Infrastructure is one of the key elements of urbanization. Physical infrastructures such as power grids, energy lines, and transportation networks are the basic foundations of urban economies, without which goods, capital, and labor may not circulate effectively. When they function properly, infrastructural facilities provide a sense of stability and continuity in urban settings. Many of the urban utilities essential for maintaining everyday life in modern cities are organized as infrastructural systems, such as water, electric and gas supply, access to communication and information technologies, government and health services, banking and finance. However, there is need to go beyond policy-oriented perspectives focusing on the impact of infrastructure on modernization and growth and ask the question: infrastructure for whom? Moreover, we need to take into account that infrastructures are developed not only by state-led directives, but also through informal mechanisms and subaltern groups.
Furthermore, previous discussions on infrastructure focused on cities considered to be centers of 19th century modernization and/or of 20th and 21st century globalization. By bringing together scholars studying urbanization processes in South Eastern Europe, the MENA region, Africa, and South Asia, we aim to enhance previous discussions on urban infrastructure and to see whether the cities of these regions can change/challenge our perspectives on these processes.
We welcome abstracts based on original research from diverse academic disciplines, including but not limited to history, sociology, anthropology, political science, architecture, and urban planning. Comparative and cross-regional insights are particularly encouraged. The main aim of this workshop is to serve as a basis of a prospective edited volume on the subject.
Below are some of the topics that will be addressed in the workshop:
- Theoretical perspectives to infrastructure
- Infrastructure and capital (local, international, multinational)
- Labor forces
- Municipal governments, urban planning, and concession of public services
- Infrastructural reordering of time and space
- Gendered perspectives to infrastructure
- Urban integration and segregation
- Green infrastructure