Sociotechnical Change: Tracing Flows, Languages, and Stakes Across Diverse Cases| The Stadium as Sociotechnical Change

Abstract

Stadiums appear to be singular colossal structures—hosts of spectacular performances that are removed from the everyday environs they loom over. Yet they are intricately networked with the built and social environments around them. They are technologies that change the relationships between the material and the sociocultural elements of their surroundings. In this article we zoom into SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, to explore how the stadium redirects flows through complex local and global networks. We trace how the stadium mobilizes flows of state funding for transit infrastructure; convenes a network of security actors and local and federal resources; and attracts media attention, circulating competing discourses and images. Approaching stadiums as networked infrastructure highlights how the development of a stadium produces uneven outcomes.