The End Of The Age Of Mega-Infrastructure

Whatever happens next, this feels like the end of an era. Climate change is one of the threats, but there are other planetary boundaries we're getting dangerously close to. Some we have already obliterated. But it's not only nature. The political order is in shambles (even more so after the Trump–Putin meeting in Helsinki), and the crisis of the nation-state is only matched by the crisis of the international institutions.

Something that, according to this article, is going the way of the dodo is mega-infrastructure. Starting from the decision of Malaysia's government to cancel a grandiose high-speed railway, the text argues that the time of great state-funded works is ending. Being a conservation biologist, the author focuses on the environmental impacts of infrastructure but doesn't disregard other angles.

“The closer you look at infrastructure, the more you see that its environmental, social, financial, and political risks are completely interwoven.”

The author points to a number of reasons why we might be witnessing the last years of huge public infrastructure. To mention a few:

• China, the world's largest promoter of infrastructure, is seeing its growth decline, with debt growing.
• The expansion of infrastructure (particularly roads) is the biggest direct driver of environmental disruption.
• Corruption and social disruption are rendering infrastructure ineffective to do the very thing it's supposed to do better: reduce poverty.
• The above point means that, over the years, trust in public and private institutions has been eroded, "causing many to rethink the wisdom of major infrastructure investments".

This is an extremely well researched and sourced piece of journalism, and great food for thought. Do we really need all these pharaonic roads, ports and dams? And even more, will we need them in the world we're headed to?

I do have a criticism though: The article's style is not particularly attractive, and that becomes quite apparent in the last paragraph, which fails to wrap up the story.