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Long abstract:

Promoting sustainable development in a river basin is closely tied to the prevailing values and narratives of what society desires now and what is considered desirable in the future. These visions of societal aspirations significantly influence what ought to be done in both science and politics. They also influence decisions about who should be involved, what should be mobilised, and how. In this way, these visions, or as we call ‘sustainability imaginaries’, are directly connected with questions of governance, responsibility, and the public good. In fact, these imaginaries provide answers to the questions about how governance should be organised, what responsibility entails, how it is distributed, to whom, and in what order. They also shape the research agenda, policy preferences, and go-to explanations or justifications.

Drawing on a water conflict in central Iran, Zayandeh-Rood river, this paper explores sustainability imaginaries between neighbouring provinces that share the basin. The paper discusses the contestation over water as a battlefield of (un)sustainability imaginaries held by different actors inside and outside the basin. It is within this space that new narratives and materials, such as water infrastructures, scientific models, and laws, are created or justified.

Building on the findings derived from an exploration of historical records and ethnographic study in the basin, this paper discusses how particular imaginaries of water future in the basin are connected to the social and political orders of the present. And how these, in turn, shape materials that play a key role in driving the water conflict.