Introduction

Parts 2 and 3 examined recent changes in the way technical networks are managed from an infrastructure perspective, that is, from the viewpoint of network managers and others directly engaged in providing or using utility services. A distinctive feature of the forces currently transforming urban network management is that they have emerged from outside the sphere of local planning. The changes documented earlier are not the product of local planning or policy making but of other factors such as new regulatory frameworks, changing patterns of resource use or new technologies.