Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
FrancoAngeli Journals

temi e progetti

No. 103 (2022)

Global infrastructures and urban transformations. Piraeus, Trieste, and the ‘Adriatic Corridor’

  • Francesca Governa
  • Angelo Sampieri
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/TR2022-103002OA
Submitted
December 4, 2023
Published
2023-12-19

Abstract

How can we observe and investigate the spaces built and transformed by large infrastructural projects? What actors, strategies, and scales should be kept under observation? What are the relationships between the so-called ‘global infrastructure turn’ and urbanisation processes? By asking these questions the article introduces the section, whose focus is on the spatial transformations associated with recent infrastructural development along the so-called ‘Adriatic Corridor’, starting with the ports of Trieste and Piraeus. The article discusses the need to overcome a purely technical view of infrastructures and their processes, in order to recognise their current ‘leap in scale’, and to see these interventions from the ground as part of the new forms of contemporary urban phenomena.

References

  1. Amin A., 2002, «Spatialities of globalisation». Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 34, 3: 385-399. Doi: 10.1068/a3439.
  2. Amin A., 2014, «Lively infrastructure». Theory, Culture & Society, 31, 7-8: 137-161. Doi: 10.1177/0263276414548490.
  3. Amin A., Lancione M., 2002, eds., Grammars of the Urban Ground. Londra: Duke.
  4. Amin A., Thrift N., 2016, Seeing Like a City. Cambridge: Polity (trad. it., 2020, Vedere come una Città. Milano: Mimemis).
  5. Angelo H., Wachsmuth D., 2015, «Urbanizing urban political ecology: A critique of methodological cityism». International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39, 1: 16-27. Doi: 10.1111/1468-2427.12105.
  6. Apostolopoulou E., 2021a, «A novel geographical research agenda on Silk Road urbanisation». The Geographical Journal, 187, 4: 386-393. Doi: 10.1111/geoj.12412.
  7. Apostolopoulou E., 2021b, «Tracing the links between infrastructure-led development, urban transformation, and inequality in China’s Belt and Road Initiative». Antipode, 53, 3: 831-858. Doi: 10.1111/anti.12699.
  8. Bonino M., Governa F., Repellino M.P., Sampieri A., 2019, eds., The city after Chinese New Towns: Spacesand imaginaries from contemporary urban China. Basel: Birkhäuser.
  9. Brenner N., Katsikis N., 2018, «Operational landscapes: Hinterlands of the capitalocene». AD Architectural Design, 90, 1: 22-31. Doi:10.1002/ad.2521.
  10. Brenner N., Schmidt C., 2014 «The ‘Urban Age’ in Question». International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38, 3: 731-755. Doi:10.1111/1468-2427.12115.
  11. Brenner N., Schmidt C., 2015, «Towards a new epistemology of the urban?». City, 19, 2-3: 151-182. Doi: 10.1080/13604813.2015.1014712.
  12. Dodson J., 2017, «The Global Infrastructure Turn and Urban Practice». Urban Policy and Research, 35, 1: 87-92, Doi: 10.1080/08111146.2017.1284036.
  13. D’Amelio D., 2022, «Porto, il colosso cinese COSCO sceglie Trieste: Ecco il nuovo gate per l’Europa Centrale». Il Piccolo. Trieste, 27 giugno. https://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/trieste/cronaca/2022/06/27/news/porto-il-colosso-cinese-cosco-sceglie-trieste-ecco-il-nuovo-gate-per-l-europa-centrale-1.41540056 (accesso 2023.01.23).
  14. Easterling K., 2014, Extrastatecraft: The Power of Infrastructure Space. Londra-New York: Verso (trad. it., 2019, Lo Spazio in cui ci Muoviamo: L’Infrastruttura come Sistema Operativo. Torino: Treccani).
  15. Fei D., 2017, «Worlding developmentalism: China’s economic zones within and beyond its border». Journal of International Development, 29, 6: 825-850. Doi: 10.1002/jid.3277.
  16. Filion P., Keil R., 2017, «Contested infrastructures: Tension, inequity and innovation in the Global Suburb». Urban Policy and Research, 35, 1: 7-19. Doi: 10.1080/08111146.2016.1187122.
  17. Fujiya M., Krugman P., Mori T., 1999, «On the evolution of hierarchical urban systems». European Economic Review, 43, 2: 209-251. Doi: 10.1016/S0014-2921(98)00066-X.
  18. Furlong K., 2021, «Geographies of infrastructure III: Infrastructure with Chinese characteristics». Progress in Human Geography, 46, 3: 915-925. Doi: 10.1177/03091325211033652.
  19. Governa F., Sampieri A., 2020, «Urbanisation processes and new towns in contemporary China: A critical understanding from a decentred view». Urban Studies, 57, 2: 366-382. Doi: 10.1177/0042098019860807.
  20. Graham S., Marvin, S., 2001, Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Mobilities and the Urban Condition. Londra: Routledge.
  21. Henderson V., 2003, «The urbanization process and economic growth: The so what question». Journal of Economic Growth, 8: 47-71. Doi: 10.1023/A:1022860800744.
  22. Kanai J.M., Schindler S., 2022, «Infrastructure-led development and the peri-urban question: Furthering crossover comparisons». Urban Studies, 59, 8: 1597-1617. Doi: 10.1177/00420980211064158.
