Infrastructural politics amidst the coils of control

From contaminated water pipes to social media manipulation sinking cities, infrastructures increasingly appear at the heart of cultural, political, and environmental crises. As a technique governance, delegate control systems disperse power into environment. This special issue argues that engaging with infrastructural politics requires new tactics modes analysis which take seriously articulation, everyday life, meaning. The introductory essay situates project within critical cross-disciplinary literature on infrastructure political tradition Cultural Studies. We identify distinctive features politics, organized around concepts scale, formalization, imaginary, set forth common concerns raise questions for future research. Following this discussion, we introduce essays issue, spanning topics include emergency dispatch, automated music mastering, open pit coal mines, homeless encampments, police body cameras, sand. Throughout, is animated by commitment shared among founding figures Studies, activists, abolitionists: capacity critically engage in order improve lived conditions culture.