Infrastructural Antinomies: Determining The Role Of Highways In The Production Of Metabolic Rifts
Clarification: This essay is a minimally edited version of my capstone paper of the same name
Introduction:
The advent of our current age - defined by the development of the capitalist system of production - some two centuries ago has produced a series of profound transformations in both the socio-economic and, by extension, the socio-spatial structure of society. Amongst the most significant of these has been the pronounced, and oftentimes rapid, shift in the distribution of populations towards urban areas. This general phenomenon, commonly referred to as “urbanization”, has come to be understood as a direct consequence of the expansion of industry under the conditions of capitalist production. Figures, especially economic geographers such as David Harvey, argue that under these conditions, urban areas become the foremost repository for the simultaneous agglomeration and absorption of economic surpluses (Harvey 2008). The pronounced shifts in population distribution towards them are thus a product of structural necessity; rural migrants, often drawn to urban areas by economic opportunities, constitute a vast supply of labor that can both serve to produce surplus product (in the form of commodities), while also functioning as the primary conduit for the absorption of this very surplus, either through commodity consumption or through investments in infrastructure and other services to sustain continued growth (Harvey 2008).
The development of infrastructure, in particular, is one of the most significant factors determining the pace and scope of these aforementioned socio-economic and socio-spatial processes. Inasmuch as it can be conceived of as providing a conduit for the absorption of economic surpluses, infrastructure is also a necessary condition for their continued production through a process known as “spatial integration”; any failure to satisfy this condition invariably disturbs the universality of exchange upon which the functioning of capitalism is predicated (Harvey 2018). For this to occur, infrastructural development must effect a series of material transformations upon the physical landscape that facilitates, in some capacity, the expansion of circulatory capacities of labor, commodities and monetary capital. It is this particular relationship between the development of transportation infrastructure, as understood as a physical instantiation of the logic of capitalism, and the distinctive transformations in land use patterns that they engender that this paper seeks to address.
These transformations can be understood, in part, through the application of the Marxian concept of the “Metabolic Rift”, first propounded by the sociologist John Bellamy Foster. According to Foster, Marx maintained that human societies were imbricated within the broader ecological processes governing the natural world and, through their distinctive productive activities, produced particular forms of social metabolism between themselves and the rest of nature (Foster 1999; Clark et al. 2018; Saito 2023). Capitalism intervenes in these processes by directing the productive activities of humanity towards the accumulation and expansion of capital, producing profound ruptures between society and the natural world as ecological processes are increasingly disrupted by the economic demands imposed upon them. The development and construction of transportation infrastructure, insofar as it functions to facilitate resource extraction and the circulation of commodities, becomes one of the primary mechanisms implicated in the production of these aforementioned ruptures.
Although there appears to be minimal literature on the subject, the role that roads, and in particular, highways, play in producing these aforementioned ruptures remains of considerable interest for a litany of reasons. For one, there exists a relatively high degree of network integration across different functional classes of roadways; many small networks of arterial roads, oftentimes located in rural regions or on the urban periphery, are often well-integrated within the extensive networks of controlled-access highways that connect urbanized regions (Xie and Levinson 2007). This high level of network integration thus appears to greatly expand the territorial reach of capitalist production, extraction and circulation, facilitating the physical incorporation of increasingly large swaths of minimally developed or undeveloped land, oftentimes located in developing nations, into the global economy. This, in turn, tends to produce distinct transformations in land use patterns, particularly in rural and peri-urban areas, often producing patchworks containing various proportions of urbanized land, agricultural land and fragments of the pre-existing ecosystem (Song et. al 2016; Ji et al. 2014). This uneven patchwork of development directly disrupts flows of resources and energy within the broader environment, thereby precipitating the emergence of such negative phenomena as habitat degradation and urban sprawl. As such, the distinctive economic and ecological impacts associated with the widespread development of highways can thus be considered demonstrative of the role infrastructure plays in the physical production of “Metabolic Rifts” under prevailing economic conditions.
