Infrastructural Lives: Urban Infrastructure in Context

263 Pages·2014·3.013 MB·English

by  Stephen Graham (editor), Colin McFarlane (editor)

Infrastructural Lives
InfrastructuralLivesisthefirstbooktodescribetheeverydayexperienceandpoli-
tics of urban infrastructures. It focuses on a range of infrastructures in both the
GlobalSouthandtheGlobalNorth.Thebookexamineshowday-to-dayexpe-
rienceandperceptionofinfrastructureprovideanewandpowerfullenstoview
urban sustainability, politics, economics, cultures and ecologies. An interdisci-
plinary group of leading and emerging urban researchers examines critical
questionsabouturbaninfrastructureindifferentglobalcontexts.
Thechaptersaddresswater,sanitationandwastepoliticsinMumbai,Kampala
andTyneside;analysetheuseofinfrastructureinthedispossessionofPalestinian
communities;explorethepacificationofRio’sfavelasintherun-uptothe2014
World Cup; describe how people’s bodies and lives effectively operate as ‘infra-
structure’ in many major cities; and also explore tentative experiments with
low-carboninfrastructures.
Thesediversecasesandperspectivesareconnectedbyasharedsenseofinfra-
structure not just as a ‘thing’, a ‘system’ or an ‘output’, but as a complex social
andtechnologicalprocessthatenables–ordisables–particularkindsofaction
in the city. Infrastructural Lives is crucial reading for academics, researchers,
studentsandpractitionersinurbanstudiesglobally.
Stephen Graham is Professor of Cities and Society at Newcastle University’s
SchoolofArchitecture,PlanningandLandscape,UK.Hisresearchaddressesthe
complex links between urban places and mobilities, infrastructures, militariza-
tion,surveillance,securityandwar.HisbooksincludeTelecommunicationsandthe
City, Splintering Urbanism (both with Simon Marvin), Disrupted Cities: When
infrastructures fail and Cities Under Siege: The new military urbanism. His next
book,Vertical:Thepoliticsofupanddown,iscurrentlyinpreparation.
ColinMcFarlaneisReaderinUrbanGeographyatDurhamUniversity,UK.His
researchfocusesontheexperienceandpoliticsofurbaninfrastructure,especially
inrelationtoinformalsettlements.Hisrecentresearchhasfocusedonthepoli-
tics of sanitation in informal settlements in Mumbai, India. His books include
LearningtheCity:Knowledgeandtranslocalassemblage,UrbanNavigations:Politics,
space and the city in South Asia (with Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria) and Urban
Informalities:Reflectionsontheformalandinformal(withMichaelWaibel).
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Infrastructural Lives
Urban infrastructure in context
Edited by Stephen Graham and
Colin McFarlane
Firstpublished2015
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN
andbyRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2015selectionandeditorialmaterial,StephenGrahamandColin
McFarlane;individualchapters,thecontributors
TherightofStephenGrahamandColinMcFarlanetobeidentifiedas
authorsoftheeditorialmaterial,andoftheindividualauthorsasauthors
oftheircontributions,hasbeenassertedinaccordancewithsections77
and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorrepro-
ducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orother
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Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor
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tionwithoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Infrastructurallives:urbaninfrastructureincontext/editedbyStephen
GrahamandColinMcFarlane.
pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Sociology,Urban.2.Urbaneconomics.3.Municipalservices.4.
Infrastructure(Economics)—Socialaspects.I.Graham,Stephen,1965-
II.McFarlane,Colin,1979-
HT151.I5362014
307.76—dc23
2013047618
ISBN13:978-0-415-74851-3(hbk)
ISBN13:978-0-415-74853-7(pbk)
ISBN13:978-1-315-77509-8(ebk)
TypesetinGoudy
byFiSHBooksLtd,Enfield
Contents
Listoffigures vii
Notesoncontributors ix
ForewordbyArjunAppadurai xii
Introduction 1
STEPHENGRAHAMANDCOLINMCFARLANE
PART I
Knowing infrastructure 15
1 Relational infrastructures in postcolonial urban worlds 17
ABDOUMALIQSIMONE
2 Infra-city: speculations on flux and history in infrastructure-making 39
VYJAYANTHIRAO
PART II
Infrastructural violence and dispossession 59
3 Water wars in Mumbai 61
STEPHENGRAHAM,RENUDESAIANDCOLINMCFARLANE
4 Waiting in the ruins: the aesthetics and politics of favela
urbanization in “PACification” Rio de Janeiro 86
