Infrastructural Citizenship: (de)constructing state-society relations


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Type
Article
Change log
Authors
Lemanski, Charlotte  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0982-2329
Abstract

In this viewpoint I introduce the analytical framework of Infrastructural Citizenship using examples from my research in contemporary South Africa. This is not a tightly-defined concept but a broad heuristic tool to connect critical scholarship on infrastructure and citizenship that has been divided by disciplinary. Essentially, I argue that citizenship is embodied in infrastructure for both citizens and the state. For citizens, the state is materially and visibly represented through everyday (in)access to public infrastructure, while the state imagines and plans for citizens through infrastructure provision and maintenance. Infrastructural Citizenship provides an analytical framework to critically analyse these connections, and there by deepen understanding of both concepts as well as better understand the vitality of urban life.

Description
Keywords
33 Built Environment and Design, 44 Human Society, 4404 Development Studies, 4407 Policy and Administration, 3304 Urban and Regional Planning
Journal Title
International Development Planning Review
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
0142-7849
1478-3401
Volume Title
42
Publisher
Liverpool University Press
Rights
All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Leverhulme Trust (RF-2017-166)
Isaac Newton Trust (17.24(h))
Leverhulme Trust (RF-2017-166), Isaac Newton Trust (17.24(h))