Caring for Infrastructural Grounds. A Research Agenda

Over the last 20 years, the infrastructural networks emerging from globalization have shaped new forms of urbanity, changed the fabric of the city, and revolutionized the spatial organization of ever-larger areas of the globe. These new infrastructural grounds merit greater attention and in-depth understanding through detailed descriptions. Hence, the following contribution illustrates three key categories of contemporary infrastructural grounds: grounds of storage, grounds of exploitation, and grounds of regulation. Each is explored by examining a representative space: Khorgas Gateway, on the border between China and Kazakhstan; Bayan Obo, in the Goby Desert; and the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, in the Jing-Jin-Ji urban agglomeration. These become objects of study, as well as specific viewpoints that highlight the need to engage with contemporary infrastructural grounds through critical theory and design activities.