Determining Suprastructures

Highways, rail networks, canals, and slag heaps shape not only the landscape but also perceptions of proximity and distance. This infrastructure acts simultaneously as a line of division and an axis of connection. It enables mobility while fragmenting space. Topographical features such as rivers, ridgelines, and former industrial sites overlap with logistical networks, forming a region in which social relations are closely tied to spatial structures. Infrastructure defines not only movement but also social time and spatial belonging. Questioning the persistence of these determinants opens up spaces for appropriation. Industrial forests, brownfields, transformed mining sites, and urban open spaces acquire new social meanings through cultural practices. What is at work here are no longer only formal arrangements, but social resonances emerging through practices of use and cultural attributions of meaning.