Capital projects and infrastructure in urban and economic development

This chapter sketches the issues which seem to defy resolution in the infrastructure debate. It presents a brief history of the take-up of responsibility for major capital works and provides an overview of a theoretical settlement in economics about what infrastructure has become. The chapter explores the absence of the urban circumstances of infrastructure in the theory and point to the vital economic role capital works perform. It explains the politics of funding and financing that pervade the infrastructure sector – largely because of its socio-spatial qualities. The chapter reflects on the range of historical settlements to these politics with a view to identifying opportunities for constructive development of better infrastructure provisioning. It suggests an integrating framework for ongoing research and policy development. The chapter discusses urban infrastructures that enable the transportation of people and freight, the supply of water and energy and the operation of telecommunications.