Research in Sociology of Technology and Environment at the University of Stuttgart encompasses studies on sustainable development, risks and sociotechnical transformation processes. A special focus is on infrastructure projects, their potentials, pertaining standards and challenges, requirements and implications (e.g., transformation of energy systems, transport systems, digitisation and automation). Infrastructure projects are often presented as all-encompassing solutions. However, infrastructures are always already in place, indispensable and unsatisfactory, in constant need of overhaul and improvement, under (re-) construction and posing new challenges and problems. Although they are commonly seen as a merely technical matter, they are articulate cultural ideas, social projects, sociotechnical codes and frames, and relations of power. At the same time, they critically influence social imaginations and practices and determine the living conditions in the Anthropocene. Against this background, our aim is to better understand the possibilities, requirements and preconditions for sustainable infrastructure change and its interrelations with societal, political, and participatory transformation processes.
