Apologies for cross-posting

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Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, 
Annual Conference, London, 30 August-1 September 2006

First call for papers

Infrastructure provision and sustainable urban development: cross-national
perspectives on the social, economic and environmental dynamics and
implications of networked urban strategies

A double paper session sponsored by the Urban Geography Research Group of the
RGS-IBG

Session organisers: Olivier Coutard and Jonathan Rutherford, LATTS (Laboratoire
Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés), Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées,
France.


Discussions of sustainable urban development (SUD) have been moving up the
policy agenda at local, national and international level for a number of years
now. Nevertheless, questions remain as to the broad definition and precise
focus of these discussions. One element which appears to be relatively
underplayed and understudied in the sustainable development debate is the
crucial importance of networked infrastructures and services (water, waste,
energy, transport, telecommunications…) to the future development of cities and
regions across the globe. At best, some of these infrastructures are
acknowledged as one aspect among many of the strategies and priorities aiming
for sustainable development. Yet, given the ways in which these infrastructures
reflect, filter and impact upon social, economic and environmental dynamics and
practices at the heart of sustainable development, it can be argued that the
processes and implications of infrastructure provision should be a central
question in this domain, and a possible foundation upon which truly sustainable
spatial and territorial strategies can be constructed.

Developments in each networked service sector cast some doubt, however, over
their inherent social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Market-driven, rather than universal, service provision is increasing the
vulnerability of already precarious households and users (c.f. the focus on
various forms of networked service ‘poverty’ in the U.K.). Constantly
increasing use of natural resources such as water, fuel and oil, the
difficulties in managing wastewater and garbage disposal, and the need to plan,
develop and manage integrated public transport networks are key to the future of
the global environment. Finally, governments at all levels must create the right
economic conditions for promoting the investment potential and profitability of
these sectors, within broader contexts of sustaining or improving employment
levels, controlling inflation, and decreasing public spending.

This session proposes to examine empirically and critically the social, economic
and environmental performance of network service provision from an explicit
sustainable urban development perspective, through a focus on water/sanitation,
energy, transport and telecommunications networks and their socio-technical
governance at differing levels in cities across the world.

In order to maximise the possibility for discussion of papers, we propose for
both sessions that individual papers are allocated 30 minutes each (15 minutes
for presentation and 15 minutes for discussion).

We welcome papers on any aspect of the links between infrastructure and
sustainable development. Examples of topics or themes which might be addressed
include:

•	explorations or evaluations of the social-economic-environmental (im)balance
at the heart of network service provision in particular cities
•	the sustainability of patterns of consumption of network services (mobility
behaviours, water uses, energy consumption), and the factors that affect those
patterns
•	socio-spatial inequalities in access to infrastructures, and their potential
contribution to urban/regional segregation or polarisation
•	the potential contribution of infrastructures to environmental (in)equalities
•	infrastructure provision and processes of urban sprawl
•	the urban sustainability implications of regulatory reforms of
privatisation/liberalisation/enterprisation/commodification
•	internationalisation (‘glocalisation’) of urban infrastructural enterprises
•	adoption of increasingly strict environmental regulations, including the
polluter pays principle
•	transformations in the broader governance, regulation and socio-technical
organisation of infrastructure provision (user participation, community
involvement, spread of demand-side management)
•	the adaptation of national regimes of network governance to sustainable
development objectives
•	tensions between the organisational or management scales for infrastructure
provision and for territorial governance/regulation
•	case studies of new sustainable urban developments with infrastructure
dimensions, the restructuring of inherited infrastructures, and the shaping of
infrastructure for the rejuvenation of declining or ‘shrinking’ (former
industrial) city regions
•	examples of (the risk of) infrastructural collapse and their implications


Please send titles and abstracts of no more than 200 words by 24 January 2006
to:
[log in to unmask]

Full proposals of papers will need to be submitted to the RGS-IBG by 31 January
2006 using the Abstract Submission Form at:
http://www.rgs.org/AC2006


Jonathan Rutherford,
Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés (LATTS),
Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC),
6-8 avenue Blaise Pascal,
F-77455 Marne-la-Vallée cedex 2,
France.
Tél: +33 (0)1.64.15.38.30
Fax: +33 (0)1.64.15.36.00
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://latts.cnrs.fr/