Materiality matters: Revealing how inequities are conceived and sustained in the networked water infrastructure - The case of Lilongwe, Malawi

Urban scholars striving for equitable distribution of resources have increasingly started paying attention towards a networked infrastructure, as it materialises inequity and shapes the socio-spatial pattern of a city. The paper advances the socio-technical understanding of networked water infrastructure by proposing a framework of unpacking that analytically disaggregates the network to various elements (pipes, pumps, valves etc.) and facilitates an investigation of multiple materialities of the network at a spatial and a temporal scale. The unpacking explains how differentiated water supply provisions are produced within a centralised water supply system of the city by explicitly focusing on materialities of network elements and associated institutions, such as norms, standards, design principles, regulations, standard operating procedures and practices that shape development and use of the networked water infrastructure during planning, designing and implementation and everyday practices of operation and maintenance. The paper applies this framework to the water distribution network of Lilongwe, Malawi to explain what is doable in the network and for whom, revealing engineering practices, inscribing and sustaining discriminatory provisions in the network. I believe this understanding is useful to critically engage with the technical of the networked water infrastructure, particularly for those advocating equitable flows.