2. Research Methodology
This paper features three distinct types of secondary data analysis: Theoretical analysis, case evaluation conducted in multiple different geographic regions and archival research. The first section of the paper will consist of theoretical analysis, presented in the form of a literature review, with the aim of providing both a coherent definition of and a comprehensive background on the concept of the “Metabolic Rift”, tracing its historical and theoretical origins to determine the applicability of the concept to the development of physical infrastructure. The second section will also rely upon theoretical analysis to provide an account of the relationship between infrastructural development, in particular the development of transportation infrastructure, and the functioning of capitalism. The third and final section will rely upon case studies, as well as archival research, so as to analyze the extent to which the unique physical and spatial characteristics of highways allow them to be understood as a technology facilitating both capitalist circulation and the production of metabolic ruptures, insofar as the distinctive transformations in land use patterns they engender can be seen as reflective of both phenomena.
3. Literature Review:
3.1 Defining The Metabolic Rift
Any attempt at discerning the relationship between highways and the production of “Metabolic Rifts” necessitates undertaking an effort to define precisely what is meant by the term. As stated previously, the concept of the “Metabolic Rift”, though first conceived of by the sociologist John Bellamy Foster, is a direct descendant of Karl Marx’s inquiries into the myriad ecological transformations precipitated by the advent of the capitalist mode of production. Marx’s understanding of these transformations emerged from his account of the progression of history which, unlike many of his contemporaries, emphasized the material basis for the development of human society. According to Marx, human society emerged out of the need to organize the “production of the means to support human life” (Engels 1935) through the collective harnessing of humanity’s innate capacity to labor. All historical developments are thus directly descendant from the distinctive transformations in the manner by which these productive capacities are organized within society; the social relations which define a particular historical epoch are a reflection of the prevailing mode of economic production associated with it.
These transformations, however, cannot be conceived of as solely socio-economic in character. For Marx, the transformation in the productive capacities of a society also results in attendant transformations in the relationship between society and nature. The mode of production associated with a given historical epoch directly influences the ways by which this interchange of matter and energy between the environment and society transpires (Clark et al. 2018). For Marx, labor, as a fundamental aspect of human existence, is considered "a process between man and nature, a process by which man, through his own actions, mediates, regulates and controls the metabolism between himself and nature” (Marx 1976); accordingly, all forms of economic production invariably entail the “pulling out” or extraction of material from nature so as to fashion it for productive use. It is this so-called “universal metabolism”, referred to as Stoffwechsel in German, that thus forms the basis for humanity’s relationship with nature. Humans, despite modifying nature for their own uses, are still inextricably bound to it, inasmuch as what they produce requires the use of “energy and natural resources without exception” (Saito 2023); the metabolic relationships in which humans are enmeshed are “a ‘natural necessity’ that can never be suspended” (Saito 2023) and, at the same time, informed by the objective natural conditions which prevail in a particular place. Even as human productive capabilities are considered to change throughout history, and, as such, influence the objective conditions of production, they are invariably circumscribed within and constrained by these natural conditions; Marx conceives of these as constituting a “natural substratum” which persists throughout history and therefore “cannot be abolished” (Saito 2023). Any attempt made to violate this “natural substratum” therefore risks provoking the emergence of multiple ecological contradictions such as environmental degradation and pollution.
At the same time, the extent to which this “natural substratum” functions as an unassailable impediment to economic production is directly conditioned by the prevailing set of social relations under which labor is carried out, thereby rendering metabolism “a socio-historical process whose concrete forms significantly vary according to the structural relationships that exist in different times and places” (Saito 2023). Capitalism, as the prevailing socio-economic system governing the organization of contemporary society, has produced a distinctive form of social metabolism that materializes in a manner unlike that of other previous socioecological systems (Clark et al. 2018). Under these conditions, the practical activity of life, namely production, becomes directed towards the accumulation and continuous expansion of capital. Since there does not exist an absolute limit to these processes, their demands are, in effect, totalizing, functioning to subordinate not only all of society, but all of nature, to the imperatives of capital accumulation (Foster 1999; Saito 2023). As these demands grow in scope, the increased pressure imposed upon nature to satisfy them results in the destabilization of extant metabolic processes and, consequently, the universal metabolism of nature; as such, capitalist economic activity invariably results in the production of a series of rifts in the social metabolism between nature and society.
