Making up the global city through transport infrastructure

Keywords: urban infrastructure, infrastructural imaginaries, infrastructural governance, global cities, Manchester
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 14

Abstract

Urban infrastructure does many things. Over and above its literal roles, such as being necessary to support life, it is also apparent that it embodies the dreams and imaginaries of different actors (McNeill, 2017. Appadurai, 2014. Ong, 2011).

This paper contributes to a growing body of work that seeks to understand the explicit ‘global’ aspirations of urban actors and the ways in which these are materialised through transport infrastructure projects. Here, ‘making up’ refers to the global aspirations that are ‘made up’ or imagined by different actors (Bunnell and Goh, 2012) and the processes through which they are projected onto and physically ‘made up’ through infrastructure (Connolly, 2019). Guided by Roy and Ong’s (2011) conceptualisation of worlding as the “ongoing art of being global” (Ong, 2011, p3), this paper adopts the view that there is no singular formulation of ‘global’ and no set pathway to becoming global (Governa, 2021. Connolly, 2019. Baker and Ruming, 2015).

This paper explores these themes through a case study of Manchester Metrolink, following its evolution over the past 30 years. It draws on interviews, field observations, document analysis and public engagement analysis to explore on whose and on which grounds global is being claimed in Manchester, the way that different social and political interests, ideologies and global ambitions have been embodied within Metrolink over time, and how competing imaginaries produce contrasting infrastructural outcomes for the city (Enright, 2016. Amin and Thrift, 2005. Graham and Marvin, 2001).