Mapping: Infrastructure
Mapping: Infrastructure
We live at the surface of a layered world. We move from place to place on top of streets and sidewalks, by foot, bike, and car – thinking little about what we’re walking upon. Not just the Earth, but what we’ve stuck below. We love to outsource our dirty work – carrying energy, water, information, and sewage – to pipe, wire, and conduit below the ground and in the sky. We only care about these things when they break, even though we rely on them all day, every day.
Inspired by my experiences last summer as an intern at a Japanese natural gas company, I attempted to map vestiges of infrastructure. These telltale signs of the world beneath are not the whole story: the true story is carried by the gas, water, electricity, telephone, and sewage services we use, without a second thought.
And sometimes, there’s a world above, too.
