Scales, levels of agency and condensation

Abstract

My objective in this essay is not to analyse or criticize the diverse theoretical positions that make up the ample and complex field of debates on scale. Instead, in what follows, I first seek to contribute to mapping some of the main issues involved in the notion of scale, before turning to explore megaprojects as one of the most productive scenarios for us to conceptualise different scales. While acknowledging the importance of theorising scale, I posit that the notion of levels of agency provides a more powerful heuristic. Taking my own conceptual trajectory as an example, this paper also shows how interpretive metaphors and tools are refined over time. In the third and final part, I advocate in favour of using the Freudian notion of condensation to (re)conceptualise the heteroclite powers of structuration of different levels of agency.

Keywords

• scale
• megaprojects
• levels of agency
• condensation