The Conundrum of Fast Infrastructures / Slow Infrastructures
The article by Barlow and Drew “Slow Infrastructures in Times of Crisis: Unworking Speed and Convenience” was an insightful read. It is the first time that I have heard the term “slow infrastructures.” The title itself captured my attention instantly. As I started reading, I remembered one performance by an Indian stand-up comedian Abhishek Upmanyu who talked about the demotion of roads in Mumbai due to the construction of Metro. He made fun of the system that they “Because the Metro is being built, they [government and the concerned authorities] removed the roads. What is there any need for the roads now that the metros are being built!” His delivery of that statement (in Hindi) was hilarious and everybody in the audience laughed. But it was not a funny thing at all. Behind every humor is a story of a tragedy. I kept on visualizing the displaced homeless people, muddy and bumpy paths full of pebbles and rocks that must be so difficult for the local people to walk through and ride bikes or motorbikes through those ways, and about the overall inconvenience for the people of the Mahim neighborhood in Mumbai, the place about which Abhishek Upmanyu was talking.
I wanted to look into the Mumbai Metro project and its adverse effects on the people such as the destruction of roads, etc. At first, I could not comprehend how the construction of Metro would need to destroy the roads. But turns out this Metro is the underground one and is a multi-billion-dollar project. According to an article published on News24.com, the goal of the Mumbai Metro is convenience which Barlow’s article also focuses on. Mumbai Metros are expected to beat the traffic, but at the same time, the local people and the environment have to pay a huge cost for that convenience. The same article quotes that Ashwini Bhide, the Managing Director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, [due to Metro,] “The quality of commute, ease of traveling and speed of traveling will increase.” However, to get this “speed,” thousands of trees are being destroyed, this area is the home to approximately 7,000 indigenous Indians. Their holy temple site will be devastated as well.
I loved how Barlow and Drew equate infrastructures and projects together: “Physical infrastructures such as roads, container vessels, dams, and sewers create the logistics of that project, built on the premise of progressionist linear time, and endless growth… Convenient for a few, and increasingly harmful to many” (Barlow & Drew 2020, 1). I can also relate this to the hasty construction of physical infrastructures such as roads and bridges in Nepal; the responsibilities taken by the Thekedars (contractors) who are highly infamous for having the reputation of using cheap construction materials and for corruption practices. It’s a common saying in India and Nepal that these Thekedars start their projects just before the monsoon; and as the monsoon arrives, the newly constructed infrastructures would deteriorate much faster; and it is generally assumed that this way they can restart the project again next year and get donations for the project, etc.
Infrastructures are considered to be a static thing which is not true; rather they are dynamic entities, as Barlow and Drew describe. Infrastructures demand constant maintenance, repairing, etc., and even more important is the fact that mobility takes place in/via these infrastructures. The concept of “unworking of speed” for better functionality and convenience of the public seems novel to me, but it is a crucial step in increasing effective urban mobility.
Bibliography
Barlow, Matt, and Georgina Drew. 2020. “Slow Infrastructures in Times of Crisis:
Unworking Speed and Convenience.” Postcolonial Studies, 1. doi:10.1080/13688790.2020.1804105.
News24. 2018. “New Mumbai Metro Will Beat Traffic, but at What Cost?” News24. January 22.
Upmanyu, Abhishek, “ABHISHEK UPMANYU |Friends, Crime, & The Cosmos | Stand-Up Comedy by Abhishek Upmanyu,” YouTube Video, 15:01, May 7, 2019,
