HSEM3515H: Infrastructure and Society

This seminar explores the social, economic, and cultural significance of public infrastructure. Drawing on examples from transportation and communication, the seminar will expose students to questions of design, political economy, and expected/unexpected outcomes of infrastructure. The seminar will allow students to visit local sites (in our local infrastructure project), work collaboratively with other students, and critically examine an important but often-overlooked set of built forms. Types of infrastructure examined will include: bridges, subways, water systems, telecommunications, mobile communications, and ‘informal infrastructure’ (when citizens or collectives engage in shared infrastructure-like projects for the common good). The goals of this seminar are to (a) introduce students to different types of infrastructure, including elements that are invisible to users, and (b) engage students in social-economic questions and debates surrounding infrastructure.

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