Work

The Politics of Infrastructural Reversibility: No‐Regret Futures at the London Euston High‐Speed Railway Station

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Large infrastructure projects are difficult for publics to challenge, scrutinise, or engage with. A well‐researched barrier to public engagement is the technical complexity of large projects, whether it be materially present, or discursively constructed by professional experts. However, the multiple temporalities of large infrastructure projects can also hinder public scrutiny and opposition. In this commentary, I explore the reversibility of large infrastructure projects, using the example of the London Euston station expansion. This large project was launched in 2017 with the aim of preparing the central London railway station for high‐speed services. It has since been repeatedly paused, redesigned, and cancelled. Drawing on the London Euston case and theorisations of reversibility as the political act of extending the duration of the present, I discuss how reversibility was evoked and ‘made real’, and the challenges its ambiguity has presented in terms of public engagement. I end with the possibilities presented by the notion of infrastructural regrets and other emotional engagements with infrastructure in constructing just and inclusive urban futures.

Source: Geographical Journal

DOI: 10.1111/geoj.70066

Author: Anna Plyushteva

Institution: University of Oxford

Language: English

Topic: Urban Planning and Governance

Subfield: Urban Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,840