title: Infrastructures and feelings of ontological (in)security in times of crisis: Lessons from rural areas in British Columbia
Creators: name: Dihlmann, Carl‐Jan
name: Helbrecht, Ilse
Publisher: name: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: geographical imaginations
subject: infrastructure
subject: infrastructural autonomy
subject: ontological security
subject: rural areas
subject: infrastructures
subject: zones rurales
subject: sécurité ontologique
subject: imaginaires géographiques
subject: autonomie infrastructurelle
subject: 910 Geografie und Reisen

description: In government guidelines the strengthening of rural infrastructure is often seen as a central building block to create economically prosperous, well‐developed rural regions and to support the well‐being of local communities. We challenge this assumption by analyzing the subjective handling of infrastructures in a remote rural area in British Columbia, Canada. Based on the analysis of empirical material from photography‐supported interviews, we argue that fully capturing the influence of infrastructures on local communities requires a relational approach to infrastructures understood as infrastructuring. Derived from the conceptualization of infrastructuring in science and technology studies, we developed the notion of infrastructural autonomy. With the notion of infrastructural autonomy, we are able to outline our findings that subjective and place‐sensitive handlings of infrastructures promote gains in personal ontological security. Based on our qualitative study, we argue that a closer examination of the subjective relation between a place, its infrastructure, and its inhabitants is crucial to understand the infrastructural needs of a place as well as the well‐being of its users.
description: Dans les directives et politiques gouvernementales, la consolidation des infrastructures rurales est souvent vue comme un élément essentiel pour façonner des régions rurales prospères et soutenir le bien‐être des communautés locales. Nous remettons en cause ce postulat en analysant le traitement subjectif des infrastructures dans une zone rurale isolée de la Colombie‐Britannique, au Canada. En nous appuyant sur l'analyse de matériel empirique issu d'entretiens photographiques, nous soutenons qu'il est nécessaire d'adopter une approche relationnelle des infrastructures afin de saisir pleinement l'influence des infrastructures sur les communautés locales. Plus précisément, nous avons développé une notion d'autonomie infrastructurelle dérivée de la conceptualisation des infrastructures dans les études scientifiques et technologiques. Grâce à cette notion d'autonomie infrastructurelle, nous pouvons affirmer que les manipulations subjectives et sensibles aux lieux associées aux infrastructures entraînent des gains en matière de sécurité ontologique personnelle. De plus, en nous basant sur notre étude qualitative, nous soutenons qu'une analyse plus approfondie de la relation subjective entre un lieu, ses infrastructures et ses habitants est cruciale afin de comprendre les besoins en infrastructures d'un lieu ainsi que le bien‐être des usagers.
description: Key messages: Counter to the modernist equation in which infrastructural development leads to greater well‐being, we argue that individual and place‐sensitive handlings of infrastructure may increase ontological security. Fully grasping the relation between a place, its infrastructures, and its inhabitants requires adopting a subjective approach to infrastructure—“infrastructuring”—to reveal concealed insights into infrastructural needs. Based on a qualitative case study from rural British Columbia, the concept of “infrastructural autonomy” supports an understanding of the relational and place‐sensitive character of infrastructures.