Infrastructural Optimism: Reshaping Urban America

309 Pages·2021·157.026 MB·English

by  Linda C. Samuels

INFRASTRUCTURAL
OPTIMISM
LINDA C. SAMUELS
First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Taylor & Francis
The right of Linda C. Samuels to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Samuels, Linda C., author.
Title: Infrastructural Optimism / Linda C. Samuels.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021019129 (print) | LCCN 2021019130 (ebook) | ISBN
9781138481558 (hbk) | ISBN 9781138481589 (pbk) | ISBN 9781351060271
(ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Infrastructure (Economics)--History. |
Urbanization--History. | Architecture--History.
Classification: LCC HC79.C3 S349 2022 (print) | LCC HC79.C3 (ebook) |
DDC
363--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021019129
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021019130
ISBN: 9781138481558 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781138481589 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781351060271 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781351060271
Book design by Linda C. Samuels and Sarah Pulvirenti
Original I-11 Supercorridor book designed by Bernardo Terán

Primary typeface: Bebas Neue
Secondary typefaces: Avenir Next, Trade Gothic
Typeset by Sarah Pulvirenti
Publisher’s Note
This book has been prepared from camera-ready copy provided
by the author.
II INFRASTRUCTURAL OPTIMISM
INFRASTRUCTURAL OPTIMISM
Infrastructural Optimism investigates a new kind of twenty-first-century infrastructure, one that
encourages a broader understanding of the interdependence of resources and agencies, recognizes
a rightfully accelerated need for equitable access and distribution, and prioritizes rising environmental
diligence across the design disciplines. Bringing together urban history, case studies, and speculative
design propositions, the book explores and defines infrastructure as the basis for a new form of
urbanism, emerging from the intersection of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design.
In defining this new infrastructure, the book introduces new dynamic and holistic performance
metrics focused on “measuring what matters” over growth for the sake of growth and twelve criteria
that define next generation infrastructure. By shifting the focus of infrastructure – our largest public
realm – to environmental symbiosis and quality of life for all, design becomes a catalytic component
in creating a more beautiful, productive, and optimistic future with Infrastructural Urbanism as its
driver. Infrastructural Optimism will be invaluable to design, non-profit and agency professionals, and
faculty and students in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design, working in
partnership with engineers, hydrologists, ecologists, urban planners, community members, and others
who shape the built environment through the expanded field of infrastructure.
Linda C. Samuels is an Associate Professor of Urban Design at Washington University
in St. Louis. She is an architect, urban designer, and planner whose work focuses on next
generation infrastructure design as a tool for environmental and social justice.
LINDA C. Samuels III
Sixth Street Viaduct under construction, Los Angeles, 2021. Image: Gary Leonard
IV INFRASTRUCTURAL OPTIMISM
LLIINNDDAA CC.. SSaammuueellss VV
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS X
FOREWORD / Imagining the Architecture of Possible Futures XIV
Dana Cuff
INTRODUCTION / The Importance of Optimism 002
The Case for Optimism
And then, 2020…
Our Optimistic Imperative
Infrastructural Opportunism → Infrastructural Urbanism → Infrastructural Optimism
01. INFRASTRUCTURAL URBANISM in the Expanded Field 014
Two Decades of Urbanisms: New, Everyday, Landscape / Ecological → Infrastructural 022
Infrastructural Urbanism: Two Lineages 030
Infrastructure as Architecture
Architecture as Infrastructure
Landscape as Infrastructure
Infrastructure in the Expanded Field 046
02. REINVENTING INFRASTRUCTURE / Why Now? 054
Three Colliding Crises 054
Infrastructure Crisis: Collapse + Inequity + Underfunding
Environmental Crisis
Economic Collapse
Three Evolutions 061
New Forms of Activism
Demonstration Projects
Changes in the Urbanism Discourse
Capitalizing on the Perfect Storm: WPA 2.0 and Next Generation Infrastructure 068
Next Generation Infrastructure Criteria
Perfect Storm
Practice Case Studies: PITCH_AFRICA, Kalundborg Symbiosis, Sixth Street Viaduct 074
WPA 2.0 Finalists 086
VI INFRASTRUCTURAL OPTIMISM
03. INFRASTRUCTURAL OPPORTUNISM / Three Strategies 106
All Growth is Not Good Growth
Broadening the Process, Transforming the Prototype, and Measuring What Really Matters to Evolve the Paradigm
04. INFRASTRUCTURAL OPPORTUNISM / Two Cases 120
I-11 Supercorridor 121
I-11 Supercorridor Studio
Mapping and Methods
Green Arrow Solutions / Findings
I-11 Supercorridor: Studio Projects
After the Projects: I-11 Supercorridor Impacts
Mobility For All By All: Northside-Southside MetroLink Expansion 184
MFABA Studio: Megaregion to Rail
City, County, and Regional Mapping
Northside-Southside Metrolink: Studio Projects
After the Projects: MFABA Impacts
A New Greenway
The Slow Pace of Implementation 224
05. CONCLUSION: Next Generation +10 / Options for a Contentious Era 228
WPA 2.0 + 10
Make No Little Plans / Infrastructure As Public Works
06. Notes from Sheltering in Place 248
Post-COVID Urbanism and Three Scales of Opportunity 249
National and Megaregional: Zero-Emissions Logistics, Geographic Symbiosis, Equitable Access and Distribution
City & Metro: Rethink Multi-modality, Value the Commons, Make All Infrastructure Next Gen Infrastructure
Neighborhood, Block, and Lot: Protect Density, Celebrate Cohesion, Support Local Micro-economies and Closed-Loop Living
Twelve Criteria for Next Generation Infrastructure
CREDITS 276
INDEX 282
LINDA C. Samuels VII
Aerial view of Interstate 10 (future Interstate 11), southern Arizona, March 2014
Image: Deyanira Nevarez Martínez
VIII INFRASTRUCTURAL OPTIMISM
LINDA C. Samuels IX