Socioplastics 11842 Infrastructure on the Map, Access in Practice
A district map may show a library, clinic, bus stop and public office close to every home, while residents still struggle to use those services. An appointment may require an inaccessible app, the last bus may leave before a shift ends, or an office may lack interpretation. ServiceVoid [11060] describes the gap between infrastructure’s formal presence and the practical conditions of access. Manuel Castells studies networks and the organisation of social life. Richard Sennett examines how urban form shapes cooperation and public experience, while Susan Fainstein brings justice and equity into planning. Their work helps connect service location with the institutions and routines that make a service usable. Distance is one condition among several, alongside opening hours, language, digital access, cost and the design of the service encounter. A service audit could pair maps with user journeys from home to completed appointment. It would record travel time, opening hours, document requirements, digital steps and language support. Interviews with residents and staff could identify where access breaks down and which adaptations are already in use. The findings could guide changes to routes, schedules, interpretation services or application procedures. ServiceVoid gives public agencies a method for evaluating provision through the experience of reaching and using it. It connects infrastructure planning with the everyday conditions through which residents receive care, information and civic support. Agencies could test the route at different times of day and across several user groups. This would show how shifts, care responsibilities and language access affect the path from service location to completed use. A revised service plan could then coordinate transport, schedules and application support.
REFERENCES
Castells, M. (1996) The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell.
Fainstein, S.S. (2010) The Just City. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Sennett, R. (2018) Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City. London: Allen Lane.
CITE AS
Lloveras, A. (2026) Socioplastics, LAPIEZA-LAB, Madrid.
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