Speaker
Description
Since the early-2000s there has been a growing scholarly interest in infrastructure as a social scientific object. The social, political, economic and governmental shaping of cities has been identified as occurring through infrastructure. Building on the foundation provided by socio-technical studies of infrastructure geographers and planners have developed extensive insights into how infrastructure shapes and is shaped by urban processes. Within the field of planning an 'infrastructure turn' was identified (Dodson 2009) whereby spatial planning moved away from coordination of land-use and urban structure to using infrastructure to resolve urban development tensions and problems. This paper investigates whether that period of 'planning through infrastructure' is now ending. Using the case of Melbourne, Australia te paper charts how from the mid-2000s the Victorian state government increasingly resorted to infrastructure megaprojects as a means of urban spatial and state-political governance. This program was termed the 'Big Build'. Since the early-2020s however deficits of cost and time in infrastructure delivery have been accompanied by a shift towards more active land-use coordination to address urban problems. This includes a renewed focus on housing production, including social housing, and close attention to activity centre planning, both in terms of form and spatial structure. This shift suggests a (re)turn to spatial planning in Victoria. This paper investigates this latter shift by charting the trajectory of the infrastructure turn and its problems, followed by an appraisal of the new spatial planning phase. The paper draws on documentary, media and other resources to inform and support the argument. The discussion is situated at the intersection of infrastructure and spatial theory and offers an assessment of the theoretical implications of a potential reversion to spatial strategy focus in urban planning. Discussion of potential for a wider spatial planning (re)turn in other jurisdictions is offered.
References
Dodson, J. (2009). The ‘Infrastructure Turn’ in Australian Metropolitan Spatial Planning. International Planning Studies, 14(2), 109–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563470903021100
| Keywords | infrastructure, spatial planning, strategy, Victoria, Australia, |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
