Elevated railway structures (ERS) has for more than a century been evolving as an urban archetype. Present in various forms in cities across the globe, to transport the increasing number of citizens, ERS are urban infrastructures that perform a vital role in curbing congestion and pollution that plague cities so often. In spite of their sustainable transport benefits, ERS are often viewed negatively as noisy, ugly and severing urban form, amongst other problems which will be elaborated on - problematising ERS. A theorisation of these problems follows, looking at ERS as an urban type, an infrastructural typeand other typologies. 39 types of ERS interventions are described as the result of a global literary and experiential search of various instances of ERS and projects that seek their urban integration. It is a search for the potentials of ERS to contribute to urban life and urban form, beyond their main transport function - potentializing ERS.