Europe’s Infrastructure Transition


Book Description

Europe's infrastructure both united and divided peoples and places via economic systems, crises, and wars. Some used transport, communication, and energy infrastructure to supply food, power, industrial products, credit, and unprecedented wealth; others mobilized infrastructure capacities for waging war on scales hitherto unknown. Europe's natural world was fundamentally transformed; its landscapes, waterscapes, and airscapes turned into infrastructure themselves. Europe's Infrastructure Transition reframes the conflicted story of modern European history by taking material networks as its point of departure. It traces the priorities set and the choices made in constructing transnational infrastructure connections - within and beyond the continent. Moreover, this study introduces an alternative set of historically-key individuals, organizations, and companies in the making of modern Europe and analyzes roads both taken and ignored.




Integrating EuropeÕs Infrastructure Networks


Book Description

This timely book explores the long-standing process of infrastructural integration across Europe, with a particular focus on the EU member states. It illuminates the main economic infrastructure sectors, including transport, energy and information, examining how the process of infrastructural integration reflects an alignment of the needs of the states that are the main drivers behind this process.




Modernizing Infrastructure in Transformation Economies


Book Description

The design of infrastructure policies is a controversial issue in the transition economies of Eastern Europe, where the dismal state of infrastructure was widely regarded to be one of the major obstacles to economic recovery and sustained growth. With the imminent enlargement of the EU, Christian von Hirschhausen provides a detailed, reflective analysis of the state of infrastructure development in Eastern Europe.




Trans-European Networks


Book Description

Trans-European networks (TENs) are a key theme in the process of integration for the EU as it enters the next millennium. The attainment of these networks stretches across many different areas of European policy and economy. The development of TENs is about establishing a series of infrastructure networks that complement the broad changes in the European economy facilitated by the development of the Single European Market. The book examines the development of TENs in the three key sectors: transport, energy and telecommunications, noting key themes and issues that need to be faced in their attainment. Attention is also paid to common problems in their realisation most notably the financing problems. The EU's strategy to develop these networks is essentially market-led yet, as the financing issues indicate, a consensus between the states in allowing commercial investment in infrastructure is proving elusive.




The Making of Europe's Critical Infrastructure


Book Description

Europe's critical infrastructure is a key concern to policymakers, NGOs, companies, and citizens today. A 2006 power line failure in northern Germany closed lights in Portugal in a matter of seconds. Several Russian-Ukrainian gas crises shocked politicians, entrepreneurs, and citizens thousands of kilometers away in Germany, France, and Italy. This book argues that present-day infrastructure vulnerabilities resulted from choices of infrastructure builders in the past. It inquires which, and whose, vulnerabilities they perceived, negotiated, prioritized, and inscribed in Europe's critical infrastructure. It does not take 'Europe' for granted, but actively investigates which countries and peoples were historically connected in joint interdependency, and why. In short, this collection unravels the simultaneous historical shaping of infrastructure, common vulnerabilities, and Europe.




Missing Networks


Book Description




The Geopolitics of the Global Energy Transition


Book Description

The world is currently undergoing an historic energy transition, driven by increasingly stringent decarbonisation policies and rapid advances in low-carbon technologies. The large-scale shift to low-carbon energy is disrupting the global energy system, impacting whole economies, and changing the political dynamics within and between countries. This open access book, written by leading energy scholars, examines the economic and geopolitical implications of the global energy transition, from both regional and thematic perspectives. The first part of the book addresses the geopolitical implications in the world’s main energy-producing and energy-consuming regions, while the second presents in-depth case studies on selected issues, ranging from the geopolitics of renewable energy, to the mineral foundations of the global energy transformation, to governance issues in connection with the changing global energy order. Given its scope, the book will appeal to researchers in energy, climate change and international relations, as well as to professionals working in the energy industry.




From Economic to Energy Transition


Book Description

This book examines energy transition issues within the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. The European Union is aiming for an almost complete decarbonization of its energy sector by 2050. However, the path towards a carbon-free economy is full of challenges that must be solved by individual EU members. Across 18 chapters, leading researchers explore challenges related to energy transition and analyse individual EU members from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the region as a whole. To further explore this complex issue, the volume also includes several countries from South East Europe in its analysis. As perspective members, these countries will be important contributors to the EU’s mid- and long-term climate and energy goals. The focus on a variety of issues connected to energy transition and systematic analyses of the different CEE countries make it an ideal reference for anyone with a general interest in the region or European energy transition. It will also be a useful resource for students looking for an accessible overview of the field.




Infrastructure in Europe and Central Asia Region


Book Description

This study reviews the status and performance of the physical infrastructure in the transition economies of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region during the last 12 to 15 years and attempts to identify the challenges to be overcome to ensure sustainable provision of reliable infrastructural services at acceptable levels of quality. It basically deals with the transition economies consisting of 15 countries which were part of the former Soviet Union and 12 Eastern European states which were formerly part of the CEMA arrangements with the Soviet Union and refers to the data and experience of Turkey to provide a comparative perspective.




The Making of Europe's Critical Infrastructure


Book Description

Europe's critical infrastructure is a key concern to policymakers, NGOs, companies, and citizens today. A 2006 power line failure in northern Germany closed lights in Portugal in a matter of seconds. Several Russian-Ukrainian gas crises shocked politicians, entrepreneurs, and citizens thousands of kilometers away in Germany, France, and Italy. This book argues that present-day infrastructure vulnerabilities resulted from choices of infrastructure builders in the past. It inquires which, and whose, vulnerabilities they perceived, negotiated, prioritized, and inscribed in Europe's critical infrastructure. It does not take 'Europe' for granted, but actively investigates which countries and peoples were historically connected in joint interdependency, and why. In short, this collection unravels the simultaneous historical shaping of infrastructure, common vulnerabilities, and Europe.