Presentation short abstract

This paper analyzes the Han-to-Wei Water Transfer Project via an infrastructure politics framework. It reveals how reconfiguration enhances urban resilience and industrial growth but creates adaptive privilege, marginalizing upstream rural communities through digital exclusion and unequal costs.

Presentation long abstract

The global climate crisis has transformed infrastructure into a strategic tool for urban adaptation, yet the political implications of such technical interventions remain under-examined. This study investigates the Han-to-Wei Water Transfer Project (HWWTP) in China, utilizing an infrastructure-space politics framework to analyze how water reconfiguration reshapes regional power dynamics. Through mixed methods—including policy analysis, semi-structured interviews, and participatory observation—the research reveals that while the project significantly enhances Xi'an’s water security and facilitates a shift toward high-tech low-carbon industries, it generates profound adaptive privilege. The study identifies a unique substitutional adaptation strategy where local governments optimize water efficiency to meet top-down mandates, prioritizing urban industrial growth while upstream areas function as sacrifice zones facing ecological degradation. Furthermore, the deployment of digital water governance and smart metering, while framed as efficient, systematically marginalizes traditional rural knowledge and reinforces power asymmetries through a triple bind of procedural, distributional, and recognition injustice. Consequently, upstream communities bear disproportionate ecological costs and livelihood losses without substantive decision-making power. The paper concludes that technocratic climate solutions often mask deep socio-spatial inequalities, advocating for governance reforms that integrate recognition justice and meaningful cross-regional consultation into infrastructure planning.