The Global Infrastructure Turn and Urban Practice

Abstract

This paper assesses the emergence of a global ‘infrastructure turn’ and its implications for urban scholarship. The global infrastructure turn involves the emergence of a coordinated effort to stimulated infrastructure development at the national and global level via an array of international frameworks. The key elements of this shift are described and explanations are presented, which are founded in the working out of contradictions within global capitalist urbanization. The need for urbanists to attend to the global infrastructure turn is emphasised, and a set of elements to which attention must be given – discourse, technical practices and politics – is described. The paper concludes by arguing for greater attention to the global infrastructure turn by urban scholars.

本文评估全球“基础设施转向”及其对城市研究的意义。全球基础设施转向指国家和国际层面出现通过国际框架协同刺激基础设施开发的努力。文章描述并分析了这一转向的关键因素，这些因素与解决全球资本主义城市化的矛盾密切相关。作者强调了城市人口加入全球基础设施转向的需求，并指出了一系列需要注意的问题，包括话语、技术实践和政治。文章最后呼吁城市研究者更多关注全球基础设施转向。

Keywords:

• Global infrastructure turn
• globalisation
• infrastructure
• urbanization
• urban planning
• politics
• methodology