Expanding infrastructure ontologies: Integrative and critical insights for coastal studies and governance

Abstract

Diverse knowledge insights are essential to inform action on bringing about transformations in how societies live with changing Earth, ocean and coastal systems. However, knowledge forms typically used in governance systems are stubbornly limited. This paper analyses the extent to which an expanding ontology of the concept of ‘infrastructure’ can contribute to building more integrated knowledge for governance in ocean and coastal contexts. This paper asks: What can creative and critical engagement with infrastructure thinking offer to efforts to bring together diverse forms of knowledge and to develop more effective and ethical governance in changing coastal contexts? Employing a qualitative assessment of how the concept of infrastructure is defined in multiple disciplines and contexts, the paper identifies three heuristic types of structures, things and processes that can collectively inform interdisciplinary dialogue and governance dialogue: (i) built/physical infrastructure, (ii) environmental infrastructure, and (iii) societal/cultural infrastructure. Drawing on insights from critical infrastructure studies and more-than-human perspectives, the paper then identifies ontological and methodological challenges of integration, values, and power/agency for those who engage a multi-faceted conception of infrastructure to frame analysis and action. Bringing these insights together, the paper argues that infrastructure thinking provides a means to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue, and a useful lens with which to analytically integrate diverse forms of knowledge about/in ocean and coastal contexts. However, cautious and critical perspectives are needed to support efforts in (re)thinking and integrating for collective action and governance.