Infrastructure

Infrastructures are, and have been historically, the fundamental support network of society. This became apparent as urban populations and their densities rapidly increased during the 19th and 20th centuries. The developing complexity of commodity and information flows evident with globalization has also stressed the critical nature of infrastructure in today's world. Infrastructure is the “hidden hand” behind urban development and nation building, enabling the flow of people and critical resources such as water, energy, waste, information, agricultural produce, and manufactured goods. At the same time, inadequate infrastructure provision, or the failure of infrastructure, generates considerable social disorder. In 2005, this failure was evident in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The term infrastructure was first used to define permanent military facilities, such as dry docks, bases, and airstrips. The meaning of infrastructure was eventually extended to include various other public and private works, including water and sewer networks, treatment plants, transportation systems, health, education, communication and computer networks, power systems, [Page 1595]sport stadiums, and arts centers. There are two distinct infrastructure types, interurban and intra-urban infrastructures. Interurban infrastructure connects cities into a national network, the national urban system, while intra-urban infrastructure connects homes and businesses within an urban center, enabling the functioning of a city as a system.

Despite its importance, infrastructure provision throughout the affluent West has become so normalized that it is generally taken for granted. In part, this status is a reflection of the effectiveness of these complex systems in providing crucial services. As argued by David Perry (1995), when infrastructures “work best, they are noticed least of all” (p. 2). In part, however, the increasing oversight of the importance of infrastructure in sustaining social order and quality of life has been facilitated by an important feature of contemporary infrastructure management, concealing infrastructure.

Maria Kaika and Erik Swyngedouw have argued that while through the early 20th century, infrastructure, and particularly urban infrastructure, maintained an important visual role in the urban landscape, being celebrated as technological advancements of modernization, its role within the urban setting was significantly diminished in the late 20th century. This move toward the invisibility of urban infrastructures has been achieved by closing down infrastructure facilities within cities (such as power plants and pumping stations) and sourcing out power, water, and other services from more distant locations. Greater invisibility of infrastructure has also been achieved by moving infrastructure beneath the city, making the urban underground a rich network of pipes, wires, conduits, and transportation networks. The $15 billion “Big Dig” in Boston, which took 15 years to construct, provides a recent example. The project involved the construction of 7.8 miles of highway, totaling 161 lane miles, with approximately half of the network built underground.