In Our Own Backyard Principles for Effective Improvement of the Nation's Infrastructure (1993) / Chapter Skim
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2 Thinking Broadly About Infrastructure
2 Thinking Broadly About Infrastructure
Pages 19-36
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From page 19... ...
, Choate and Walter (1981~; Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 1983) , National Infrastructure Advisory Committee ~AC, 1984)
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From page 20... ...
Now defined (by Webster's dictionary) as an "underlying foundation or basic framework," infrastn~cture has come to connote a diverse collection of constructed facilities and associated services, ranging from airports to energy supply to landfills to wastewater treatment.
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From page 21... ...
To the specific modes cited in that description should be added systems of public buildings schools, health care facilities, government offices, and the like. These facilities—not as individual buildings, but tied together by the functional and administrative systems they house provide important services to the public at large, in much the same fashion as highways and water supply facilities (see Henning et al., 1991, for examples.
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From page 22... ...
comprise the hard core of the concept, but to discuss infrastructure only In terms of facilities neglects the important services provided by both private enterprise and public agencies, that are enabled by these facilities. _ The creation and distribution of these infrastructure services occur through distinct economic and social actions that are influencer!
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From page 23... ...
Production costs for goods and services are estimated to be as much as 30 percent higher in some cities of the developing world because firms must provide their own water and power supplies (Lee et al., 1986~. Low economic productivity and high rates of morbidity and mortality, particularly among the young, are endemic results of poor water supplies, roads, and waste management, as well as other infrastructure deficiencies, in less developed nations.
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From page 24... ...
The success of such corporations as Federal Express and DHL in air parcel delivery, for example, reflects the development of new private infrastructure services based on existing public infrastructures. The national infrastructure debate of the last decade has been shaped by a variety of economic, social, and environmental forces thee sometimes raise obstacles and at other times present opportunities to both private and public providers of infrastructure.
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From page 25... ...
Currently, that perception is said to be changing and lifetimes are lengthening as designers reach the ceiling of thermodynamic efficiency in conventional generation technology, but new technologies offering higher efficiencies (such as gas turbine or integrated gasification combined cycle processes (White et al., 1992) are on the horizon.
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From page 26... ...
Roads and interchanges; water treatment plants, supply mains, and distributors; generating plants, transmission lines, and step-down transformers; sewers, treatment plants, and ouefalls all are tied eighty to one another and to thousands of individual households and businesses. These networks stretch over large areas and quickly transmit changes from one part of the system to another, and the functions of the whole surpass the sum of the parts.
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From page 27... ...
These laws, a reflection of important societal priorities, have slowed and sometimes stopped investments or introductions of technology in infrastructure that would have been accomplished easily in prior decades. However, a valuable consequence is the emerging shift toward environmentally beneficial technologies, more supportive of "sustainable" economic and social activity.
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From page 28... ...
Attention to substantial public assets and consequent investment spending are episodic, making opportunities for change or the application of new technologies rare in any particular city or region. Looking to such common charactenshcs, the Office of Technology Assessment highlighted five major areas of cross-cutting technology that offer opportunities for improving infrastructure (OTA, 1991~:8 70f course, long life is not ensured: the Grand Teton Dam failed immediately when the reservoir was filled, and the Takoma Narrows Bridge, famous for its unexpected dynamic response to winds, collapsed four months after its opening.
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From page 29... ...
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From page 30... ...
Genetically engineered algae and bacteria could allow sewage treatment to begin at the source possibly in tanks located next to the hot-water reservoir in homes and commercial facilities reducing the load on cent municipal plants. However, society concern about technological risk has grown significantly over recent years in the United States and elsewhere.
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From page 31... ...
The jurisdictions of these venous bodies may be defined by political boundanes, historic precedent, or institutional competition that has little to do with the topography, demographics, or other features of the region that influence system performance and might provide a logical basis for efficient management. This institutional complexity inhibits both coordinated action and discussion of Be cross-cutting issues of infrastructure and its technological advancement.
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From page 32... ...
While some communities fee! the pinch of tight budgets, in many others the public willingly votes to approve bond issues or other means to pay for refurbishing aging facilities or building new ones (e.g., see Sanders, 1991~.
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From page 33... ...
CBO (U.S. Congress, Congressional Budget Office)
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From page 34... ...
NIAC (National Infrastructure Advisory Committee)
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From page 35... ...
RERC (Real Estate Research Corporation)
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