The Promise of Infrastructure

doi:10.1215/9781478002031

Cited by 544 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This was evident in the affective dimension of the interviews when residents expressed their disillusionment with the state where it had ‘failed’ and praised individual politicians for competent service delivery. The enduring appeal of the promise of infrastructure (Anand et al, 2018) was especially poignant in this post-colonial setting where notions of development and progress are challenged by drainage failure in the form of erosion and severe flooding. The desire for a centrally organized infrastructure, I argue, does not contradict the reality of heterogeneous interventions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The heterogeneous politics of infrastructure: Claims of authority in Accra’s drainage

Foli

2023

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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In many parts of the world, the modernist ideal of centralised and networked infrastructure provided by the state remains just that – an ideal. Instead, the reality is a patchwork of infrastructural solutions engineered by both state and private actors. While critical studies have highlighted how states use infrastructure projects to legitimize their authority, how do infrastructure projects shape relations between the state and urban residents when the state is not the sole actor in building and maintaining infrastructure? Drawing on scholarship on the socio-material dynamics of infrastructure, this article examines infrastructure’s politics in Accra’s drainage system. Studying these material interventions shows that drainage is politicised with state actors, aspiring politicians, and urban residents advancing and evaluating performances of authority in relation to this infrastructure. This politicization of drainage infrastructure reproduces patterns of urban socio-economic inequality. As residents experience the consequences of each other’s actions, they recognize the need for a centralised approach to tackle drainage problems and express a desire for the state to assume responsibility. Although ‘heterogeneous infrastructure configurations’ more accurately captures the reality on the ground in rapidly growing cities such as Accra, this analysis of everyday infrastructural politics helps explain why expectations of centrally organized drainage infrastructure persist.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The heterogeneous politics of infrastructure: Claims of authority in Accra’s drainage

Foli

2023

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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“…Scholars have coined the term 'infrastructural violence' to denote ways in which vulnerable and marginalized populations are disconnected, expelled, and even attacked through the built environment (Anand 2012;Anand et al 2018;Appel 2012;O'Neill et al 2012;Uribe 2019). In their seminal work, Auyero and Burbano de Lara ( 2012) examine harm at Buenos Aires's urban margins by looking at the 'dearth of basic infrastructure and the profusion of various forms of violence' that 'are now jointly defining daily life in the poor neighborhoods of Argentina' (552).…”

Section: Theoretical Embedding and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping with Extortion: On Violence, Parasites, and Water Infrastructures in Buenaventura, Colombia

Fernández

2022

Journal of Illicit Economies and Development

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In this paper, I explore the coping mechanisms deployed by shopkeepers in the face of extortion in the port city of Buenaventura, in southwestern Colombia. Relying on six months of fieldwork experience in a hardware shop of Ciudad Blanca, an impoverished neighborhood, I examine the everyday violence and the responses of the population. Due to the deficient infrastructure in the city, people are forced to build small infrastructural arrangements, such as water storage systems, to access public services. Therefore, the circulation and availability of infrastructural devices such as pipes, hoses, and tanks are vital for the reproduction of life in the city. In this article, I argue that extortion (locally called vacuna ('vaccine')) interferes in the circulation of these vital material commodities, making coping mechanisms crucial in the face of vulnerability and uncertainty. Recent scholarly literature has pointed to the influence of illegal economies in urban planning and organization. Going beyond that, I argue that organized crime interferes in the material practices of the urban poor, turning to the term 'parasite' posed by French philosopher Michel Serres to conceptualize this form of interference in the circulation of commodities.

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“…However, this technical reliance has been criticized for a few decades (Durand and Ferroudji, 2016;Rudolf, 2016). The promise of infrastructure (Anand et al, 2018) and technical engineering to limit the impacts of hazards and climate change has displayed some dysfunctions. A technical-driven solution may increase vulnerability.…”

Section: Combination Of Technical and Engineering And Organizational ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhine low water crisis: From individual adaptation possibilities to strategical pathways

Gobert

Rudolf

2023

Front. Clim.

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IntroductionIn 2018, the Rhine transport sector experienced an unprecedented low water crisis, during which large cargo vessels were no longer able to navigate on certain sections of the river. This led to a major disruption in inland waterway transport. This article aims at questioning how the crisis acted as a stimulus for port authorities and their customers to consider the risks for their assets and operations and as a window of opportunity for creating a new collective and for defining “solutions.”MethodologyInspired by the Impact Chain methodology, a step-by-step protocol integrating focus groups and interviews, was applied so that stakeholders affected by low waters can identify their individual and common vulnerability and define possible ways of acting (pathways).ResultsOne of these pathways, the transitional infrastructural pathway, targets to increase the water level and overcome low water levels (use of Lake Constance as a water reservoir or creation of new water storage areas; deepening of the channel at Kaub and Maxau). It appears as the most suitable because it is a technical, well-controlled process that provides a comfortable solution in the short term. It exemplifies the lock-ins set by infrastructure.DiscussionHowever, the participative approach also highlights the fundamental challenge of developing new processes and new intermodal organizations in the long term.

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The Promise of Infrastructure

Cited by 544 publications

References 34 publications

The heterogeneous politics of infrastructure: Claims of authority in Accra’s drainage

The heterogeneous politics of infrastructure: Claims of authority in Accra’s drainage

Coping with Extortion: On Violence, Parasites, and Water Infrastructures in Buenaventura, Colombia

Rhine low water crisis: From individual adaptation possibilities to strategical pathways

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