The right to the city and collective action: a reflection on water scarcity in Xalapa

Abstract

This paper analyzes the water stress crisis in Xalapa, Veracruz. It uses the theoretical framework of collective action and the right to the city. It also examines how the insufficient distribution of water resources violates fundamental human rights (such as access to water, established in Article 4 of the Mexican Constitution) and key components of the right to the city: equitable distribution, citizen participation, and sustainability. Moreover, this research shows how public space is transformed into an arena of dispute where citizens demand responses to institutional inefficiency through the registration of demonstrations, blockades, and protests documented in 2024 (carried out by groups such as Guardianes del Agua and the Antorchista movements), as well as informal surveys in affected peripheral neighborhoods (such as 10 de Mayo and Casa Blanca). It concludes that collective action emerges as an essential democratic mechanism for making the crisis visible, revealing structural flaws in municipal governance and deepening socio-territorial inequalities. It underscores the urgency of comprehensive public policies that guarantee the human right to water and implement the right to the city in Xalapa.