3.4 Analysis
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businesses talk about ecosystems in a completely different context. For me, an ecological
infrastructure is like a sex doll. It has all the passion, all the mystery, all the nuances and
everything else stripped out of it. It just becomes a material entity. Nature is my lover. For
me, when we talk about an ecological infrastructure, we become quite mechanistic about
the way we think about nature. One of the reasons I am pushing this is that if we want to
connect with society, we need to use terms that people will understand.
Respondent 4’s answer highlights the way that the concept of an ‘ecological infrastructure’ is used. For him, the term functions not only as a scientific concept, but also
as a reconstruction of nature to involve various disciplines and professions, in order
to effectively implement ecological infrastructure initiatives. The fact that society
wants to involve economists and engineers shows the pervasiveness of a positivist
inclination towards solving problems, by utilising nature as an ‘infrastructure’ type.
Understanding a green infrastructure within a specific context also came to the
fore during Respondent 5’s answer. She is a municipal official, who specified that:
Well, by ‘green infrastructure’, I understand reducing, re-using and recycling. That is my
initial understanding. I would relate an ecological infrastructure more to rivers and streams,
securing our riparian zones and that we should have enough plants and matter to clean the
water…
Respondent 7, a senior researcher at the CSIR said that, for him, a green infrastructure is ‘[e]ssentially…investment and development in projects in the green economy
space’. When I asked him if there is a difference between green and ecological
infrastructures, he answered by saying:
In theory…there should be a difference. An ecological infrastructure, to me, is more about
things like floating wetlands, which are very specific projects, technologies or infrastructures
that are developed to assist with ecological aspects, like water functioning in the water space
and others. A green infrastructure is something like a green building, or it could be a roof
top garden [Figure 3.4], or solar panels on the roof… It is at a higher level and talks to the
whole idea of the sustainable development debate.
He defines a green infrastructure within the context of sustainable development,
which, by implication, relates to biodiversity protection and ecosystem services,
as mentioned above. For him, a green infrastructure is a component of sustainable
development that lends a structural meaning to the way in which he frames the
concept.
Respondent 8, a researcher from WESSA, answered in narrative form when I
asked him about his understanding of the concept of a green infrastructure. He uses
the concept ‘ecological infrastructure’, instead of ‘green infrastructure’, and noted
that he is, just like Respondent 15, ‘quite comfortable with the SANBI definition’
(p. 5). In his account, he stated that:
For me, it’s the natural infrastructure, a non-man-made and non-built infrastructure that
supplies goods and services to people. So, for me this means fresh air, water and food.
It is also linked to the energy nexus… A colleague of mine met with Cyril Ramaphosa
just before he was elected President, and Ramaphosa asked him: “What is an ecological
infrastructure?” And [my colleague]… took the whole forum to the window. It was there,
in the Union buildings, that he said: “Do you see the hills?… [T]hose are the Magaliesberg
[Figures 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8] and some people might say that they are underdeveloped.” He also
93
businesses talk about ecosystems in a completely different context. For me, an ecological
infrastructure is like a sex doll. It has all the passion, all the mystery, all the nuances and
everything else stripped out of it. It just becomes a material entity. Nature is my lover. For
me, when we talk about an ecological infrastructure, we become quite mechanistic about
the way we think about nature. One of the reasons I am pushing this is that if we want to
connect with society, we need to use terms that people will understand.
Respondent 4’s answer highlights the way that the concept of an ‘ecological infrastructure’ is used. For him, the term functions not only as a scientific concept, but also
as a reconstruction of nature to involve various disciplines and professions, in order
to effectively implement ecological infrastructure initiatives. The fact that society
wants to involve economists and engineers shows the pervasiveness of a positivist
inclination towards solving problems, by utilising nature as an ‘infrastructure’ type.
Understanding a green infrastructure within a specific context also came to the
fore during Respondent 5’s answer. She is a municipal official, who specified that:
Well, by ‘green infrastructure’, I understand reducing, re-using and recycling. That is my
initial understanding. I would relate an ecological infrastructure more to rivers and streams,
securing our riparian zones and that we should have enough plants and matter to clean the
water…
Respondent 7, a senior researcher at the CSIR said that, for him, a green infrastructure is ‘[e]ssentially…investment and development in projects in the green economy
space’. When I asked him if there is a difference between green and ecological
infrastructures, he answered by saying:
In theory…there should be a difference. An ecological infrastructure, to me, is more about
things like floating wetlands, which are very specific projects, technologies or infrastructures
that are developed to assist with ecological aspects, like water functioning in the water space
and others. A green infrastructure is something like a green building, or it could be a roof
top garden [Figure 3.4], or solar panels on the roof… It is at a higher level and talks to the
whole idea of the sustainable development debate.
He defines a green infrastructure within the context of sustainable development,
which, by implication, relates to biodiversity protection and ecosystem services,
as mentioned above. For him, a green infrastructure is a component of sustainable
development that lends a structural meaning to the way in which he frames the
concept.
Respondent 8, a researcher from WESSA, answered in narrative form when I
asked him about his understanding of the concept of a green infrastructure. He uses
the concept ‘ecological infrastructure’, instead of ‘green infrastructure’, and noted
that he is, just like Respondent 15, ‘quite comfortable with the SANBI definition’
(p. 5). In his account, he stated that:
For me, it’s the natural infrastructure, a non-man-made and non-built infrastructure that
supplies goods and services to people. So, for me this means fresh air, water and food.
It is also linked to the energy nexus… A colleague of mine met with Cyril Ramaphosa
just before he was elected President, and Ramaphosa asked him: “What is an ecological
infrastructure?” And [my colleague]… took the whole forum to the window. It was there,
in the Union buildings, that he said: “Do you see the hills?… [T]hose are the Magaliesberg
[Figures 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8] and some people might say that they are underdeveloped.” He also