Urban Infrastructures

The chapter deals with the concept of urban infrastructure. The attempt is that of a first systematization of the theme. The identity of the term and the meaning it assumes become central to understanding the concept and its importance. It is the urban term that is added to infrastructure that gives infrastructure a new meaning. It is the evolving phenomena that are combined with cities that make it a central theme. The use of the term urban infrastructure in an ever more extensive form does not concern an occasional passage, but it is a new treatment and a new line of research. We differ from a previous phase of territory, nation, city, public works. There is a technical rigor in defining the urban infrastructure, but also an interdisciplinarity in making it become a formidable key to interpreting the rapidly changing economic, technological and organizational, as well as social transformation. The big cities (global cities) and the infrastructures that innervate them are the centre of the discussion, the transformation of the state and of the private capital in relation to urban infrastructure also appears at the same time. There is also an attempt to rearrange and integrate the language of different authors and disciplines around the concept of urban infrastructure.