Infrastructures shape how resources flow through the city and influence social disparities. However, infrastructural systems are not fixed and their implications change through political and economic transformation, technological shifts and citizen mobilisation.
The theme examines how infrastructure in cities and across states, influences movements of resources, people and finance, shaping urban social and ecological (in)equalities.
Research Questions
– How are infrastructures planned and managed and what does this mean for resource flows, access and urban development?
– How do people, cities and states influence urban conditions through infrastructuralisation?
– Can infrastructure in action tackle social divisions through socio-technical innovation, common ownership and solidarity?
– How can we compare infrastructure in action across diverse scales, processes and contexts?
The team
Director: Jonathan Silver
UI Members: Juan Miguel Kanai | Lindsay Sawyer | Hita Unnikrishnan
Publications
- Silver J (2019) Decaying infrastructures in the post-industrial city: An urban political ecology of the US pipeline crisis. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 2514848619890513
- Wiig A & Silver J (2019) Turbulent presents, precarious futures: Urbanization and the deployment of global infrastructure. Regional Studies 53(6): 912-923.
- Schindler S & Kanai JM (2019) Getting the territory right: Infrastructure-led development and the re-emergence of spatial planning strategies. Regional Studies 1-12
- Kanai JM & Schindler S (2019) Peri-urban promises of connectivity: Linking project-led polycentrism to the infrastructure scramble. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 51(2): 302-322.
- Lawhon M, Nilsson D, Silver J, Ernstson H, & Lwasa S (2018) Thinking through heterogeneous infrastructure configurations. Urban Studies 55(4): 720-732.
- Karaman O, Sawyer L, Schmid C & Wong K P (2020) Plot by Plot: Plotting
Books
- Luque-Ayala A & Silver J eds. (2016) Energy, power and protest on the urban grid: Geographies of the electric city. London: Routledge.
Blogposts
- Silver J & Wiig A (2019) China’s ‘Silk Road urbanism’ is changing cities from London to Kampala – can locals keep control? The Conversation, 27 March 2019.
- Schindler S and Kanai JM (2019) How mega infrastructure projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America are reshaping development, The Conversation, 31 October 2019
Research projects
- Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Disaster Mitigation in Middle Income Countries Juan Miguel Kanai, Royal Academy of Engineering – Frontiers of Development.
- Power, authority and land: An intra-city comparison of urban processes in Lagos (Lindsay Sawyer, Leverhulme Trust)
400
Estimated value in billions of global market for smart urban systems by 2020
53
More than half of the world’s population live in cities, making them key to improving energy efficiency
2.5
Number of people who voluntarily wear an electronic tracking device such as a smartphone
80