3.2 The Relationship Between Infrastructure And The Metabolic Rift
The significance of infrastructural development, in particular, that associated with transportation, to the formation and production of “metabolic rifts” is directly linked to the way by which it functions as a mechanism for spatial reconfiguration. Economic geographers such as David Harvey have come to consider physical space as a material attribute essential for the determination of use-value, given that “concrete useful labor produces use values at a particular place” (Harvey 2018). Commodity production under capitalism necessitates the conversion of use-values - defined as objects that satisfy a particular purpose or utility - into those produced for others, i.e. social use-values, that can be exchanged on the market. Commodities come to possess what Marx referred to as exchange-value, that is, a quantitative measure that determines the relationship between them; this entails an abstraction away from the use-value embedded in the commodity by means of the imposition of a medium of “universal equivalency”, often defined in monetary terms, that, in turn, permits the exchange between various forms of commodities.
One of the essential conditions for the functioning of this exchange relation is ensuring the effective exchange of commodities produced in various locations; this so-called “spatial integration” is a necessity if “value is to become the social form of abstract labor” (Harvey 2018), that is, if the process of commodity exchange is to occur. Any failure to achieve spatial integration “disturbs the universality of the value form” (Harvey 2018), thereby making exchange an impossibility. For this to be averted, it becomes imperative to reduce physical barriers to the movement of both commodities and money to a minimum. This, however, is contingent upon the precise way that capital, either in the form of commodities or money, can move; different states entail different levels of mobility. The achievement of spatial integration is thus dependent on reconfiguring space in such a way as to ensure the circulation of capital, in its myriad forms, within the economy.
The primary means by which this aforementioned circulation can be satisfied and maintained is through the establishment of transport relations. This often entails the development of an “efficient, spatially integrated transport system”, oftentimes organized through the establishment of a hierarchy of urban centers (Harvey 2018). In addition to the establishment of a highly integrated spatial hierarchy, the composition of transport relations are determined in part by the speed at which circulation can occur; questions concerning “spatial distance” become reducible to questions surrounding temporal constraints, insofar as the “important thing is not the market’s distance in space but the speed with which it can be reached” (Marx 2005). Both reductions in the time of movement and increases in the mobility of capital are therefore direct consequences of what Marx terms “the development of the forces of production” (Marx 2005). As technological revolutions in other sectors of the economy precipitate the continued expansion of capital, it is, therefore, necessary to establish new transport arrangements that seek to maintain capital circulation through reductions in these aforementioned impediments.
The construction of transportation infrastructure appears as a means by which these aforementioned arrangements can be materialized. All forms of transportation infrastructure, including road networks, railways and airports are thought to perform the same function within the capitalist economy which, according to Marx, entails the annihilation of spatial and temporal distance - commonly referred to as “space-time compression” - in order to increase both the rate and reach of capital circulation (Marx 2005; Saito 2023). The essential consideration governing the construction of transportation infrastructure is therefore a temporal one rather than a spatial one. Given that geographic distances remain static, the only means of increasing connectivity between locations is through the continuous modulation of costs and speed of transportation. The circulation of capital is therefore highly contingent upon the degree of spatial integration attainable under the infrastructural composition associated with a specific set of transport arrangements.
