Stefan Janković


The main aim of the book Cities, Anthropocene, Infrastructures. On Urban Ontology of Uncertainty by Stefan Janković is to explore, in the wake of the so-called infrastructural turn, how infrastructures can be “opened up” in certain ways and thereby enhance sensitivity to broader metabolic processes in cities under the conditions of the Anthropocene. In this context, infrastructures are understood far more broadly than as mere carriers, mediators, or passive actors in urban processes. Rather, they are conceived as vital ontological nodes that enable urban vitality and constitute the foundations of everyday urban life. Accordingly, the author initially situates infrastructures as an issue of shared urban commons, while shifting the focus away from the narrow question of access to infrastructure toward an understanding of infrastructures as vital connections that need to be cultivated in new ways, beyond questions of ownership and appropriation. Another objective of the book is to develop, from a broad perspective, a deeper understanding of new epistemologies of cities, with a strong emphasis on urban metabolisms and the relationship between cities and planetary, more-than-human processes. In this regard, the advocacy of infrastructures as shared urban commons is articulated through informal modes of use, openness, and cooperation that bridge the gap between lay actors and experts and open up space for new forms of political engagement and participation. Finally, a key motivation of this analysis is to reflect on possible planning practices, as well as to familiarize the domestic audience with contemporary debates in urban theory.