Theorising suburban infrastructure: a framework for critical and comparative analysis

Abstract

Suburban infrastructure holds a position of increasing geographic, political and conceptual importance in a rapidly urbanising world. However, the analytical significance of ‘suburban infrastructure’ risks becoming bogged down as a chaotic concept amid the maelstrom of contemporary peripheral urban growth and the explosion of interest in infrastructure in critical urban studies. This paper develops an open and flexible comparative theory of suburban infrastructure. I eschew concerns with definitional bounding to focus analytical attention on the relations between ‘the suburban’ (broadly considered) and multiple hard and soft infrastructures. These relations are captured in two ‘three‐dimensional’ dialectical triads: the first unpacks the modalities of infrastructure in, for and of suburbs; the second discloses the political economic processes (suburbanisation), lived experience (suburbanism) and dynamics of mediation internalised by particular suburban infrastructures. Bringing these conceptual frames together constructs a nine‐cell matrix that: (1) functions as a heuristic device providing conceptual clarity when discussing the suburbanity of infrastructures; (2) promotes comparative analysis across diverse global suburban contexts; and (3) develops tools to foreground the dialectical relations internalised in the concrete sociospatial modalities of suburban infrastructure. The paper shows that suburban infrastructure can only ever be partially suburban as a result of its co‐constituted and over‐determined production. I conclude by suggesting how the proposed approach may be mobilised to reimagine and reclaim suburban infrastructure as a crucial context and vital mechanism underpinning a progressive polycentric suburban spatial polity.

On the trail of comparative urbanism: Square dance and public space in China

“…Yet, second, public space in China revolves around different configurations of practices and relations, and articulates with distinctive constellations of histories, memories, and cultural imaginaries. This comparative attempt resonates with existing works in urban geography that attempt to eschew definitional bounding and render concepts more open‐ended and flexible (e.g., Addie, ).…”

Comparative infrastructural modalities: Examining spatial strategies for Melbourne, Auckland and Vancouver

“…Examination of infrastructure through the lens of suburban processes recognises that peripheral areas are sites of spatial unevenness and infrastructural innovation, arising from high-level processes (Addie 2016;Filion and Keil 2017). Looking at metropolitan-scale spatial plans through the lens of suburban infrastructure emphasises the interdependence between the city centre and suburbs.…”

“…This paper analyses the instrumentalisation of infrastructures to support planning objectives, using a broad definition of infrastructure that includes both material and immaterial physical, financial or regulatory interventions that shape socio-spatial relations. Addie (2016)'s theory of suburban infrastructure is used to analyse the infrastructural modalities identified across the three cases. This theory reveals the dualistic nature of infrastructures that have agency both as physical artefacts and internalised political-economic processes.…”

2. In What Sense Suburban Infrastructure?

“…The argument presented here draws in part fromAddie, J.-P. D. (2016). "Theorizing suburban infrastructure: A framework for critical and comparative analysis", Transactions of theInstitute of British Geographers, 41(3), 273-285.…”

“…Tables: Table 1: Matrix of suburban infrastructure (Addie, 2016) Infrastructure of Suburbanization The development of political movements to address peripheralization, automobilities etc., at multiple scales; Lobbying around the 'war on cars'; Struggles over appropriate forms of transport, service provision; Regional commuter-sheds; Google buses; Commodification of distant resources (oil fields, rainforests) in order to meet demands of suburban lifestyles; Hollywood and US commercial film industry representations Extended infrastructure of suburban (dis)connectivity: Suburbanity as relational; Integration into global flows for suburban capital; Mechanisms articulating suburban labor markets into wider networks; Topological connectivity; Coconstituted suburbs and the spaces they support; Expressway off-ramps; Resource wars; Global financial and regulatory agreements (coordinated through the IMF, OECD, EU etc. ); Potentiality of the 'Right to the Suburbs'…”