New Idea: Antestructure - How and why we build Infrastructure
I was thinking about the nature of Infrastructure and how there must be something antecedent to its existence. While doing that I might have invented a new concept. I'm calling this concept Antestructure. Based on the fact I'm getting a red line under the word showing spelling mistakes I think it might be a new concept :D
To define this new idea I need to describe some things:
Infrastructure is fundamentally the constructions and connections in a city/country that meets the needs of a nation/people.
Antestructure (Ante meaning before) is the things that come before and affects the emergent infrastructure. This includes the terrain and environment/climate of a particular place, the culture and mindset of a people and the level of technology that a people currently has.
The environment affects where you put things. Good fertile ground will be used for farming while rocky ground becomes a quarry and perhaps marshes get dug up and turned into a site for houses. The temperature and weather will have a great effect on how sturdy or insulated a house will be built. A mountainous region will make digging roads more difficult and you will have winding roads like those in the Himalayas instead of straight highways like you see in the USA. π£
The culture of a people will have a considerable effect on the kind of settlements and cities they will build. Will there be schoolhouses or big universities? Will they build sports centres or public parks? Shrines or churches? Maybe a combination of all of these. π π
Technological knowledge and ability will have a massive effect on emergent infrastructure. Perhaps the people will build nuclear power plants or just be content to live simply without much modern comforts like electricity and central heating. Perhaps they will use more natural technologies like earth adobe housing instead of mass produced concrete mix and steel beams. Instead of tarmac roads they use dirt or cobblestones. β‘π‘π
The mindset can certainly have an effect. Build where its easiest, build it cheaply or build it to last in challenging conditions. Mindset is the most fundamental because everything we make starts as a thought. Maybe the people want primitive society and not advanced society. π¨π»βπΎπ©π»βπΎ
All of these Natural and Abstract things come together to form what I am coining as Antestructure. The things that influence Infrastructure.
Thanks for reading! π΄ββ οΈ "We create our own path!"