Digging a whole: an ethnographic exploration of underground infrastructure projects

The underground plays a central yet enigmatic role in many infrastructure projects. Culturally, infrastructure projects have long been regarded as the epitome of human achievement. Underground infrastructures that transport electricity, gas, water, and data reflected man’s conquering another force of nature – the underground is no longer a place of danger and death, but just another instrument that facilitates modern lives to go on as planned. These utilities, hidden beneath the pavement, are however deteriorating and require renovation and reconstruction. An increase in demand moreover requires the capacity of these networks to expand, creating competition over scarce space. Underestimating the complexities involved with the urban underground echoes a narrative in which Western industrialized lives are built upon seemingly empty foundations. Geologists claim that the ‘Anthropocene’ is an epoch marked by uncertainty at a large scale, as people continue to exhaust scarce resources beyond planetary boundaries at a speed unprecedented in our history. This book is based on two years of ethnographic research, and reveals how project managers and asset managers tolerate underground uncertainties, without delaying decision making. A complex dynamic characterizes their relationship to the underground. The underground has become a necessary resource and an estranged rival. Looking away might no longer be the best strategy.