Infrastructure is the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise,^[1] or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function.^[2] The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society A Society or a human society is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations such as social status, roles and social networks. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals sharing a distinctive culture and institutions. Without an article, the term refers either to the entirety of, such as roads A road is an identifiable thoroughfare, route, way or path between two places which may or may not be available for use by the public; public roads, especially major roads connecting significant destinations are termed highways. Modern roads are normally smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel although historically many roads, water supply Water supply is the process of self-provision or provision by third parties in the water industry, commonly a public utility, of water resources of various qualities to different users. Irrigation is covered separately, sewers Sewage is water-carried wastes, in either solution or suspension, that is intended to flow away from a community. Also known as wastewater flows, sewage is the used water supply of the community. It is more than 99.9% pure water and is characterized by its volume or rate of flow, its physical condition, its chemical constituents, and the, power grids Electric power transmission or "high voltage electric transmission" is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating plants to substations located near to population centers. This is distinct from the local wiring between high voltage substations and customers, which is typically referred to as electricity distribution, telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of messages, over significant distances, for the purpose of communication. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as smoke, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, or sent by loud whistles, for, and so forth. Viewed functionally, infrastructure facilitates the production Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to make things for use or sale. Also it can be used for selling things. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale. Such of goods In macroeconomics and accounting, a good is contrasted with a service. In this sense, a good is defined as a physical product, capable of being delivered to a purchaser and involves the transfer of ownership from seller to customer, say an apple, as opposed to an (intangible) service, say a haircut. A more general term that preserves the and services A service is the intangible equivalent of a good. Service provision is often an economic activity where the buyer does not generally, except by exclusive contract, obtain exclusive ownership of the thing purchased. The benefits of such a service, if priced, are held to be self-evident in the buyers willingness to pay for it. Public services are; for example, roads enable the transport of raw materials A raw material is something that is acted upon or used by or by human labor or industry, for use as a building material to create some product or structure.[citation needed] Often the term is used to denote material that came from nature and is in an unprocessed or minimally processed state. Iron ore, logs, and crude oil, would be examples. A non- to a factory A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production. Typically, factories gather and concentrate resources:, and also for the distribution of finished products to markets A market is any one of a variety of different systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby persons trade, and goods and services are exchanged, forming part of the economy. It is an arrangement that allows buyers and sellers to exchange things. Competition is essential in markets, and separates market from trade. In some contexts, the term may also include basic social services such as schools and hospitals.^[3] In military parlance, the term refers to the buildings and permanent installations necessary for the support, redeployment, and operation of military forces.^[4]

In this article, infrastructure will be used in the sense of technical structures or physical networks that support society, unless specified otherwise.

History of the term

According to etymology online,^[5] the word infrastructure has been used in English since at least 1927 and meant: The installations that form the basis for any operation or system. Other sources, such as the Oxford English Dictionary, trace the word's origins to earlier usage, originally applied in a military A military is an organization authorized to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military. Militaries often function as societies within societies, by having their own sense. The word was imported from French, where it means subgrade In transport engineering, subgrade is the native material underneath a constructed road, pavement or railway track. It is also called formation level, the native material underneath a constructed pavement or railway. The word is a combination of the Latin prefix "infra", meaning "below" and "structure". The military sense of the word was probably first used in France, and imported into English around the time of the First World War World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were. The military use of the term achieved currency in the United States after the formation of NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO (pronounced /ˈneɪtoʊ/, NAY-toe; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord ), also called the "(North) Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The NATO headquarters are in Brussels, in the 1940s, and was then adopted by urban planners Urban, city, and town planning integrates land use planning and transportation planning to improve the built, economic and social environments of communities. Regional planning deals with a still larger environment, at a less detailed level in its modern civilian sense by 1970.^[6]

The term came to prominence in the United States in the 1980s following the publication of America in Ruins (Choate and Walter, 1981)[1] , which initiated a public-policy discussion of the nation’s "infrastructure crisis", purported to be caused by decades of inadequate investment and poor maintenance of public works "Public works" is a concept in economics and politics. The term public infrastructure refers only to the infrastructural capital involved in these activities.

That public-policy discussion was hampered by lack of a precise definition for infrastructure. A U.S. National Research Council The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names panel sought to clarify the situation by adopting the term "public works infrastructure", referring to:

