Infrastructure Equality

Authors

Deborah N. Archer
Yuvraj Joshi

Publication Date

8-31-2025

Abstract

The United States’ racialized geographies have left communities of color with systematically inferior essential infrastructure that perpetuates their social and economic exclusion. From roads, public transportation, and sewage systems, to banks, high-speed internet, and high-quality public schools, people and communities of color have limited access to the fundamental infrastructure necessary to lead socially and economically vibrant lives. This Essay introduces “infrastructure equality” as a unifying framework to address the critical intersection of physical, social, and legal infrastructures that feed racial inequality. Drawing on multidisciplinary research, it argues that infrastructure—the interconnected and vital system of physical structures, networks, and social institutions—should be conceptualized as foundational to racial equality. The Essay then examines the legal system’s role in advancing this effort and considers the complex legal landscape that infrastructure equality advocates face following the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, which restricted race-conscious admissions policies in higher education and may serve as a cornerstone for further retrenchment on racial justice. As traditional legal approaches to identifying and challenging racial exclusion face new obstacles, this Essay argues for a renewed focus on the structural inequities that necessitate such interventions. Indeed, efforts to revive and reimagine race-conscious admissions policies will see limited success if communities of color continue to face the infrastructural inequalities that makes such programs necessary.

Recommended Citation

Deborah N. Archer and Yuvraj Joshi, Infrastructure Equality, 120 Nw. U. L. Rev. 135 (2025).
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/nulr/vol120/iss1/6