A dialogue on global infrastructure-led urbanization: Concepts and reorientations
File(s)
Published version (online first)
Author(s)
Vegliò, Simone
Silver, Jonathan
Pollio, Andrea
Governa, Francesca
Apostolopoulou, Elia
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The territorial and technological geographies of the planet are being rapidly and profoundly transformed and restructured in the 21st century. A massive surge of plans, visions, and investments is materializing through new connectivity infrastructure and operations of vast, extended transportation and logistical networks, with the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative serving as a prominent example. To scrutinize this context, in this article, we advocate for a shift from infrastructure-led development to infrastructure-led urbanization, emphasizing the urban as the key analytical terrain. We argue that the urban perspective reveals conceptual, geoeconomic, and geopolitical dimensions that are at the core of the transformations brought about by the implementation of global infrastructure. By mobilizing the authors’ urban research experience spanning Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and by stressing the vital value of on-the-ground and comparative research, we illustrate the complexities and specificities inherent in these projects. In doing so, we propose a collective dialogue that explores and reorients conceptual and methodological possibilities to capture the complex interplay of geoeconomic and geopolitical forces within what we term ‘global infrastructure-led urbanization’.
Date Issued
2025-05-05
Date Acceptance
2025-05-01
Citation
Dialogues in Human Geography, 2025
ISSN
2043-8206
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Journal / Book Title
Dialogues in Human Geography
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
License URL
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2025-05-05