Paper short abstract:

Our paper proposes a new research agenda to explore the factors that determine the success and/or failure of urban governance structures in delivering essential water and sanitation services to populations in response to large, conflict-induced migration movements, focusing on Amman, in Jordan.

Paper long abstract:

Drinking water and sanitation are basic services that all people necessitate for their survival and livelihoods. However, providing them can be an enormous challenge - especially in cities in low-income and middle-income countries, and in the face of climate change, conflict, and the rise of a middle class with more and new needs and expectations. Large and unexpected influxes of migrants and refugees pose yet one more constraint to local service providers. But they also provide opportunities to improve services, for example as migrants bring in new skills and coping mechanisms that can be scaled up; or as governments, businesses and other actors experiment with alternative models for the delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. Our paper explores the existing literature on urbanisation, migration and WASH service delivery to identify gaps in our understanding of how conflict-induced migration affects urban infrastructure and systems for the provision of basic services, with a focus on sanitation. It then analyses how some of these dynamics play out in the case of Amman, in Jordan. In conclusion, we make suggestions for a research agenda that can assist utilities, governments, NGOs, and other service providers understanding and overcoming the challenges of water and sanitation provision in urban contexts 'under stress', without reinforcing existing inequalities or creating new ones, and towards realising the SDGs' aspirations for 'universal access to adequate and equitable sanitation' by 2030.