Infrastructure in times of exception: Unravelling the discourses, governance reforms and politics in ‘Building Back Better’ from COVID-19

Abstract

In seeking to counter adverse economic impacts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments quickly announced major infrastructure stimulus packages alongside a series of governance reforms to speed delivery. Despite significant differences between political, institutional and policy contexts of countries, clear trends emerged, most notably discourses of promise promoting the possibilities of state-led infrastructure allied to reforms to expedite delivery. Using case studies of Australia, Aotearoa-New Zealand and the UK, we draw upon theories of postpolitics and states of exception to explain how these approaches comprise a form of infrastructuralism that both elevates the criticality of infrastructure at the same time as depoliticising infrastructure planning. We argue that the promises of Building Back Better did not constitute the radical rupture from earlier practices initially promised and that in future crises we need to resist the closure of political space that typically accompanies emergency measures and ask ‘what infrastructure, for whom and where?’

Islands, remoteness and effective policy making: Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Lessons from the economic policies adopted by New Zealand include that the fiscal and monetary stimulus during the pandemic was too great, contributing to high inflation, an overheated housing market and severe labour market shortages in several sectors (OECD, 2022). 20 Labour and resource shortages, planning legislation and regulations also imply that it is much easier to make infrastructure projects ('shovel-ready projects') central to the political discourse of economic response measures than actually accelerate infrastructure programmes (White et al, 2022).…”

Towards the attainment of climate-smart PPP infrastructure projects: A critical review and recommendations

“…Moreover, private investment in PPP projects has seen a sharp decline in capital investment which scholars attribute to the COVID-19 economic recession and climate crisis (Engström et al 2020, White et al 2022). According to World Bank, the annual capital injection into PPP projects reduced from $96.7 billion in 2019 to $36.3 billion in 2021, a decline of 62.5 percent (WorldBank 2021).…”