Water management regimes and regional adaptation in a sem-arid area: assessing the case of Sanandaj, Iranian Kurdistan

This dissertation investigates a wide range of issues of urban and regional adaptation in the face of water shortage in the Sanandaj region of Iranian Kurdistan. It assesses management regimes through institutional analysis and transition frameworks, and proposes strategic options through consideration of the water-food-energy-ecosystem nexus. The purpose of this dissertation is to answer the question of how and to what extent transformations of water management regimes can create a basis for water security, as opposed to water shortage. The dissertation is structured as follows: the introductory chapter details the general background and rationale of the research, and explains how this dissertation contributes to the literature. The second chapter is a published review article that explores the history and outlines the profile of the city of Sanandaj, from an urban development perspective. The third chapter, that was published as a research article, investigates the shift in the ownership regime of water resources in the same region, arguing that is has unintentionally turned the communal ownership regime into a regime of open access of common-pool resources. The fourth chapter, published as a research article, documents the transition of the management regime of water resources in Sanandaj county between 1962 and 2018 through a retrospective analysis. The fifth chapter aims to identify the complexity of the interdependency of resource sectors, employing the concept of the water-food-energy-ecosystem nexus and assessing water related trade-offs. The sixth and final chapter concludes and summarizes the results and provides some practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research.