The development of transportation infrastructure, however, is associated with numerous environmental ramifications. All infrastructure is a form of “fixed capital”, that is, it is a physical asset that is used repeatedly in the production process. In the case of transportation infrastructure, much of this “fixed capital” is embedded in the built environment, often in the form of roads, railways, airports and various types of terminals. The construction of these various forms of transportation infrastructure invariably entails both the alteration of preexisting land-use patterns, so as to prioritize the operation of transportation infrastructure and, more commonly, the comprehensive reconfiguration of the environment. Each necessitates the destruction of the natural landscape, albeit to differing degrees, which results in environmental degradation, habitat loss and various forms of pollution (produced during both construction and subsequent operation). These negative impacts are often exacerbated by land speculation and rent-seeking, insofar as their role in coordinating and encouraging continued investment in transportation infrastructure effectively opens up more land for development than would otherwise be available through typical market mechanisms (Harvey 2018).
In addition, transportation infrastructure must continually be redeveloped in order to maintain its ability to facilitate capital circulation. Though the built environment “is long-lived, difficult to alter, spatially immobile and often absorbent of large lumpy investments”, it is also highly susceptible to devaluation (Harvey 1978; Harvey 2018). Under these conditions value, in the form of fixed capital, has to be immobilized “in order to achieve spatial integration and to eliminate spatial barriers to the circulation” (Harvey 2018). At some point, either due to decay, increased inefficiency or some other reason, the value embodied in transportation infrastructure, rather than serving to facilitate spatial integration, becomes an impediment to its attainment. Any preservation of particular values within a transportation network will inevitably come to constrain the expansion of value and, by extension, the expansion and circulation of capital (Harvey 2018). The continuous restructuring of transport relations made inevitable under these circumstances means that the construction of transportation infrastructure must continue unabated, therefore functioning to either sustain or exacerbate the negative environmental impacts associated with this process.
4. Analysis
4.1 The Network Topology of Highways
Highways and roads, as forms of transportation infrastructure, are directly implicated in the processes described above, yet their impacts, especially as it pertains to the production of “metabolic rifts”, differ from those associated with rail, air or sea transportation. One of the key distinctions that exist between highways and other forms of transportation infrastructure revolves around their unique network topology. Network topology, as typically defined, entails the particular arrangement of elements within a network of communication or transportation. In transportation geography, topological analysis is primarily concerned with examining the ways by which different spatial locations are thought to relate to each other through the composition of transportation networks. The long-standing interest amongst transportation geographers in examining the spatial structure of road networks is derived from the impact that particular arrangements have on performance and, in particular, the effects that such arrangements have upon patterns of land use (Xie and Levinson 2007).
In the case of highways, the relational character of different locations is determined primarily by the scalar nature of road networks. This scalar nature is a product of the relative heterogeneity endemic to road networks "considering the differentiated functional properties and operational performance” they possess (Xie and Levinson 2007). Roads and highways are typically organized through “functional classification”, the process whereby they are grouped into different classes “according to the character of service they are intended to provide” (Xie and Levinson 2007; Federal Highway Administration 1997); local streets typically emphasize access to land, while arterial roads emphasize a high level of mobility and collectors, as a means of connecting local and arterial roads, offer a compromise between the functions of both. In addition, roads possess different levels of operational performance (LOS), oftentimes conceived in terms of their level of service, that correspond to their functional classification. Though LOS governs concerns such as the frequency of speed changes and riding comfort, it is most important in the determination of vehicle operating speed and the kind and volume of traffic capable of being carried by a particular functional class of road (Xie and Levinson 2007). These functional classifications, along with the differences in operational performance that correspond with them, make road networks heterogeneous and, as such, scalar in nature.
This scalar structure, however, has direct implications for the circulation and expansion of capital and, by extension, the metabolic processes in which this circulation is imbricated. For one, the integration that exists between different functional classes of road networks, rather than serving as an impediment to capital circulation, has the effect of increasing its territorial reach. This is most evident when examining the relationship between resource extraction and the patterns of road construction they engender. Road networks constructed to facilitate resource extraction largely occur in “developing” nations, whose rapid economic development has been coupled with intensive resource exploitation; activities such as industrial logging, mining and oil and gas speculation have provided the economic impetus for the continued expansion of road infrastructure, often in remote areas not yet opened up for extraction (Laurance et al. 2009; Wilkie et al. 2000; Suárez et al. 2009).
