This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Regional Water Planning

Code: 44475 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Territorial Studies and Planning OP 1

Contact

Name:
Hyerim Yoon
Email:
hyerim.yoon@uab.cat

Teachers

Hyerim Yoon

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

English read, spoken and written


Objectives and Contextualisation

This is a compulsory subject of 6 ECTS credits of the Master's in Territorial Studies and Planning, which is carried out in a shared form with a similar subject of the Master's in Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability.

The subject aims to present students with current debates on the management of water resources, emphasizing its territorial dimension.

The course will pay special attention to the different water management models (supply-demand; public-private; centralized-decentralized); the different technologies used; its environmental, social and territorial impacts and the unequal power relations regarding the water cycle. The subject addresses these issues at different scales and with case studies from different parts of the planet.

Through readings of selected materials, lectures and class presentations and discussions, students are expected to gain a basic and robust knowledge of water management.


Learning Outcomes

  1. CA29 (Competence) Assess how different genders use and consume water in the home.
  2. CA30 (Competence) Observe the social and economic imbalances of different water management models in relation to urban planning.
  3. KA29 (Knowledge) Name different models of water and energy management in urban planning.
  4. KA30 (Knowledge) Recognise and understand the main territorial, urban and socio-environmental conflicts linked to water and energy management.
  5. KA31 (Knowledge) Devise and outline new forms of water and energy governance.
  6. SA26 (Skill) Evaluate demand management using quantitative methods.
  7. SA27 (Skill) Use regulations regarding planning for research purposes.

Content

1. Introduction: planning, water and energy

  • The water-energy nexus
  • Water planning and management
  • From the hydrological cicle to the hydrosicial cicle
  • Virtual water

 

2. Water governance and the politics of scale

  • Scalar effects and multilevel governance
  • Centralized and decentralized models in water management
  • Participatory water governance
  • Water and risk

 

3. Water supply

  • Large scale conventional hydraulic technology: reservoris and water transfers
  • Large scale alternative hydraulic technology: desalination and water reuse


4. Water demand

  • Demand management
  • Decentralized water resources: groundwater, greywater and rainwater
  • Water and tourism


5. Commodification, social protection and emancipation

  • Privatization and municipalization
  • Water poverty and water as a social need
  • Integrated water management in cities: the liberal vs the emancipatory view

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Master classes 15 0.6
Practical exercices 10 0.4
Seminars 16 0.64
Type: Supervised      
Assigned readings 10 0.4
Coures work 14 0.56
Tutrships 1 0.04
Type: Autonomous      
Information research 20 0.8
Personal study 25 1
Reading 35 1.4
Tutorship 1 0.04

The following activities will be carried out:

a) Lectures. In some sessions we will have an invited speaker.

b) Seminars: Each seminar session will address a specific issue of water management based on different readings (previously assigned) that the students will have to present orally to the rest of the class in groups. In each session there will be a short introduction to the subject by the teaching staff, followed by the oral presentation of the readings assigned by the students, the group discussion of the main points discussed in the readings and a final conclusion coordinated by the teaching staff. Students are expected to read the assigned materials; prepare and guide the debates and actively participate in them.

c) Exercises: Some practical exercises will be carried out in class including individual and cooperative work.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Class participation 20% 0 0 CA29, CA30, KA31, SA26
Course work 50% 0 0 CA29, CA30, KA29, KA30, KA31, SA26, SA27
Oral presentation (seminar) 30% 3 0.12 CA29, CA30, KA29, KA30, KA31, SA26, SA27

  • Class participation (20%): on the basis of practical exercises carried out at class.
  • Oral presenation (30%): from the assigned readings (seminar)
  • Course work (50%): the instructor will give the details at the beginning of the course.

 At the time of carrying out each assessment activity, the professor will inform students of the date of review of grades.

 

Not assessable

Anyone who has not completed and delivered the coursework is considered non-evaluable.

Undelivered activities will be graded as zero (0).

 

Plagiarism

In the event that the student commits any irregularity that could lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment act, this assessment act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instituted. In the event that several irregularities occur in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade for this subject will be 0.

 

Single assessment

Students can opt for the single assessment process by making, at the end of the course, the oral presentation of three interrelated readings from among those suggested by the teaching staff (50% of the final grade). On that same date, students who opt for the single assessment must hand in the course work (50% of the final grade).

 

Recovery

Activities related to class participation and oral presentation of assigned readings are not recoverable.

In case of having failed the course work, it can be recovered by a new delivery on the date established by the teaching staff. The maximum recovery gradeis 5.

Activities in which irregularities have been detected (plagiarism, copying, improper use of AI, etc.) will not be recoverable.

Use of AI

Restricted use: This subject allows the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies exclusively in tasks of bibliographic research or information search, text correction or translations. The student must (i) identify the parts that have been generated with AI; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. The lack of transparency of the use of AI in this assessable activity will be considered a lack of academic honesty and will result in the activity being assessed with a 0 and not being able to be recovered, or greater sanctions in serious cases.


Bibliography

  • Meehan, Katie et al. 2023. Water: A Critical Introduction. : John Wiley & Sons
  • Bakker, Karen 2010. Privatizing Water. Governance Failure and the World’s Urban Water Crisis. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press
  • Boelens, Rutgerd et al. (eds). 2018. Water Justice. Cambridge: Cambride UniversityPress.
  • Estevan, Antonio; Naredo, José Manuel 2004. Ideas y propuestas para una nueva política del agua en España. Bilbao: Bakeaz.
  • Gandy, Mattew 2014. The fabric of Space. Water, Modernity and the Urban Imagination. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press
  • Relea, Ferran et al. 2021. Aigua 3.0 a Catalunya. Una visió calidoscòpica. Girona: Curbet Edicions.
  • Sanjuán, Marc 2005. Gestió local de l'aigua. Barcelona: Fundació Pi i Sunyer.
  • Sedlak, David. 2014. Water 4.0. NewHaven, Conn: Yale University Press
  • Sultana, Farhana; Loftus, Alex (eds). 2012. The Right to Water. Politics, governance and social struggles. London: Earthscan.
  • Swyngedouw, Eric 2015 Liquid Power. Contested Hydro-Modernities in Twentieth Century Spain. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press

Software

None of specific


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TEm) Theory (master) 1 English second semester afternoon