MARIANACAVALCANTI
5 Road 443: cementing dispossession, normalizing segregation and
disrupting everyday life in Palestine 114
OMARJABARYSALAMANCA
vi Contents
PART III
Waste, process, infrastructure 137
6 The uncanny materialities of the everyday: domesticated nature
as the invisible ‘other’ 139
MARIAKAIKA
7 Kampala’s sanitary regime: whose toilet is it anyway? 153
STEPHANIETERRENIBROWN
8 Cleaning up the streets: Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s night-time
neighbourhood services team 174
ROBSHAW
PART IV
Adjustment and experimentation 197
9 Maintaining experiments and the material agency of the urban 199
VANESACASTÁNBROTOANDHARRIETBULKELEY
10 Low carbon nation: making new market opportunities 219
MIKEHODSONANDSIMONMARVIN
Index 244
Figures
3.1 Mumbaipolicestandbypilesofwaterboosterpumpsremovedfrom
informalsettlements 61
3.2 ThecityofMumbai,2011,showingmunicipalwardsandthemain
Zopadpattior‘slum’areas 65
3.3 WaterpipescutinRafinagarduringthewaterraidsinDecember
2009 72
3.4 ABisleribottledwateradvertloomslargeoverMumbai,northof
theFortDistrict 77
3.5 Rafinagarresidentswaitingatoneofthetemporarywaterstorage
tanks 79
4.1 Rocinhaandthepedestrianoverpass 94
4.2 TheAlemãocablecar 95
4.3 TheLinhaVermelha 96
4.4 TheUPPprovidencia 97
4.5 TheD-SupbuildinginManguinhos 98
5.1 Road443andHighway1cuttingacrosstheWestBankboundary 115
5.2 IsraeliroadsectionsplannedoverPalestinianagriculturaland
urbanareas 124
5.3 ViaductforschoolchildrenunderRoad443 127
5.4 Road443aftertherulingoftheIsraeliHighCourtofJustice 130
7.1 CongestedNakivuboChannelatNamuwongo 161
8.1 Theswingomachineinaction 178
8.2 Street-cleaneratwork 179
8.3 Discardedadvertisingleafletsandfastfoodpackaging 185
8.4 Someofthe50,000onaveragenightlydiscardedleaflets 186
8.5 Urinationdamage 187
8.6 TheGatehassufferedurinationdamage 187
8.7 Urinetraces 188
8.8 GreaseonthepavementoutsideMcDonald’s 189
8.9 Leafletsstucktothegroundwithgrease 189
8.10 Aseagullscavenger 191
8.11 Theoverflowinglitterbin:inputintothewasteassemblage 191
viii Figures
8.12 Wasteinthekerbawaitingpick-up 192
8.13 Therangeofactantsintheurbannightstreetscape 192
9.1 SketchofthelocalizationofT-ZedinBangalore 204
10.1 UKoffshorewindzones 227
10.2 Plugged-inplaces:electricvehicleinfrastructure 230
10.3 Thegridandthespatialorganisationofproductionand
consumption 235
Contributors
Harriet Bulkeley is a Professor in the Department of Geography, Durham
University, UK. Her research focuses on the processes and politics of envi-
ronmental governance. Her recent books include Cities and Climate Change
(Routledge, 2013), Governing Climate Change (Routledge, 2010), Cities and
Low Carbon Transitions (Routledge, 2011), and Transnational Climate
Governance(CUP,2014).Sheiscurrentlyinvolvedinresearchingthepolitics
and practice of smart grids in the UK, low-carbon transitions in southern
Africa, and continuing work on urban responses to climate change. She is a
member of the DECC Defra Social Science Advisory Group and has under-
takencommissionedresearchfortheJosephRowntreeFoundation,Friendsof
theEarth,UN-HabitatandtheWorldBank.
Vanesa Castán Broto is a lecturer at the Development Planning Unit,
University College London, UK. Her research focuses on how sustainability
aspirations are shaping modern societies, particularly in relation to climate
change and energy transitions. She has developed comparative analyses of
urbanisation, energy and innovation in different cities around the world,
including Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Bangalore (India), Monterrey
(Mexico)andMaputo(Mozambique).
Mariana Cavalcanti (PhD in Social/Cultural Anthropology, University of
Chicago,USA,2007)isAssociateProfessorattheSchoolofSocialSciences
and History, Center for Research and Documentation for the Contemporary
History of Brazil (CPDOC-FGV-RJ). She specializes in urban anthropology,
andisinterestedinquestionsrelatedtohousing,urbanismandpublicpolicy,
andrecentlyco-directedthedocumentaryfilmFavelaFabril(2012,49’).She
isalsoco-founderandboardmemberofCasaFluminense,acivilsocietyasso-
ciation aimed at deepening democracy and reducing inequalities in the
MetropolitanAreaandtheStateofRiodeJaneiro.
Renu Desai is the Coordinator of the Centre for Urban Equity, CEPT
University,Ahmedabad,India.Herresearchexaminesurbaninformalityand
urban transformation in Indian cities, with a focus on questions of equitable