In their analysis of the effects of road construction on tropical forests, Laurance et al. (2009) argue that the construction of paved highways in remote regions often tends to spawn large networks of spatially integrated secondary roads that have the effect of increasing the scope of the territory viable for resource extraction. For example, the 2000-kilometer-long Brasília-Belém Highway, constructed during the 1970s to connect Brasilia, Brazil’s administrative capital, with Belém, located in the north-eastern interior of the country, has resulted in the emergence of a 400-kilometer-wide “swath of forest destruction and secondary roads across the eastern Brazilian Amazon” (Laurance et al. 2009). Another highway, BR-174, under construction for decades, is intended to connect the Brazilian interior, namely the city of Manaus, with the Venezuelan border; construction was initially promoted “as a surgical cut through the forest”, with the aim of providing direct access to both Caribbean ports and the Venezuelan market (Laurance 1998). However, early on in the highway’s construction, former Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso announced that six million hectares of land adjacent to the highway would be opened to settlement and agricultural development, suggesting that the area to be farmed would be large enough to double Brazil’s agricultural production (Laurance 1998). Cardoso’s statement promoted the rapid development of the Amazon in direct proximity to the course of the highway, especially in areas close to Manaus, which can only be assumed to have increased considerably in the nearly three decades since development was initially authorized.
The environmental consequences associated with this approach to road development are both numerous and severe. As highways are a form of linear infrastructure, their construction in countries like Brazil typically adheres to a cut-and-fill approach to ensure the preservation of a uniform or gently fluctuating gradient (Laurance et al. 2009) This has the effect of disturbing natural hydrologic functions, causing increased flooding on the upstream side of road while causing desiccation downstream; this often leads to increases in sedimentation and erosion, which greatly destabilize pre-existing aquatic ecosystems (Laurance et al. 2009). Pollution, especially in the form of particulate matter, tends to increase due to vehicular traffic, as does the volume of nutrient runoff that leaches into streams and wetlands. Roads also have the effect of fragmenting ecosystems inhabited by terrestrial wildlife, leading to marked increases in vehicle roadkill and the disturbance of migratory or hunting patterns (Laurance 1998; Laurance et al. 2009). Lastly, highway construction invites human incursion into nature; this can range from increases in agricultural development in proximity to highways, as is the case in Brazil, to increases in hunting in areas directly accessible via highways or secondary roads that branch off of them, as is the case in much of Sub-Saharan Africa (Laurance et al. 2009).
4.2 Land Use Patterns Associated With Highway Development
The construction of highways also entails the emergence of a number of distinct forms of land use patterns that differ from those associated with other forms of transportation infrastructure. There is evidence to suggest that there exists a reciprocal relationship between changes in land use, the development of transportation infrastructure and population distribution (Iacono and Levinson 2009). Transportation infrastructure acts as a mechanism by which to increase the relative accessibility of various population centers with peripheral regions, while simultaneously integrating them through the outwards expansion of population they help to precipitate which, more often than not, results in the emergence of new residential, industrial and commercial centers (Ji et al. 2014; Voss and Chi 2006). This, in turn, leads to the demands placed upon existing transportation infrastructure to increase, thus resulting in the continued expansion and improvement of pre-existing transportation networks.
In the case of highways, the effect this aforementioned relationship has upon land use patterns, both directly and indirectly, can be understood through a phenomenon known as “landscape fragmentation”. Much of the land on the urban periphery that becomes subject to development due to highway expansion is agricultural; though much of this land eventually becomes built-up, the pattern of building associated with highway development is highly discontinuous. As a consequence, there has emerged a distinctive pattern of irregular development, defined by patchworks containing various proportions of urbanized land, agricultural land and, in some instances, remnants of the pre-existing ecosystem (Song et al. 2016). Part of the reasoning for this is due to the ease with which phenomena such as leapfrogging (a process whereby developers skip over vacant land in proximity to urban development to obtain cheaper land further away) can be facilitated due to the expansion of the highway network. As stated previously, highway development often results in the construction of numerous secondary roads, which means that development is not wholly restricted by proximity to the highway. Given that land prices are considerably cheaper - both on the urban periphery and in rural areas - than they are in areas already incorporated into the urban fabric, there is considerable incentive to conduct development in these areas.
