Sociotechnical imaginaries of urban development: social movements around "traditional" water infrastructure in the Kathmandu Valley

《Sociotechnical imaginaries of urban development: social movements around "traditional" water infrastructure in the Kathmandu Valley》

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关键字: Provincializing urbanism; sociotechnical imaginaries; urban political ecology; water infrastructure; tradition; urban modernization; POLITICS; CITY; CITIES; GEOGRAPHIES; INFORMALITY; IDENTITY; SOUTH

作者单位: [Molden, Olivia C.; Meehan, Katie] Univ Oregon, Dept Geog, 1251 Univ Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403 USA. Molden, OC (reprint author), Univ Oregon, Dept Geog, 1251 Univ Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403 USA. E-Mail: omolden@uoregon.edu

摘要: This article examines the role of so-called traditional stone waterspout technologies in struggles over urban modernization in Lalitpur, Nepal. In doing so, this article questions the status of tradition in urban theorizing and mobilizes the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries as a framework for understanding the contested spatial visions of urban development. In advancing this approach, this article analyses infrastructure as a visual discourse of materials, practices, and texts, including the label tradition.Findings indicate that stone spouts represent material and symbolic sites for residents to express discontent with hegemonic visions of modernization, legitimize certain cultural practices, and make claims on urban space. We argue that an alternate imaginary of urban development has emerged through the prism of traditional infrastructure. This article forwards sociotechnical imaginaries as a framework for situating the multiple and contested trajectories of urban modernization, particularly the ways in which past technologies come to shape desired urban futures.