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Abstract
Infrastructure tells a material story of ongoing challenges in cities, reflecting the diverse, normative desires of different communities. In this article we examine the introduction of green infrastructure technologies into urban infrastructure systems to think critically about these challenges and desires. Green infrastructure is an intentionally designed, multifunctional technology that directly uses or mimics the ecological processes of soils and plants (e.g., green rooftops, rain gardens, and bioswales). Facing budget shortfalls as well as demands to mitigate hazards and green the city, urban leaders are looking at green infrastructure as a facility that can provide diverse cobenefits along with traditional services. A focus on stormwater-based metrics, however—effectively reframing green infrastructure as green stormwater infrastructure—discursively tamps down alternative politics and desires for the city. Through a case study of Pittsburgh’s stormwater governance, we argue that the work to (re)technologize green infrastructure as green stormwater infrastructure is an act of depoliticization that hinders needed conversations about just infrastructure outcomes. We draw on themes from qualitative interviews with community members engaged in urban water governance to suggest that these moments of transition provide an opportunity to illuminate previously obscured infrastructure politics and challenge the forms of knowledge that bind us to conventional routines of urban environmental governance. We see an opportunity to reframe the conversation in a way that opens up opportunities for historically disenfranchised communities to voice their needs beyond the technocratic problem of stormwater management.
基础建设诉说着城市中持续进行的挑战之物质故事，反应出不同社群多样且规范性的慾望。我们于本文中检视将绿色基础建设技术引入城市基础建设系统中，以批判性地思考这些挑战与慾望。绿色基础建设是刻意设计的多功能技术，并且直接使用或模拟土壤与植物的生态过程（例如绿色屋顶、雨水花园，以及生态截流系统）。面对预算短缺和减缓灾害与绿化城市的需求，城市领导者正诉诸绿色基础建设作为传统服务之外提供多样共同益处的设施。聚焦以暴雨为基础的指标，虽有效地将绿色基础建设重新架构为绿色暴雨基础建设，但却在论述上填充了城市的另类政治与慾望。我们通过匹兹堡暴雨治理的案例分析，主张将绿色基础建设（再）技术化成为绿色暴雨基础建设是一个去政治化的行动，并阻碍了有关正义的基础建设成果的必要对话。我们运用与参与城市水治理的社群成员进行的质化访谈，主张这些变迁的瞬间，提供了阐明过往隐晦的基础建设政治、并挑战使我们服膺于传统城市环境治理范例的知识形式之机会。我们预见重新架构该对话，使其为历史上被剥夺权益的社群开启契机以表达其超越暴雨管理的技术问题之需求的机会。
La infraestructura cuenta una historia material de los retos que se enfrentan ahora en las ciudades, reflejando los diversos deseos normativos de diferentes comunidades. En este artículo examinamos la introducción de tecnologías de infraestructura verde en los sistemas de infraestructura urbana, para pensar críticamente sobre estos retos y deseos. La infraestructura verde es una tecnología multifuncional diseñada intencionalmente, que usa directamente, o imita, los procesos ecológicos de suelos y plantas (por ej., techos verdes, jardines de lluvia y avenamiento sostenible). Enfrentados a la estrechez presupuestal y a demandas por mitigación de riesgos y al clamor de reverdecer la ciudad, los líderes urbanos están interpretando la infraestructura verde como las instalaciones que pueden generar diversos cobeneficios junto con los servicios tradicionales. Sin embargo, un enfoque de métricas basadas en agua pluvial––replanteando efectivamente la infraestructura verde como infraestructura verde del agua pluvial––discursivamente apabulla las políticas alternativas y deseos de la ciudad. Mediante el caso de la gobernanza del agua pluvial de Pittsburgh, argumentamos que el trabajo de (re)tecnologizar la infraestructura verde como infraestructura verde del agua pluvial es un acto de despolitización que dificulta las conversaciones necesarias sobre los resultados que rinden las infraestructuras justas. Nos apoyamos en temas de entrevistas cualitativas con miembros de la comunidad involucrados en la gobernanza del agua urbana para sugerir que estos momentos de transición proporcionan una oportunidad para hacer luz sobre lo que previamente fueron políticas infraestructurales oscuras, y para desafiar las formas de conocimiento que nos atan a rutinas convencionales de gobernanza ambiental urbana. Vemos una oportunidad para replantear la conversación de una manera que abra oportunidades a comunidades históricamente privadas de su derecho a reclamar por sus necesidades más allá del tecnocrático problema del manejo del agua pluvial.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful for invaluable feedback from Melanie DuPuis, William Terry, and the Annals reviewers and editors. We are most thankful to the participants and Pittsburgh community who contributed their time and knowledge to the project.
Notes
1 Pittsburgh henceforth refers to the broader metropolitan region of western Pennsylvania that encompasses the city itself as well as other independent municipalities, counties, and authorities.
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Notes on contributors
Michael H. Finewood
MICHAEL H. FINEWOOD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Science at Pace University, Pleasantville, NY 10570. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include urban water governance, watersheds, and justice.
A. Marissa Matsler
A. MARISSA MATSLER is a Postdoctoral Research Associate for the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY 12545. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include knowledge systems, urban environmental policy, and socio-ecotechnical systems.
Joshua Zivkovich
JOSHUA ZIVKOVICH is a graduate of Chatham University’s Sustainability Masters Program, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, where he studied green infrastructure. E-mail: [email protected]. He is currently in the Navy and stationed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.