Infrastructure decisions made today will define civilisational outcomes tomorrow. These articles explore how:
Digital
System dynamics modeling reveals how today's AI infrastructure deployment patterns could lock in socioeconomic stratification for decades, demanding new approaches to anticipatory governance. Read the original article
Cross-Sector
Technical optimization can become a sophisticated form of legitimacy theater, allowing extractive industries to maintain social license while avoiding fundamental questions about extraction itself. Read the original article
Cross-Sector
How scaling circular clothing supply chains exposes fundamental gaps in UK infrastructure systems designed for linear extraction rather than regenerative loops Read the original article
Waste
How do current medication disposal systems embed short-term thinking that threatens long-term public and environmental health? Read the original article
Transport
Drone-based healthcare logistics reveal how mobility infrastructure could transcend traditional ground-based networks, challenging assumptions about accessibility and care delivery that have shaped health systems for generations. Read the original article
Cross-Sector
New analysis reveals the gap between resource efficiency gains and absolute sustainability in the world's fastest-growing infrastructure region Read the original article
Digital
Scientists warn that cascading collisions in Earth's orbit could halt space launches for decades, threatening trillions in satellite infrastructure that modern civilization depends on. Read the original article
New Right thinking from the early 1980s shaped infrastructure in ways that have led to a potpourri of models. Private sector involvement in infrastructure the world over today has been heavily influenced by the post-privatisation era in Britain from the 1980s. Previous posts have talked about what infrastructure is and
Post World War 2 saw a marked change in infrastructure provision in Britain. State led infrastructure became the standard across the Commonwealth until neo-liberalism took hold in the Reagan-Thatcher era. Dergulation, corporatisation and privatisation became central themes in the latter part of the century, with the private sector playing an
The Roman Empire is often seen as having made a pivotal contribution to society. This blog explores infrastructure from Roman times through to the beginning of the 20th century. This might help shed light on why some things are the way they are today. The Romans are widely attributed to
We all think we know what infrastructure until we are asked for a concise definition. This blog aims to shed some light on one way of defining infrastructure. "You and I come by road or rail, but economists travel by infrastructure". So said Margaret Thatcher, and we hear
Civilisational futures, through an infrastructure lens
Political decisions made in 4-year cycles create infrastructure lock-ins that last for decades, revealing the fundamental mismatch between democratic timescales and climate adaptation needs. Read the original article
Emerging evidence shows AI innovation is fundamentally restructuring supplier concentration patterns, with profound implications for infrastructure resilience and democratic governance. Read the original article
Urban development creates 'extinction debts' - species that appear stable today but are destined to disappear due to past infrastructure decisions, while 'colonization credits' mean today's green infrastructure won't show ecological benefits for decades. Read the original article
Corporate foresight shapes whether infrastructure systems become locked into predictable blueprints or maintain adaptive wayfinding capacity for uncertain futures. Read the original article
How the quest to decarbonize global shipping is forcing us to question whether faster always means better for intergenerational infrastructure systems. Read the original article
Living Labs represent a paradigm shift from treating infrastructure as technical deployment to understanding it as social construction requiring diverse voices and transformative processes. Read the original article
Integrated photonics technology is dissolving the traditional boundary between fiber and wireless networks, creating new possibilities for equitable bandwidth distribution across geographic and economic divides. Read the original article
New research reveals that different demographic groups follow entirely distinct pathways to autonomous vehicle adoption, challenging infrastructure planners to design systems that accommodate multiple transition routes rather than assuming universal adoption patterns. Read the original article
The space sector's transition from exploration to utility validation marks a fundamental shift in how we conceptualize critical infrastructure boundaries and dependencies. Read the original article
How should infrastructure systems adapt when human economic value becomes decoupled from labor? This framework challenges professionals to design for human dignity rather than productivity. Read the original article
How will generative AI reshape work and governance in Southern Africa's emerging industries, and what does this reveal about digital infrastructure's role in perpetuating or disrupting global economic hierarchies? Read the original article
New research mapping 38 potential sites for massive ocean carbon removal reveals how climate infrastructure decisions today could fundamentally alter marine ecosystems for centuries—but who gets to decide the ocean's future? Read the original article
Whether you're planning a major infrastructure project, developing a long-term strategy, or seeking specialised training, I'd be pleased to explore how I can help.