ABSTRACT
In this chapter and the next, I work through several of my own efforts to think about the travels of theory through an investigation of four rather unrelated themes in urban studies. Three of these are widely used terms in the literature: environmental justice, urban appropriation and the modern infrastructure ideal. The fourth theme is more difficult to label. It is an idea that underpins, but is rarely a focal point, urban investigations: the relationship between work, virtue and the politics of distribution.
