Objective New roads are being constructed at unprecedented rates in certain parts of the world. The proposed research will ask: Why? To what end? Who benefits? What ideas lie in the foundations of this new infrastructure? Roads are presented as solutions to poverty, ‘development’ and economic growth? Are they? In what ways? What else might roads do? As cheap oil dwindles and questions of climate change remain, why are so many international institutions cultivating new roads?The project will provide the first ethnographic account of the culture of road builders, their knowledge practices, inter-relations and motivations. The research will be rooted in case studies of particular road projects in Pakistan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka. These sites have been selected to bring to the fore how nation-building, neo-liberalism, ambition, environmental vulnerability and modernity feature in contemporary road-building. We will look at the organisation of road building on the ground, in offices, and within a broader array of institutions and state bodies in national and international contexts in order to understand the global cultures of road-building practice.The project is academic in design and will contribute to various pressing and critical debates relating to power, global justice and environmental futures. The subject also merits wider discussion and at the core of the research design is an innovative collaboration between anthropologists and leading contemporary artists. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-CG-2013-SH2 - ERC Consolidator Grant - Institutions, Values, Beliefs and behaviour Call for proposal ERC-2013-CoG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-CG - ERC Consolidator Grants Host institution SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES ROYAL CHARTER EU contribution € 1 212 468,70 Address THORNHAUGH STREET RUSSEL SQUARE WC1H OXG London United Kingdom See on map Region London Inner London — West Camden and City of London Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Tanya Roumelioti (Mrs.) Principal investigator Edward Simpson (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (3) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES ROYAL CHARTER United Kingdom EU contribution € 1 212 468,70 Address THORNHAUGH STREET RUSSEL SQUARE WC1H OXG London See on map Region London Inner London — West Camden and City of London Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Tanya Roumelioti (Mrs.) Principal investigator Edward Simpson (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH United Kingdom EU contribution € 591 274,50 Address OLD COLLEGE, SOUTH BRIDGE EH8 9YL Edinburgh See on map Region Scotland Eastern Scotland Edinburgh Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Angela Noble (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Critical Art and Media Practices (CAMP) India EU contribution € 194 415,60 Address 8 Punam CHS, 29/30 Union Park, Khar (w) 400052 Mumbai See on map Activity type Other Administrative Contact Ashok Sukumaran (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Total cost No data