Strengthening Intangible Infrastructures

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4438-5300-2
Verlag: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 335 Seiten

The term ‘infrastructure’ commonly refers to the partly naturally given, partly manmade constitutive conditions that affect, enable, and ensure our everyday lives. This concept is generally used in an economic sense and highlights the material and institutional facilities of our environment that can be summed up as the tangible means which our societies are based upon. Consequently, talking about ‘intangible infrastructures’ may appear to be a somewhat unusual concept. The term ‘intangible’ includes areas of our lives that are not (or are not primarily) represented physically; it points to invisible realms of the human existence, both intellectually or knowledge-based; to cultural and even ethical matters, and to the social adhesives and cultural techniques that civilizations are being built on. As ‘intangible infrastructures’, we regard them as fundamental for our well-being and for a good quality of life.

This volume is a result of a two-day conference held in December 2012 in Salzburg, Austria, which brought together researchers and practitioners from manifold scientific backgrounds, including sociology, philosophy, social geography, economics, urban studies, political science, history, communication sciences and public communication. The text draws a map of current discourse on intangible infrastructures, and provides strategies of strengthening intangible infrastructures.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Koch, Andreas

Kapferer, Elisabeth

Sedmak, Clemens

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Regionalgeographie
• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Humangeographie
• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Regional- & Raumplanung

Über Autor(innen)

Elisabeth Kapferer is Research Fellow at the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research at the University of Salzburg, with a focus on culture and poverty alleviation. Her research interests include local knowledge, cultural memory studies, and representations of poverty and social exclusion.

Andreas Koch is Professor of Social Geography at the University of Salzburg, Vice President of the International Research Centre for Ethical and Social Issues (ifz Salzburg) and Vice Chairman of the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research in Salzburg. His research background is in spatial poverty research, geographic information science, and geosimulation modelling.

Clemens Sedmak is a philosopher and theologian. He holds the F.D. Maurice Chair at King’s College London and the Franz Martin Schmölz OP Visiting Professorship for Social Ethics at the University of Salzburg. He is Head of the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research at the University of Salzburg and President of the International Research Centre for Social and Ethical Issues (ifz Salzburg). His research interests include poverty research, social ethics, epistemology, and philosophy of science.