Thinking infrastructures and the promise of infrastructure: towards advancing the concept of infrastructure

Abstract

The study of ‘infrastructures’ continues to be one ofthe most widespread interests of interdisciplin- ary research communities, such as Cultural Economy, Science and Technology Studies (STS), Infor- mation Systems, Geography, and Anthropology (Star and Ruhleder 1996; Star 1999; Graham and Marvin 2001; Edwards 2003; Edwards et al. 2009; Bowker et al. 2009; Larkin 2013). However, despite increasing prevalence ofinfrastructure studies in contemporary writings, current theoretical frameworks struggle to keep pace with constant changes in the demands and ways of usage of real- world infrastructure. Take the practical examples of two recently theorized infrastructures, a high- way road and an algorithm: when is it analytically useful to understand each as infrastructure? What are their conceptual commonalities and differences, or are there even any at all? As well, how can it be that one and the same concept is considered to be useful for gaining a better understanding of such apparently dissimilar phenomena? The essay at hand grapples with questions like these in light oftwo recently published collections on the study of infrastructure, Kornberger et al.’s Thinking Infrastructures and Anand et al.’s The Promise of Infrastructure. In so doing, this essay explores the evolution of the infrastructure con- cept, contrasts different analytical approaches, and introduces ‘layers’ and ‘ruination’ as concepts that may potentially help to overcome some of the theoretical and methodological limitations of currently available analytical templates for the study of infrastructures.