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Beyond linear progress : Towards a material-temporal understanding of infrastructural unmaking

van Veelen, Bregje LU orcid and Kuchler, Magdalena (2026) In Futures 175.
Abstract

The implementation of low-carbon futures requires both the assembling of new technologies, and practices, as well as the ‘unmaking’ of extant high-carbon infrastructures. Here, we bring together geographical, STS, anthropological, and sociological thinking on time to re-conceptualise such processes of unmaking. We argue that a focus on temporalities is especially pertinent to the unmaking of material energy infrastructure, as the emergence of fossil fuel societies has also enabled a particular temporality of the future to take hold; one that is linear, future-oriented, and full of promise. The unmaking of energy infrastructures will likely rub up against this temporal form of thinking that dominates modern life. By drawing on three... (More)

The implementation of low-carbon futures requires both the assembling of new technologies, and practices, as well as the ‘unmaking’ of extant high-carbon infrastructures. Here, we bring together geographical, STS, anthropological, and sociological thinking on time to re-conceptualise such processes of unmaking. We argue that a focus on temporalities is especially pertinent to the unmaking of material energy infrastructure, as the emergence of fossil fuel societies has also enabled a particular temporality of the future to take hold; one that is linear, future-oriented, and full of promise. The unmaking of energy infrastructures will likely rub up against this temporal form of thinking that dominates modern life. By drawing on three temporal concepts – ruination, suspension, and lingering – we explore how we can conceptualise the temporal dimensions of unmaking material infrastructures more explicitly, and differently. Through foregrounding the multifaceted interactions between the legacies of the past, the realities of the present, and the possibilities of the future we put forward an understanding of infrastructural unmaking and low-carbon futures that seeks to go beyond the confines of linear progress.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Decarbonisation, Energy, Infrastructure, Temporalities, Unmaking
in
Futures
volume
175
article number
103730
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105021106393
ISSN
0016-3287
DOI
10.1016/j.futures.2025.103730
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Authors
id
254a19b3-ec7c-46d4-848e-8feb87dca50a
date added to LUP
2025-11-24 19:53:01
date last changed
2025-12-19 16:20:32
@article{254a19b3-ec7c-46d4-848e-8feb87dca50a,
  abstract     = {{<p>The implementation of low-carbon futures requires both the assembling of new technologies, and practices, as well as the ‘unmaking’ of extant high-carbon infrastructures. Here, we bring together geographical, STS, anthropological, and sociological thinking on time to re-conceptualise such processes of unmaking. We argue that a focus on temporalities is especially pertinent to the unmaking of material energy infrastructure, as the emergence of fossil fuel societies has also enabled a particular temporality of the future to take hold; one that is linear, future-oriented, and full of promise. The unmaking of energy infrastructures will likely rub up against this temporal form of thinking that dominates modern life. By drawing on three temporal concepts – ruination, suspension, and lingering – we explore how we can conceptualise the temporal dimensions of unmaking material infrastructures more explicitly, and differently. Through foregrounding the multifaceted interactions between the legacies of the past, the realities of the present, and the possibilities of the future we put forward an understanding of infrastructural unmaking and low-carbon futures that seeks to go beyond the confines of linear progress.</p>}},
  author       = {{van Veelen, Bregje and Kuchler, Magdalena}},
  issn         = {{0016-3287}},
  keywords     = {{Decarbonisation; Energy; Infrastructure; Temporalities; Unmaking}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Futures}},
  title        = {{Beyond linear progress : Towards a material-temporal understanding of infrastructural unmaking}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103730}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.futures.2025.103730}},
  volume       = {{175}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}