Urban Geography, Planning and Political Processes

The article following the infrastructure of empire by Deborah Cowen presents an interesting argument in relation to infrastructural developments and the forms of depriving activities associated with these developments most so to the vulnerable in the society. From the start of her article to the last section, she addresses the plight of the slave right from pre-colonial to colonial periods and even to the post-colonial periods where common citizens were still displaced for the purpose of infrastructural constructions such as the construction of rail lines and pipeline systems that majorly benefited few companies within the country.

The article presents the flow of infrastructure through empires starting from the colonial periods. However, how these rail and road infrastructures are contributed to the development of towns along the terminus, to some they accompanied the worst experience. As Richards and Wilson describe a city as the maker of colonial civilization The article further describes the political influence in the development of railroads across Canada as the transfer of land to white settlers in Canada was highly attributed to political interference causing a tussle between native landowners with the CPR and railroad contractors. The issue of land speculators spread across Europe, from Canada to New York to Toronto, Montreal, and to London where they bought land from CPR and then resold them. Considering the method of land acquisition for these infrastructural developments that eventually led to the development of urban centers to some extent was not justifiable since it was associated with discrimination and racial segregation as blacks and Chinese were inferiorly treated in the entire process.

The article gives crucial information regarding the development of colonial urban centers along with the transport infrastructures such as railroad construction. The arguments provided by the writer are quite relevant and convincing in relation to how the whole process of expanding the interior through infrastructural expansion paved the way for colonialism. Despite the struggles and resistance faced during the construction of these infrastructures, the outcome bore positive fruits, for instance, the construction of a pipeline that connected different social locations even though it was regarded as the politics of infrastructure. The theme presented in this article is much relevant to the study objectives as it expounds on the interconnections between politics, colonialism, and infrastructural developments that lead to the growth of towns in entire Europe and other parts of the world. method of presentation of the ideas gives insight to the main topic of discussion as the work is presented in subsections with an adequate explanation of the events and how the processes were executed and conclusion on each section. In conclusion, weighing my opinion on the article, I concur with the authors’ school of thoughts on matters relationship between urban cities, politics, and colonialism.

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