  23. Krugman P., 1991, «Increasing returns and economic geography». Journal of Political Economy, 99: 483-499. Doi: 10.1086/261763.
  24. Larkin B., 2013, «The politics and poetics of infrastructure». Annual Review of Anthropology, 42, 1: 327-343. Doi: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-092412-155522.
  25. LeCavalier J., 2016, The Rule of Logistics: Walmart and the Architecture of Fulfillment. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press.
  26. LeCavalier J., 2019, «Human exclusion zones: Logistics and new machine landscapes». AD Architectural Design, 89, 1: 48-55. Doi: 10.1002/ad.2388.
  27. Liu W., Dunford M., 2016, «Inclusive globalization: Unpacking China’s Belt and Road Initiative». Area Development and Policy, 1, 30: 323-340. Doi: 0.1080/23792949.2016.1232598.
  28. Lyster C., 2016, Learning from Logistics: How Networks Change Our Cities. Basilea: Birkhäuser.
  29. Lyster C., 2019, «Disciplinary hybrids». AD Architectural Design. Special Issue: Machine Landscape. Architecture of the Post-Anthropocene, 89, 1: 100-105. Doi: 10.1002/ad.2396.
  30. Murton G., 2021, «Power of Blank Spaces: A Critical Cartography of China’s Belt and Road Initiative». Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 62, 3: 274-280. Doi:10.1111/apv.12318.
  31. Oakes T., 2021, «The Belt and Road as method: Geopolitics, technopolitics and power through an infrastructure lens». Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 62, 3: 281-285. Doi: 10.1111/apv.12319.
  32. Oliveira G. de L.T., Murton G., Rippa A., Harlan T., Yang Y., 2020, «China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Views from the ground». Political Geography, 82, pubblicazione anticipata online. Doi: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102225.
  33. Ramondetti L., 2022, The Enriched Field: Urbanising the Central Plains of China. Basel: Birkhäuser.
  34. Roy A., 2016, «What is urban about critical urban theory?». Urban Geography, 37, 6: 810-823. Doi: 10.1080/02723638.2015.1105485.
  35. Safina A., Ramondetti L., Governa F., 2023, «Rescaling the Belt and Road Initiative in urban China: The local complexities of a global project». Area Development and Policy (pubblicazione anticipata online). Doi: 10.1080/23792949.2023.2174888.
  36. Schindler S., Kanai J.M., 2021, «Getting the territory right: Infrastructure-led development and the re-emergence of spatial planning strategies». Regional Studies, 55, 1: 40-51. Doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1661984.
  37. Scholvin S., 2021, «Getting the territory wrong: The dark side of development corridors». Area Development and Policy, 6, 4: 441-450. Doi: 10.1080/23792949.2021.1940227.
  38. Silver J., 2021, «Corridor urbanism». In: Lancione M., McFarlane C. (eds.), Global Urbanism. Londra: Routledge, 251-58.
  39. Simone A., 2019, «Maximum exposure: Making sense in the background of extensive urbanization». Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 37, 6: 990-1006. Doi: 10.1177/0263775819856351.
  40. Star S.L., 1999, «The ethnography of infrastructure». American Behavioral Scientist, 43, 3: 377-391. Doi: 10.1177/0002764992195532.
  41. Steele W., Legacy C., 2017, «Critical urban infrastructure». Urban Policy and Research, 35, 1: 1-6. Doi: 10.1080/08111146.2017.1283751.
  42. Summers T., 2016, «China’s ‘New Silk Roads’: Sub-national regions and networks of global political economy». Third World Quarterly, 37, 9: 1628-1643. Doi: 10.1080/01436597.2016.1153415.
  43. Summers T., 2020, «Negotiating the boundaries of China’s Belt and Road Initiative». Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 38, 5: 809-813. Doi: 10.1177/2399654420911410b.
  44. Toops S., 2016, «Reflections on China’s Belt and Road Initiative». Area Development and Policy, 1, 3: 352-360. Doi: 10.1080/23792949.2016.1233072.
  45. Turner C., 2021, The Infrastructured State: Territoriality and the National Infrastructure System. Londra: Edward Elgar Publishing.
  46. Wall A.,1999, «Programming the urban surface». In: Corner J. (ed.), Recovering Landscapes. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 232-249.
  47. Wiig A., Silver J., 2019, «Turbulent presents, precarious futures: Urbanization and the deployment of global infrastructure». Regional Studies, 53, 6: 912-23. Doi: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1566703.
  48. Winter T., 2019, Geocultural power: China’s quest to revive the Silk Roads for the twenty-first century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  49. Yeh E.T., Wharton E., 2016, «Going west and going out: Discourses, migrants, and models in Chinese development». Eurasian Geography and Economics, 57, 3: 286-315. Doi: 10.1080/15387216.2016.1235982.
  50. Young L., 2019, «Neo-machine: Architecture without people». AD Architectural Design, 89, 1: 6-13. Doi: 10.1002/ad.2381.
  51. Yu H., 2017, «Motivation behind China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ Initiatives and establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank». Journal of Contemporary China, 26, 105: 353-368. Doi: 10.1080/10670564.2016.1245894.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...