Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Soc Stud Sci. 2023 Feb;53(1):102-120. doi: 10.1177/03063127221126465. Epub 2022 Oct 14.
This article is about a brief controversy that erupted in 2015 around the City of Montreal's plan to divert 8 billion liters of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River while it conducted critical maintenance on its sewer infrastructure. In the end, though, the Flush was non-eventful: It went ahead as planned and with no lasting effects or complaints. We suggest that the best way to understand how the City averted the crisis is through the concept of 'affective maintenance'. If infrastructures are meant to be uneventful (i.e. narratively stable and generally lacking in surprise ruptures) then the maintenance of public affect is as important to their functioning as the physical work that keeps sewage flowing in the right direction.
本文主要探讨了 2015 年蒙特利尔市计划将 80 亿升未经处理的污水排入圣劳伦斯河，同时对其下水道基础设施进行关键维护时引发的短暂争议。然而，最终Flush 事件并未造成任何持久影响或引起民众不满。我们认为，了解该市如何避免这场危机的最佳方法是通过“情感维护”这一概念。如果基础设施旨在保持平静（即叙事稳定，通常不会出现意外破裂），那么维护公共情感对于其正常运行与确保污水能够正确排放同样重要。
