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Becoming WestConnex – Becoming Sydney: Object-oriented politics, contested storylines and the multi-scalar imaginaries of building a motorway network in Sydney, Australia

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  • Graham Haughton

    (University of Manchester, UK)

  • Phil McManus

Abstract

Drawing on and developing literatures on automobilities, vertical urbanisms and the use of storylines to understand mega transport projects, we imagine infrastructure as a shifting assemblage of actors, storylines and material objects and practices. In the case of motorway building, this requires an understanding of how competing storylines about how both the infrastructure itself and the city it is located in are mobilised and politicised across diverse local geographies and multiple scales as the process proceeds. Our case study focuses on WestConnex, a 33 km motorway being built in Sydney, Australia. Similar to other major transport infrastructure projects, WestConnex morphed over time, growing in ambition, budget, complexity, debate and by enrolling new actors.

Suggested Citation

  • Graham Haughton & Phil McManus, 2022. "Becoming WestConnex – Becoming Sydney: Object-oriented politics, contested storylines and the multi-scalar imaginaries of building a motorway network in Sydney, Australia," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(4), pages 913-932, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:40:y:2022:i:4:p:913-932
    DOI: 10.1177/23996544211050941
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. E. E. A. Wolf & Wouter Van Dooren, 2017. "How policies become contested: a spiral of imagination and evidence in a large infrastructure project," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 50(3), pages 449-468, September.
    2. Phil McManus & Graham Haughton, 2021. "Fighting to undo a deal: Identifying and resisting the financialization of the WestConnex motorway, Sydney, Australia," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(1), pages 131-149, February.
    3. Wolf, Eva & Van Dooren, Wouter, 2017. "How Policies Become Contested: A Spiral of Imagination and Evidence in a Large Infrastructure Project," SocArXiv 8grp4, Center for Open Science.
    4. Tom Baker & Kristian Ruming, 2015. "Making ‘Global Sydney’: Spatial Imaginaries, Worlding and Strategic Plans," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 62-78, January.
    5. Graham Haughton & Phil McManus, 2019. "Participation in Postpolitical Times," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(3), pages 321-334, July.
    6. Glen Searle & Crystal Legacy, 2021. "Locating the public interest in mega infrastructure planning: The case of Sydney’s WestConnex," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(4), pages 826-844, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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