，而是定居在城市化的外围或郊区。在这个日益郊区化的世界里，基础设施陷入了三重危机。首先是财政问题，因为维持和修理现有基础设施以及满足预期的新需求存在困难。第二，社会方面，缺乏或无法获得低质量的基本服务将阻碍社会凝聚力、平等和包容（UN, 2017）。第三，环境方面，目前的消费模式正在造成资源质量和数量的恶化，进一步加剧了气候危机。这种基础设施危机只会变得更加严重，因为据估计，到2050年，为了容纳预计的城市人口，60%的城市基础设施仍有待建设（UNEP, 2013）。特别是在城市化的边缘地区，对基础设施的需求更大，因此，上述危机将更加严重（Filion, Keil & Pulver, 2019）。作为2018年IPCC报告和2019年《欧洲绿色协议》的一部分，这项任务的紧迫性最近被纳入了欧洲议程的首位。这些观点指出，一方面，经济增长与基础设施能源需求脱钩的重要性，另一方面，基础设施需要采用更多的碳中和技术，如分散和非网络化的供应形式。鉴于郊区基础设施危机和欧洲的政策举措，首先研究居民和参与基础设施提供和生产的其他利益相关者如何在日常基础上经历危机是一项基本工作；第二，了解他们正在采取的地方和多种举措来改造这个系统。这些见解可以为未来的区域和地方政策提供信息，也有助于学术辩论。因此，该研究的目的是(a)揭示城市化边缘地区水和卫生设施的社会技术基础；(b)确定跨供应模式的自下而上和自上而下的转型过程；(c)评估这些可能对社区造成的不平等的社会经济影响。研究金通过六个行动领域阐明了这一点。第一个目标是编写两份单独撰写的同行评议出版物和一份面向政策的报告。这些出版物将涉及城市研究、水研究和可持续转型方面的跨学科讨论。第二，是在西班牙的第二个城市对水基础设施的改造（及其社会经济影响）进行进一步的有限研究，以补充我早期的博士实地工作，并将底层结构带到前台。额外的实地考察将运用我为博士设计的方法。第三是访问西班牙的一个国际机构，该机构在评估南欧可持续性转型的影响方面拥有数据和经验。第四项行动是传播我的发现，并扩大我在西班牙和英国的专业网络。我将通过KCL（城市未来和国王的水小组，管道贫困实验室）的论坛来做到这一点；巴塞罗那的GRATS；还有两个国际会议。第五是巩固我作为AESOP青年论坛南欧大使的作用，并通过制作三个播客来扩大我的专业网络，这些播客将把在这个外围地区从事该领域工作的代表聚集在一起。第六项任务是为随后的博士后提出资助建议，以扩大欧洲外围地区可持续转型的工作。

According to the UN, 2.5 billion people will join the world's urban population by 2050, and, as per Europe's own demographic projection, 83.7% of its population will live in urban areas by then. However, most will not settle in consolidated, high-density, and compact cities, but rather in the urbanised periphery or suburbs. In this increasing suburbanised world, infrastructures are stuck in a threefold crisis scenario. First, financial, given the difficulties to maintain and repair existing infrastructures, as well as to meet the expected new demand. Second, social, as the lack of access or access to poor quality basic services will hinder social cohesion, equality, and inclusion (UN, 2017). Third, environmental, as current consumption patterns are causing the qualitative and quantitative deterioration of resources, further aggravating the climate cirisis. This infrastructure crises will only become more acute, as it is estimated that, to accommodate the urban population expected by 2050, 60% of urban infrastructure remains to be built (UNEP, 2013). And it is particularly in the urbanised periphery where the demand for infrastructures is greater and, therefore, where the above-described crises will be experienced more severely (Filion, Keil & Pulver, 2019).The urgency of this task has recently been incorporated into the top of the European agenda, as part of the 2018 IPCC report and the 2019 European Green Deal. These point to, on the one hand, the importance of decoupling economic growth from infrastructures' energy demand, and on the other hand, the need for infrastructures to adopt more carbon neutral technologies, such as decentralised and non-networked forms of provision.In light of this suburban infrastructure crisis and European policy initiatives, it is a fundamental piece of work to study first, how the crisis is experienced on an everyday basis by residents and other stakeholders involved in the provision and production of infrastructures; and second, understanding the local and multiple initiatives they are taking to transform the system. These insights can inform future regional and local policy, as well as contribute to academic debates.Therefore the aim of the Fellowship is (a) to uncover the socio-technical underpinning of water and sanitation in the urbanised periphery; (b) to identify the bottom-up and top-down processes of transformation across models of supply; and (c) to assess the unequal socio-economic impacts these might have across communities. The Fellowship articulates this through six areas of action. The first is to develope two solo-authored peer-reviewed publications and a policy-facing report. These publications will engage with interdisciplinary discussions in urban studies, water studies and just sustainability transitions. The second, is to carry out further limited research into the transformations of water infrastructures (and their socio-economic impacts) in a second city in Spain, to compliment my earlier PhD fieldwork and bring to the fore underlying structures. Additional fieldwork will deploy the methodology designed for my PhD. The third is to visit an international institution in Spain that has both access to data and experience in assessing the impacts of sustainability transformations in South Europe. The fourth action is to disseminate my findings and to extend my professional networks both in Spain and the UK. I will do so through forums at KCL (Urban Futures and King's Water groups, Plumbing Poverty lab); the GRATS in Barcelona; and two international conferences. The fifth is to consolidate my role as the AESOP YA Ambassador for South Europe and to extend my professional network through the production of three podcasts that will bring together representatives working on the field in this peripheral region. The sixth is to develop a funding proposal for a subsequent postdoc to expand the work on sustainability transitions across peripheral regions in Europe.