1. Urban water conflicts : background and conceptual framework -- 2. Urban water conflicts in recent European history : changing interactions between technology, environment and society -- 3. Water, public responsibility and equity : the Barcelona 'water war' of the 1990s -- 4. Full circle? Public responsibility versus privatization of water supplies in the United States -- 5. Public-private partnership in courts : the rise and fall of concessions to supply drinking water in France (1875-1928) -- 6. In search of (hidden) Portuguese urban water conflicts : the Lisbon water story (1856-2006) -- 7. Water supply services in the cities of Brazil : conflicts, challenges and new opportunities in regulation -- 8. Urban water conflicts in Buenos Aires : voices questioning the sustainability of the water and sewerage concession -- 9. In search of meaningful interdisciplinarity : understanding urban water conflict in Mexico -- 10. Conflict versus cooperation between the state and civil society : a water-demand management comparison between Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa -- 11. Conflicts of influence and competing models : the boom in community-based privatization of water services in sub-Saharan Africa -- 12. Governance failure : urban water and conflict in Jakarta, Indonesia -- 13. Man-made scarcity, unsustainability and urban water conflicts in Indian cities -- 14. Urban water conflicts in the western U.S. -- 15. Urban water reform in Italy : a live bomb behind outward unanimity -- 16. Water infrastructures between commercialization and shrinking : the case of Eastern Germany -- 17. Urban water conflicts and sustainability : an ecological-economic approach.