The Material Geographies of the Belt and Road Initiative - Infrastructures and Political Ecologies on the New Silk Road

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), commonly called the New Silk Road, is a huge infrastructure project currently revitalising or creating new trading routes and large developments across the globe. It is estimated to cost up to US$8 trillion and impact more than 65% of the world's population.
This book explores the unequal ways this controversial project is altering livelihoods, places and the environment. From road building projects in Nairobi to grassroots environmental activism in Thailand, researchers from the Global North and South analyse the real-world impacts of this unprecedented project, bringing together critical geography and political ecology approaches.

About the author

Elia Apostolopoulou is Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London and Senior Associate at the University of Cambridge.

Han Cheng is Max Weber Foundation Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

Jonathan Silver is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield.

Alan Wiig is Associate Professor at the University of Florida.

Product details

• Assisted by: Elia Apostolopoulou (Editor), Han Cheng (Editor), Jonathan Silver (Editor), Alan Wiig (Editor)
• Publisher: Bristol University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 01.10.2025
• EAN: 9781529240634
• ISBN: 978-1-5292-4063-4
• No. of pages: 272
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography