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Infrastructure imaginaries: The politics of light rail projects in the age of neoliberalism

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  • Kristian Olesen

Abstract

In the last decade light rail transit systems have become a popular mode of public transport in many cities around the world to upgrade the existing public transportation network, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to support neoliberal urban development strategies. The paper takes its starting point in the growing critical literature discussing the politics of light rail and related transport infrastructure projects in the context of neoliberalism. The paper uses the case of Aalborg, Denmark, to demonstrate how light rail projects are embedded in particular infrastructure imaginaries, which reflect wider political agendas of promoting urban development and economic growth. In the case of Aalborg, the city’s spatial strategies have played an important role in constructing an imaginary of the city as the region’s ‘growth dynamo’, which in turn have led to a growth-fixated conceptualisation of the city’s spatiality, and contributed to rationalising the need for investments in light rail. The paper argues that light rail projects are first and foremost politically rationalised as important investments for facilitating urban development and supporting entrepreneurial city strategies of urban and economic growth, whilst their social objectives of providing affordable public transportation play a less prominent role in the contemporary imaginary of the city.

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  • Kristian Olesen, 2020. "Infrastructure imaginaries: The politics of light rail projects in the age of neoliberalism," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(9), pages 1811-1826, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:9:p:1811-1826
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098019853502
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    2. Diogo Da Fonseca-Soares & Josicleda Domiciano Galvinicio & Sayonara Andrade Eliziário & Angel Fermin Ramos-Ridao, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis of the Trends and Characteristics of Railway Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Shaun Tyan Gin Lim & Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, 2023. "Naming public transport and historicising experiences: Critical toponymies and everyday multilingualism in Singapore’s mass rapid transit system," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(15), pages 3045-3060, November.
    4. Adolphi, Lukas & Dutzmann, Silke & Sgibnev, Wladimir & Weicker, Tonio, 2022. "When means of transport move: German export of second-hand tramways," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    5. Remme, Devyn & Sareen, Siddharth & Haarstad, Håvard, 2022. "Who benefits from sustainable mobility transitions? Social inclusion, populist resistance and elite capture in Bergen, Norway," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    6. Ayesha Khan & Haroon Gulzar & Hafsa Shoaib & Hamza Saleem & Asra Hafeez, 2022. "Urban Transport: A Proposal of Light Rail Transit (LRT) System in Lahore," International Journal of World Policy and Development Studies, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 8(1), pages 1-20, 06-2022.

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