Infrastructure and Agency

Agency is the capacity of an agent - a person or entity - to act. This capacity does not imply a specific moral dimension to the ability to make the choice to act, therefore moral agency is a distinctly different concept. In sociology, an agent is an individual that engages with a social structure (Wilson and Sphall 2002).

Looking at agency in infrastructure, within a neighbourhood scale context in Johannesburg, one could see the prevalent Trolley Pullers as infrastructural agents. These agents are also transient as traverse the context of the neighbourhood collecting recyclable goods. If they were provided with the necessary tools and incentive to collect the fallen leaves as they walk their daily routes, one would be integrating a new infrastructure into an existing one - thus increasing efficiency.