Seeing, smelling, listening: The corporeal dimension of maintaining urban infrastructures

POLLEN (Political Ecology Network) Conference, Barcelona, 29 June–03 July 2026

This contribution examines the crucial and ongoing work of maintaining networked infrastructures in Hamburg, Germany, which appear extremely stable and are characterized by a high level of technological advancement and digitalized control. Yet despite these technological standards, workers’ embodied skills and sensory expertise underpin the everyday operation of the city’s infrastructures.

Drawing on data collected through extensive archival research, interviews with employees of utility services, and participant observation with maintenance crews, this paper explores the corporeal and affective dimensions of maintenance and repair across sectors and historical periods. By centring the corporeality of maintenance and repair, as well as the bodies that perform these practices, this contribution sheds light on lesser-known aspects of infrastructural reproduction and, potentially, transformation.

More information
https://pollenpoliticalecology.network/pollen-2026/