RESUMO Este artigo examina como e por que os educadores das universidades podem e precisam trabalhar como ‘um entre muitos’ para propor pedagogias críticas para a igualdade urbana. A discussão está embasada em duas experiências distintas: as escolas em rede da Habitat International Coalition América Latina (HIC-AL) – uma coalizão de organizações da sociedade civil, movimentos sociais e universidades que trabalham pela defesa de direitos humanos relacionados à moradia – e os processos de coaprendizagem com ativistas pelos direitos à moradia facilitados pelo Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) – uma instituição educacional nacional comprometida com a transformação igualitária, sustentável e eficiente dos assentamentos na Índia. Ambas as experiências enfatizam a criação de pedagogias críticas que procuram fundamentalmente romper, reformular e reposicionar relações institucionais de saberes e práticas de aprendizagem ao propor capacidades para uma transformação urbana transformadora. A análise demonstra como as injustiças epistêmicas – muitas vezes proliferadas em e por instituições de ensino superior – podem ser neutralizadas e porque promover a justiça epistêmica exige o reposicionamento das universidades como uma contra muitas em um ecossistema mais amplo de pedagogias urbanas, em diálogo aberto e produtivo com novas formas institucionais, definidas por Boaventura de Sousa Santos como a ‘pluriversidade’ e a ‘subversidade’.

ABSTRACT This paper explores how and why pedagogues within universities can and need to work as ‘one amongst many’ to advance critical pedagogies for urban equality. The discussion draws on two contrasting experiences: the networked schools of the Habitat International Coalition in Latin America (HIC-AL) – a coalition of civil society organizations, social movements and universities working in defense of habitat-related human rights – and the co-learning processes with housing rights activists activated by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) – a national education institution committed to the equitable, sustainable and efficient transformation of Indian settlements. Both experiences place emphasis on crafting critical pedagogies that seek to fundamentally disrupt, re-frame and re-position institutional relations of knowledges and learning practices, while advancing capacities for transformative urban change. The analysis demonstrates how epistemic injustices – often proliferated in and by higher education institutions – can be counteracted, and why fostering epistemic justice requires re-positioning universities as one amongst many in a wider ecosystem of urban pedagogies, in open and productive dialogue with new institutional forms that Boaventura de Sousa Santos defines as the ‘pluriversity’ and the ‘subversity’.

El artículo presenta resultados preliminares de un proyecto de investigación sobre la gobernabilidad del agua y el saneamiento en la interfaz periurbana de cinco áreas metropolitanas en tres continentes. Explora diferencias y similitudes en las prácticas formales e informales de prestación y consumo de estos servicios, examinando en particular asuntos relacionados con el acceso a la toma de decisiones y prácticas y el papel de diferentes actores, incluyendo instituciones estatales.

This paper presents preliminary results from an on-going research project on the governance of water and sanitation services in the PUI of five metropolitan areas in three continents. It explores differences and similarities in the formal and informal practices in the delivery and consumption of these services. It deals with issues of access to decision-making, exploring the role that different actors, including state institutions, play in the political process.

En la interfaz periurbana (IP) se encuentran a un mismo tiempo una población mixta que comprende generalmente una alta proporción de familias y productores pobres, y servicios ambientales y recursos naturales indispensables para los desarrollos urbano y rural. A la vez, esta interfaz se caracteriza por un «vacío» institucional, por lo cual los pobladores periurbanos frecuentemente carecen de voz en la toma de decisiones referida al uso y transformación de los recursos naturales y a la provisión de servicios. El artículo presenta resultados preliminares de un proyecto de investigación sobre la gobernabilidad del agua y el saneamiento en la interfaz periurbana de cinco áreas metropolitanas en tres continentes.

In the peri-urban interface a mixed population, generally including a high percentage of poor families and producers, coexists with environmental services and natural resources indispensable for rural and urban development. At the same time, this interface is characterized by an institutional «void» due to which peri-urban citizens often have no voice in the decision making process related to the use and transformation of natural resources and services. This article presents the preliminary findings of a research project on water and sanitation governance in the peri-urban interface of five metropolitan areas in three continents.

Hoy se reconocen interrelaciones fluidas e intangibles entre lo «rural» y lo «urbano», lo que afecta las percepciones disciplinares y de gestión tradicionales y convoca gradual atención sobre la interfase periurbana (IPU). Hay también un reconocimiento creciente del rol que los flujos dinámicos de productos, capital, recursos naturales, población y contaminación de dicha interfase juegan en la sustentabilidad de las ciudades y el campo. La combinación de cambio constante, complejas estructuras sociales, instituciones desconectadas y materialización espacial cambiante demanda un enfoque hacia la planificación y gestión ambiental de la IPU. Aquí se examinan las nuevas concepciones de la IPU, a la luz de sus problemas y oportunidades relacionadas con la sustentabilidad ambiental y la pobreza.

Now fluid and intangible relations are recognized between the «rural» and the «urban», which affect disciplinary perceptions and those of traditional management and direct increasing attention to the peri-urban interface (IPU). An increasing recognition of the role that the dynamic flow of products, capital, natural resources, population and contamination of the IPU plays in the sustainability of cities and the countryside is confirmed. The combination of constant change, complex social structures, disconnected institutions and changing spatial materialization demands a focus toward planning and environmental management of the IPU. Here new concepts of the IPU are examined in the light of their problems and opportunities related to environmental sustainability and poverty.