“We usually have a bit of flood once a week”: conceptualising the infrastructural rhythms of urban floods in Malate, Manila

Journal article

In Malate, a district of Manila, flooding is a frequent occurrence. This paper draws on in-depth interviews with Malate inhabitants to approach urban floods as more than discrete disastrous episodes which interfere with a pre-existing normality. The paper employs a Levebvrian conceptualisation of rhythm and entrainment, while also offering some reflections on the limits of its relevance to global South cities. Theorised from Malate, urban floods can be understood in terms of the mutual constitution of the social-technical-natural relations of urban infrastructures and the on-going disruptive rhythms of floodwater. We argue that the rhythms of floodwater are especially visible at the intersections of different yet interrelated urban infrastructures. In the Malate context, we focus on the infrastructures identified by research participants as pertinent to flood risk: drainage, domestic waste management, and transport and mobility. By tracing the spatial intersections and temporal rhythms of infrastructurally mediated urban floods, this paper contributes to a growing body of research into the situated hydrosocial relations of everyday life.

Authors: Plyushteva, A; Schwanen, T

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Journal: Urban Geography
• Volume: 44
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 1565-1583
• Publication date: 2022-07-29
• Acceptance date: 2022-07-20
• DOI: 10.1080/02723638.2022.2105003
• ISSN: 0272-3638
• Language: English
• Keywords: Philippines; Manila; urban flooding; infrastructural rhythms; infrastructural relations; flood risk; infrastructure; FFR; rhythm and entrainment