TY - JOUR
T1 - Paradoxical Infrastructures: Ruins, Retrofit, and Risk
AU - Howe, Cymene
AU - Lockrem, Jessica
AU - Appel, Hannah
AU - Hackett, Edward
AU - Boyer, Dominic
AU - Hall, Randal
AU - Schneider-Mayerson, Matthew
AU - Pope, Albert
AU - Gupta, Akhil
AU - Rodwell, Elizabeth
AU - Ballestero, Andrew
AU - Durbin, Trevor
AU - el-Dahdah, Fares
AU - Long, Elizabeth
AU - Mody, Cyrus C.M.
PY - 2016/3/31
Y1 - 2016/3/31
N2 - In recent years, a dramatic increase in the study of infrastructure has occurred in the social sciences and humanities, following upon foundational work in the physical sciences, architecture, planning, information science, and engineering. This article, authored by a multidisciplinary group of scholars, probes the generative potential of infrastructure at this historical juncture. Accounting for the conceptual and material capacities of infrastructure, the article argues for the importance of paradox in understanding infrastructure. Thematically the article is organized around three key points that speak to the study of infrastructure: ruin, retrofit, and risk. The first paradox of infrastructure, ruin, suggests that even as infrastructure is generative, it degenerates. A second paradox is found in retrofit, an apparent ontological oxymoron that attempts to bridge temporality from the present to the future and yet ultimately reveals that infrastructural solidity, in material and symbolic terms, is more apparent than actual. Finally, a third paradox of infrastructure, risk, demonstrates that while a key purpose of infrastructure is to mitigate risk, it also involves new risks as it comes to fruition. The article concludes with a series of suggestions and provocations to view the study of infrastructure in more contingent and paradoxical forms.
AB - In recent years, a dramatic increase in the study of infrastructure has occurred in the social sciences and humanities, following upon foundational work in the physical sciences, architecture, planning, information science, and engineering. This article, authored by a multidisciplinary group of scholars, probes the generative potential of infrastructure at this historical juncture. Accounting for the conceptual and material capacities of infrastructure, the article argues for the importance of paradox in understanding infrastructure. Thematically the article is organized around three key points that speak to the study of infrastructure: ruin, retrofit, and risk. The first paradox of infrastructure, ruin, suggests that even as infrastructure is generative, it degenerates. A second paradox is found in retrofit, an apparent ontological oxymoron that attempts to bridge temporality from the present to the future and yet ultimately reveals that infrastructural solidity, in material and symbolic terms, is more apparent than actual. Finally, a third paradox of infrastructure, risk, demonstrates that while a key purpose of infrastructure is to mitigate risk, it also involves new risks as it comes to fruition. The article concludes with a series of suggestions and provocations to view the study of infrastructure in more contingent and paradoxical forms.
KW - ENERGY
KW - ORDER
KW - ROADS
KW - SPACES
KW - URBAN
KW - VIOLENCE
KW - WATER
KW - alternative life forms
KW - development
KW - economies
KW - environmental practices
KW - futures
KW - governance
KW - markets
KW - politics
KW - power
KW - space/place/scale dynamics
U2 - 10.1177/0162243915620017
DO - 10.1177/0162243915620017
M3 - Article
SN - 0162-2439
VL - 41
SP - 547
EP - 565
JO - Science Technology & Human Values
JF - Science Technology & Human Values
IS - 3
ER -