What is infrastructure and why is it important?

Gülperi Güngör (*)

Infrastructure is described as the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, and power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise. (1) It includes both tangible, physical structures (hard infrastructure), such as railways, power plants, and water and waste management systems, as well as more abstract systems (soft infrastructure), such as governance, education, and finance.

The Industrial Revolution marked a turning point by expanding infrastructure and transforming societies’ productive capacities through railways, canals, and energy systems that fueled industrial growth and national integration. However, it was only after the Second World War that infrastructure truly emerged as a key pillar of economic development, international politics, and ideological rivalry.

As Ashley Carse explains, “infrastructure” was merely an engineering term before the Second World War. Even Winston Churchill mocked its entrance into political vocabulary, saying,

“The original authorship is obscure; but it may well be that these words ‘infra’ and ‘supra’ have been introduced into our current political parlance by the band of intellectual highbrows who are naturally anxious to impress British labour with the fact that they learned Latin at Winchester.” (2)

During the Cold War, both blocs used major infrastructure projects—such as dams—as tools to attract Third World countries. This created a competitive arena for influence. After the 1970s, however, environmental concerns and neoliberal policies pushed infrastructure to the margins of the international development paradigm. Following the 2008 global crisis, infrastructure regained importance in development cooperation. Donors once again prioritized support for infrastructure in the Global South, this time with a focus on strengthening global supply chains and promoting spatial strategies such as corridors and special economic zones. (3)

What has changed in our understanding of infrastructure, development, regionalization, and geography? This blog will offer an overview of the debates addressing all these elements, featuring maps, article summaries, blog writings, and insights from Zoom discussions.

• Visiting PhD Researcher, University of Sheffield

This website is part of a project conducted by Gülperi Güngör as part of her research at the University of Sheffield.

1. Oxford University Press Staff, The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military, 2002, https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199891580.001.0001/acref-9780199891580-e-4001

   
   

2. Ashley Carse, “Keyword: Infrastructure: How a Humble French Engineering Term Shaped the Modern World.” In Infrastructures and Social Complexity, Routledge, 2016, p.31.

3. Seth Schindler, J. Miguel Kanai (2019), “Getting the territory right: infrastructure-led development and the re-emergence of spatial planning strategies”, Regional Studies, 55(1), 40–51.