Inverse Infrastructures

Disrupting Networks from Below

Edited by Tineke M. Egyedi, Delft Institute for Research on Standardization and Donna C. Mehos, Senior Researcher, Energy and Industry, Department of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

The notion of inverse infrastructures – that is, bottom-up, user-driven, self-organizing networks – gives us a fresh perspective on the omnipresent infrastructure systems that support our economy and structure our way of living. This fascinating book considers the emergence of inverse infrastructures as a new phenomenon that will have a vast impact on consumers, industry and policy. Using a wide range of theories, from institutional economics to complex adaptive systems, it explores the mechanisms and incentives for the rise of these alternatives to large-scale infrastructures and points to their potential disruptive effect on conventional markets and governance models.

‘This volume makes several valuable contributions to the topic, particularly in expanding the understanding of how to best cultivate the formation and success of inverse infrastructures over time.’
– James Alleman and Andrew Richard Schrock, Digiworld Economic Journal

‘The traditional analysis of infrastructure networks has provided the conceptual rationalization for centralized monopolies for a century. In recent years, liberalization has shown that much wider participation can be beneficial. Innovative development in decentralized networks can be driven from below if government policies permit it, as vividly demonstrated by the Internet. This book contributes to a much needed exploration into the characteristics and implications of decentralized networks being driven from below, introducing new perspectives on the conception and analysis of infrastructure networks.’
——威廉·h·旋律,Aalborg大学sity, Denmark and Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands