Work

The distant proximity of infrastructural harm: the contested and (in)visible dynamics of waste politics in Athens, Greece

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: This paper investigates the entanglements of waste infrastructures and harm in the wider Athens region. It focuses on Fyli landfill, which is currently the only formal waste management facility to serve the entire region. Associated with pollution, privatization, and allegations of corruption, the landfill has been formative of differential modes of uncertainty, interruption, and (in)visibility. By paying attention to the infrastructural contestation surrounding Fyli landfill, we conceptualize waste infrastructures as techno-political devices that engender harm. Our paper, first, examines the ways in which the spatio-temporal modalities of harm play out within this context, and secondly, rethinks modes of contestation and (in)visibility in relation to urban infrastructures. It argues that thinking through harm further elaborates the complex enmeshment between spatio-temporal and moral dynamics of infrastructures and forms of disruption, accountability, and participation. Hence, while we rethink waste infrastructures through harm, we also attend to the infrastructural codifications of harm.

Source: Globalizations

DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2022.2139136

Authors: Yannis Kallianos, Dimitris Dalakoglou

Institutions: University of Sheffield, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Language: English

Topic: Urban Planning and Governance

Subfield: Urban Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Sustainable cities and communities, Clean water and sanitation, Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek