Adequate, equitable provision of essential resources requires governance that can adapt to the needs of a complex resource regime. Insufficient coordination and cooperation are barriers to governance of a resource system that is characterised by human and social interaction. This thesis explores how the application of governance frameworks for complex resource regimes, adaptive governance and social contracts that enable a diversity of perspectives on governance to inform understanding of cooperation in the provision of essential resources. Utilising an in-depth case study of water and sanitation provision in Medellin, Colombia, the thesis identifies insights from adaptive governance for the provision of essential resources through data-driven and theory-driven analytical approaches to: 1) test whether the system of water governance in Medellin is adaptive 2) describe the regime characteristics in comparison with existing theory on adaptive governance and assess alternative governing arrangements and 3) assess the social contracts within these governance arrangements. The results of semi-structured interviews with 30+ representatives from 6 stakeholder groups (utility provider, metropolitan authority, municipal authority, universities, community-based organisations and water user associations) indicate that the system of water governance in Medellin has: 1) adaptive governance in the policy domain and mechanisms for multi-stakeholder participation, 2) Strong features of polycentric governance associated with ‘bridging actors’, 3) Strong forms of monocentric governance among environmental and municipal authorities and 4) top-down, mixed and bottom-up social contract arrangements. These findings suggest a form of governance that is consistent with “malleable” governance the capacity of actors within a system to demonstrate different types of arrangements that evolve in relation to needs within the system. Contributions include a multi-disciplinary approach for navigating complex resource regimes and findings that provide a case study narrative of governance that moves towards malleability
