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Europe’s Infrastructure Transition

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How can infrastructures divide and unite people and places at the same time? How were they beneficial for supplying food, or used for waging wars on scales yet unknown?

In this Podcast book authors Per Högselius, Erik van der Vleuten and Arne Kaijser bring to you the story of the Nordstream natural gas pipeline and illustrate how transnational infrastructure projects are utilized as symbols of peace and friendly cooperation across continents. 


Also in this episode…

The authors elaborate on their personal fascination for researching and writing about the infrastructures that have built Europe as we know it today. America's intervention in Europe's Infrastructure Transition is being debated as the authors illustrate infrastructure's ever changing role in tensed political situations – sometimes serving to keeping countries together, while another time scaling up warfare. And did you know that infrastructures play a crucial role, in both creating and potentially depleting the biodiversity crisis?


Links 

  • You can purchase the book Europe's Infrastructure Transition at Palgrave Macmillan.
  • For more insights of the Making Europe book authors, visit our Blog.


Featuring in this episode

Per Högselius
Per Högselius Professor

Per Högselius (1973) is Professor at the Division of History of Science and Technology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm. He holds an MSc degree in Engineering Physics and History of Technology from KTH, a PhD in Innovation Studies from Lund University (Sweden) and a Docent degree (habilitation) in History of Science and Technology from KTH. He has also been a guest researcher at Bocconi University, Milan, and worked as an independent expert for the OECD. His research has focused on East-West relations in the history of science, technology and environment, with an emphasis on telecommunications, nuclear energy, electricity and natural gas – resulting, among other things, in a number of books published by leading academic publishers in Sweden, Germany, Britain and the United States. In Sweden, he is also active as an author of popular history books and technology- and culture-related newspaper essays. For more information feel free to visit: http://www.perhogselius.com

Erik van der Vleuten
Erik van der Vleuten Professor
Erik van der Vleuten is Professor of History of Technology at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, and scientific director of the Foundation for the History of Technology SHT. His latest books are Europe’s Infrastructure Transition: Economy, War, Nature (2015, with Per Högselius and Arne Kaijser) and Engineering the Future, Understanding the Past: A Social History of Technology (2017, with Ruth Oldenziel and Mila Davids).

Arne Kaijser
Arne Kaijser Professor
Arne Kaijser is Professor emeritus of History of Technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He was President of SHOT 2009-2010, and has been engaged in the Tensions of Network since its beginning. He has been co-editor of the books Networking Europe: Transnational Infrastructures and the shaping of Europe, 1850-2000 (2006) and The making of Europe´s Critical Infrastructure (2013) and a co-author of Europe’s Infrastructure Transition: Economy, War, Nature (2015).

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