This pattern of land use change is most evident when examining China, where the vast majority of development spurred by highway construction has resulted in the conversion of large swathes of agricultural land located on the urban periphery into built-up land. As one of the fastest urbanizing countries in the world, China has experienced unprecedented growth of its highway network to facilitate the migration of tens of millions of people to urban centers in search of economic opportunity; in Beijing alone, almost 1000 kilometers of highways were added over the course of two decades (Ji et al. 2014). The accelerated construction of highways driven by has stimulated considerable expansion of built-up land in proximity to new highway corridors and, consequently, the widespread conversion of agricultural land, initially for commercial purposes (such as logistics and e-commerce enterprises in Zhengjiang Province) and later for residential development. In Beijing, the transfer of agricultural land to built-up land accounted for 24% of the total built-up area in 2010, while in Zhengjiang, located adjacent to Shanghai, upwards of 90% of built-up land in proximity to highways had been converted from agricultural land, with most of it being located away from the urban core (Song et al. 2016; Ji et al. 2014).
There exist numerous environmental consequences associated with the patterns of landscape fragmentation caused by highway construction on the urban periphery. One of the direct consequences of the fragmentation of agricultural land precipitated by highway construction is the creation of physical barriers to energy flows in agricultural ecosystems, which contributes to the degradation of the physical environment by exacerbating processes such as soil erosion (Song et al. 2016). This, in turn, has the effect of destabilizing such societal necessities as food security and ecosystem resilience; dramatic reductions in farmland undermine the environmentally supportive functions that agricultural land provides, such as soil fertility, thereby jeopardizing the continued viability of capitalist economic expansion through land development. Lastly, this pattern of development is associated with marked increases in particulate pollution, either in the form of increased volumes of vehicle exhaust or through industrial discharge from industrial enterprise that threaten both human welfare and environmental integrity (Ji et al. 2014).
5. Conclusion
The analysis conducted in this paper has sought to clarify the relationship that exists between highways and the production of “metabolic rifts” under the socio-economic and socio-spatial conditions associated with economic output under capitalism. All human production, irrespective of historical epoch, is inseparable from the natural conditions under which it emerges. Capitalist production, despite its best efforts to rid itself of natural constraints, remains circumscribed within them; its rapacious appetite for growth, driven through the accumulation of capital, invariably produces irrevocable ruptures that destabilize the relationship between human society and nature, as natural constraints are transgressed in order to extract value and maintain the expansion of capital. Essential to this is the development of transportation infrastructure, inasmuch as it functions to erase extant spatio-temporal barriers to commodity exchange and capital circulation. However, as a materialization of arrangements amenable to the circulation of capital, the continued construction, expansion and reconfiguration of transportation infrastructure have significant environmental ramifications - namely those associated with changes in land use patterns - and can therefore be understood as one of the primary means by which metabolic rifts are produced
Highways, as a distinct form of transportation infrastructure, can be understood to produce these ruptures in two ways. The first of these is descendant from their distinctive network topology; their scalar structure greatly increases the territorial reach of resource extraction and capital circulation, often occurring through the construction of networks of highways and branching secondary roads in undeveloped areas. In addition, highway construction transforms land-use patterns in developed areas, resulting in the incorporation of agricultural land, often located on the urban periphery, into the urban fabric while simultaneously producing patchworks consisting of developed land, agricultural land and the pre-existing environment. Despite the environmental consequences associated with each differ in some capacity, both the scalar structure of highways, along with the land use changes they engender, function to destabilize the existing social metabolism between society and nature, either by enabling or directly producing many of the deleterious environmental effects, such as pollution and resource exhaustion, associated with capitalist production.
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