Concept

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.

Sustainability

Through designing an infrastructure system that operates in an infinite cycle, the infrastructure becomes highly sustainable. Connecting that system to existing infrastructure, and integrating it into the existing networks of the neighbourhood, makes the system more viable, and intelligent, in its initialisation and operation.

An exploration of Transient Infrastructure revealed the transience of seasons. Seasonal change brings with it the loss of leaves from deciduous vegetation. These leaves are then blown around by strong winds, and lay scattered around the city/neighbourhood. 

If these leaves were collected and processed, they could form biodegradable material with potential. If this biodegradable material was used to create art in public parks, it would create an interest and encourage engagement with parks. As time passes, the art would biodegrade into the park, providing nutrients back to the park.

The results reinforce the transience of the infrastructure, through engagement with transient people in the parks and the transient nature of the material.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is the elementary physical and/or organisational system required for the functioning of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. It could be generically defined a system of interconnected elements that provide a framework for the support of a structure of development (O'Sullivan and Sheffrin, 2003:474).

Infrastructure is typically referred to as the technical structures which support a society, namely roads, bridges, tunnels, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, telecommunications, etc., and can be further defined as "the physical components of interrelated systems providing commodities and services essential to enable, sustain, or enhance societal living conditions" (Fulmer 2009:30).

From a practical perspective, infrastructure promotes the production of goods and services, all the way through to the distribution of complete products to markets. Rudimentary social services, such as schools and hospitals, also benefit from infrastructure.

'Hard' infrastructure refers to the physical networks necessary for societies/neighbourhoods to function, whereas 'soft' infrastructure refers to institutions which are required to maintain the economic, health, and cultural and social standards of a country, such as the financial system, the education system, the health care system, the system of government, and law enforcement, as well as emergency services.

Transient Infrastructure