Infrastructure Planning: in a State of Panic?

Abstract

Infrastructure is routinely framed in contemporary urban policy as a vehicle to grow the economy through the creation of jobs. In periods of economic downturn and when ongoing fiscal uncertainty ensues, governments may look to the construction and maintenance of social and public infrastructure such as social housing and public transport. Cities and communities that have endured infrastructure deficits in the past may become the beneficiaries of adjusted national and state-level policy to support economic prosperity through expedient infrastructure implementation programs. Yet in the post-GFC policy environment urban infrastructure has recentred the role of infrastructure in driving urban economic recovery in terms of economic prosperity. Drawing from the state of exception literature, I call on the notion of urgency to explore infrastructure planning as it manifests at the juncture between strategic planning and implementation. This paper will contribute to the critical urban planning literature by examining how infrastructure prioritisation and implementation is shaped through a characterisation of urgency which subverts the relationship between urban infrastructure planning, implementation and planning process.

基础设施建设在当前城市政策中常被用作通过创造工作机会促进经济增长的手段。在经济 下滑、财政不确定性加重的时期，政府可能会求助于新建和维护社会和公共基础设施，如 社会住房和公共交通。国家或州政府调整政策，临时通过基础设施建设项目刺激经济繁荣， 过去基础设施不足的城市和社区可能从中受益。然而在国际金融危机之后的政策环境下， 城市基础设施已经重新成为推动城市经济复兴的核心。本文借助“例外状态”（state of exception）文献，探讨紧急状态的概念，考察战略规划和实施交叉点上的基础设施规划。 文中讨论了打乱城市基础设施规划和实施的关系及其规划过程的紧急状态如何影响了基础 设施建设优先及其实施，因而将丰富城市重要规划的文献。

Keywords:

• Infrastructure
• urban governance
• urban politics
• strategic planning
• Canada
• Australia