ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of infrastructure, alongside planning and related fields of public policy, has had and can have in creating or steering urban futures. Neuman makes a strong case that in the era of 'networks of networks' infrastructure is even more the maker of cities. He traces the relationship of US city planning with infrastructure development, suggesting that the most effective eras of planning were when engineers and planners cooperated within the municipalities and states which were at the cutting edge of progressive urban change. Since 2011, one UK research program, the Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium, has been modelling different options across all the major environmental sectors, so bringing some more scientific clarity to the discussion of options. The national infrastructure strategies have been created since 2008, alongside National Planning Frameworks made since 2005. Sensible governing systems are critically important, as are financing arrangements, the French transport funding depending to a significant degree on the payroll tax.
