Abstract

Global South cities such as Old Dhaka face persistent challenges in providing basic urban services, including drinking water, sanitation, electricity, and waste disposal. Access to these services is unequal, with limited resources disproportionately directed toward high-income neighborhoods. This article argues that such inequalities are not simply technical failures but are rooted in colonial and postcolonial governance regimes that continue to frame water as a commodified resource rather than a fundamental right. Drawing on ethnographic research in Old Dhaka, the article examines how residents rely on a dense landscape of informal practices involving water vendors, religious institutions, and neighborhood networks to secure everyday supply amid the shortcomings of formal provision. These informal practices do not constitute an alternative to state provision; rather, they operate alongside and through the state, compensating for infrastructural neglect while reproducing unequal power relations. Using a political ecology lens, and informed by a postcolonial perspective, the article shows how urban water governance both constrains and enables residents' capacities to secure dignified access to water. It contributes to urban political ecology debates by demonstrating how informality simultaneously sustains everyday survival and entrenches inequality in postcolonial cities.

Keywords: political ecology, water scarcity, informal water practices, urban governance, post-colonial perspective

How to Cite:

Misty, M., (2026) “Infrastructure, informality and the political ecology of urban water in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh”, Journal of Political Ecology 33(1): 10477. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.10477