Introduction – infrastructures in practice

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces guiding questions and terms of analysis and provides an overview of how infrastructures and practices intersect at different scales. It highlights the practicalities of provision, detailing the development of electric wiring in the USA, and more in Thailand and Laos. The book focuses on the roles and responsibilities accorded to the state, planners/designers and the market in making and managing infrastructural relations. It looks at deliberate efforts to shape and manage infrastructure-practice relations. The book also looks at the role of 'standards' in office buildings, the planning process in new towns, the erratic history of central heating in the UK, the shifting politics of district heating in Belgrade, and the emergence of the internet. It examines efforts to balance supply and demand in real time; via prices and tariffs, and in times of nation-wide disruption and crisis.

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