The Streets of Los Angeles: Power and the Infrastructure Landscape

The following paper deals with the relation between infrastructure and power. Against the background of social processes of postmodernisation, the development of the road infrastructure of Los Angeles will be analysed. Heinrich Popitz's theory of power, which distinguishes between power of action (Aktionsmacht), instrumental (instrumentelle), authoritative (authoritative) and data establishing power (Daten setzende Macht), serves as a basis for the analysis of power. It will be shown that mass mobilisation is connected with all four types of power. Authoritative power as unquestioned imperative of the organisation of everyday life with the help of cars, and data establishing power of the general orientation of transportation to road traffic, play a central role. The paper shows the historical development of different aspects of the power definition of infrastructure, especially viewed in the context of the reduction of contingency through the loss of importance of alternative modes of transport.