The politics of infrastructural aesthetics: a case of Delhi’s Bus Rapid Transit corridor

This paper studies how transportation infrastructure projects are dependent on making aesthetic arguments through form, space and experience. It does this through a discourse analysis of the media coverage of the Delhi Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor. Tracing the planning history of the BRT, it exp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International development planning review 2021-10, Vol.43 (4), p.479-499
Main Authors: Oommen, Thomas, Sequeira, Ryan Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aesthetics
Analysis
Bus lanes
Bus transport
Buses
Buses (vehicles)
Case studies
City planning
Design and construction
Discourse analysis
India
Infrastructure
Infrastructure (Economics)
Local transit
Media coverage
Planning
Political aspects
Politics
Public works
Rapid transit systems
Roads
Streets
Transportation
Transportation corridors
Transportation planning
Truth
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Summary:This paper studies how transportation infrastructure projects are dependent on making aesthetic arguments through form, space and experience. It does this through a discourse analysis of the media coverage of the Delhi Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor. Tracing the planning history of the BRT, it explores how it was construed as ineffective, expensive and dangerous. Deconstructing the BRT discourse, the authors make two propositions about the politics of transport infrastructure; its truth claims must be aesthetic arguments, and transformational agendas must be coupled with a distinctive aesthetic. The paper concludes by suggesting that a renewed and situated understanding of aesthetics is critical for urban practitioners, especially in the global South.
ISSN:1474-6743
1478-3401
DOI:10.3828/idpr.2020.21