An emerging debate over the definition of infrastructure suggests that Western democracies are beginning to shift their priorities. The renewed focus on infrastructure and what it entails is to be welcomed – not least because it refutes the claim that the West has lost confidence in the future.
Many argue that investments in traditional physical infrastructure – such as electricity grids, water distribution and transport networks – are no longer enough. There is now a push to fund social and cultural infrastructure – community resources such as libraries, schools, hospitals and healthcare systems that were not previously categorized in this way. Meanwhile, the growing power of Big Tech has led to discussions about the need for digital public infrastructure.
The word infrastructure, coined in the late 19th century by French railway engineers, refers to a complex set of systems that enable the functioning of a society. This complexity is illustrated by the tangle of pipes and cables that lie beneath the city’s streets and that construction crews dig up every now and then. The new is piled on top of the old: British drivers still use roads first built by the Romans, and tunnels and bridges built by the Victorians. Such sustainability points to the forward-looking nature of infrastructure investments, which may indeed be long-standing.
