Infrastructure mosaics in urban India: Sewage beyond the networked city

Abstract

In this paper, I illustrate how sewage is managed beyond the networked city to create infrastructure mosaics – patchworks of interconnected infrastructures across the city characterised by variegation, fluidity and non-linearity. The purpose of this work is to develop the concept of infrastructure mosaics as a way to understand urban sewage flows in Southern cities based on the lived experience of residents, rather than on concepts developed to describe Northern cities. I begin with a brief review of how the concept of networked cities has been applied to the Global South. I then explore how sewage operates within the networked city and beyond. I finish by contextualising these ideas through the case of sewage in Agra, India. The findings from this work can help planners and policy makers across the North/South divide better understand how urban sewage operates in reality, giving decision makers insights into opportunities for improvement outside the modern infrastructural ideal.