Infrastructure, health and urban planning: rethinking the past and exploring future possibilities as a response to Harris & De Leeuw (2022)

Abstract

Abstract All infrastructure is health infrastructure, but not everything should be labelled infrastructure. This distinction, given (renewed) awareness of infrastructure, volumetric urbanism and environmental factors, is important for understanding infrastructure and health relationships. Building on an etymology of infrastructure and a summary of volumetric urbanism, this article explores selected historical urbanist programs and their intersection with concerns about infrastructure and health. Understanding history should foster humility yet enable us to research and call out infrastructures that are deleterious to health, avoid displacing negative health impacts through infrastructure provision and promote infrastructures that simultaneously provide hope, enable physical and emotional regeneration and heal the planet.