"...both specific functional modes - highways A highway is a public road, especially a major road connecting two or more destinations. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a "highway transportation system". Each country has its own national highway system. Major highways are often named and, streets A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or brick, roads A road is an identifiable thoroughfare, route, way or path between two places which may or may not be available for use by the public; public roads, especially major roads connecting significant destinations are termed highways. Modern roads are normally smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel although historically many roads, and bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a valley, road, body of water, or other physical obstacle, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed, the material used to make it and the funds available to build it; mass transit Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which are available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as Taxicab, car pooling which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement; airports An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps takeoff and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport. An airport consists of at least one surface such as a runway for a plane to takeoff and land, a helipad, or water for takeoffs and landings, and often includes buildings such as control and airways; water supply Water supply is the process of self-provision or provision by third parties in the water industry, commonly a public utility, of water resources of various qualities to different users. Irrigation is covered separately and water resources Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful to humans. Uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water; wastewater Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations. In the most common usage, it refers to the municipal wastewater management; solid-waste treatment Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics. Waste management is also carried out to recover resources from it. Waste and disposal; electric power Electric power is defined as the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt generation and transmission; telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of messages, over significant distances, for the purpose of communication. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as smoke, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, or sent by loud whistles, for; and hazardous waste U.S. environmental laws additionally describe a "hazardous waste" as a waste (usually a solid waste) that has the potential to: management - and the combined system these modal elements comprise. A comprehension of infrastructure spans not only these public works "Public works" is a concept in economics and politics. The term public infrastructure refers only to the infrastructural capital involved in these activities facilities, but also the operating procedures, management practices, and development policies that interact together with societal demand and the physical world to facilitate the transport of people and goods, provision of water for drinking and a variety of other uses, safe disposal of society's waste products, provision of energy where it is needed, and transmission of information within and between communities."^[7]

In Keynesian economics Keynesian economics is a macroeconomic theory based on the ideas of 20th century British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynesian economics argues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and therefore, advocates active policy responses by the public sector, including monetary policy actions by the central, the word infrastructure was exclusively used to describe public assets that facilitate production, but not private assets of the same purpose. In post-Keynesian times, however, the word has grown in popularity. It has been applied with increasing generality to suggest the internal framework discernible in any technology system or business organization Companies law is the field of law concerning companies and other business organizations. It is an establishment formed to carry on commercial enterprises. This includes corporations, partnerships and other associations which usually carry on some form of economic or charitable activity. The most prominent kind of company, usually referred to as a &.

"Hard" versus "soft" infrastructure

"Hard" infrastructure refers to the large physical networks necessessary for the functionning of a modern industrial nation, whereas "soft" infrastructure refers to all the institutions which are required to maintain the economic, health, cultural and social standards of a country, such as the financial system, the education system, the health care system, the system of government and law enforcement, as well as emergency services.^[8]

Uses of the term

Engineering and construction

Engineers Engineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or invention generally limit the use of the term infrastructure to describe fixed assets Fixed asset, also known as a non-current asset or as property, plant, and equipment , is a term used in accounting for assets and property which cannot easily be converted into cash. This can be compared with current assets such as cash or bank accounts, which are described as liquid assets. In most cases, only tangible assets are referred to as that are in the form of a large network, in other words, "hard" infrastructure. Recent efforts to devise more generic definitions of infrastructure have typically referred to the network aspects of most of the structures and to the accumulated value of investments in the networks as assets. One such effort defines infrastructure as the network of assets "where the system as a whole is intended to be maintained indefinitely at a specified standard of service by the continuing replacement and refurbishment of its components."^[9]

Civil defense and economic development

Civil defense Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to prepare non-combatants for military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery. Programmes of this sort were initially discussed at least as early as the 1920s but only became widespread planners and developmental economists Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low-income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic growth and structural change but also on improving the potential for the mass of the population, for example, through health and education and workplace generally refer to both "hard" and "soft" infrastructure, including public services Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus (usually expressed through democratic elections) that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income. Even where public such as schools A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the supervision of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools. The names for these schools vary by country (discussed in the Regional section below), but generally and hospitals A hospital, in the modern sense of the word, is an institution for health care providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often, but not always providing for longer-term patient stays. Its historical meaning, until relatively recent times, was "a place of hospitality", for example the Chelsea Royal Hospital,, emergency services Emergency services are organizations which ensure public safety by addressing different emergencies. Some agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies whilst others deal with ad hoc emergencies as part of their normal responsibilities. Many agencies will engage in community awareness and prevention programs to help the public such as police and fire fighting, and basic financial services Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies, stock brokerages, investment funds and some government sponsored.

Military

Military A military is an organization authorized to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military. Militaries often function as societies within societies, by having their own strategists use the term infrastructure to refer to all building and permanent installations necessary for the support of military forces, whether they are stationed in bases, being deployed or engaged in operations, such as barracks, headquarters, airfields, communications facilities, stores of military equipment, port installations, and maintenance stations.^[10]

Critical infrastructure

The term critical infrastructure has been widely adopted to distinguish those infrastructure elements (both hard and soft) that, if significantly damaged or destroyed, would cause serious disruption of the dependent system or organization. Storm A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by strong wind, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation, such as ice (ice storm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere (as in a dust storm, snowstorm,, flood A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water,, or earthquake An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are measured with a seismometer; a device which also records is known as a seismograph. The moment magnitude (or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude) of an earthquake is conventionally reported, with magnitude 3 or damage leading to loss of certain transportation routes in a city (for example, bridges crossing a river), could make it impossible for people to evacuate and for emergency services Emergency services are organizations which ensure public safety by addressing different emergencies. Some agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies whilst others deal with ad hoc emergencies as part of their normal responsibilities. Many agencies will engage in community awareness and prevention programs to help the public to operate; these routes would be deemed critical infrastructure. Similarly, an on-line booking system might be critical infrastructure for an airline.

Urban infrastructure

Urban or municipal infrastructure refers to "hard" infrastructure systems generally owned and operated by municipalities, such as streets, water distribution, sewers, etc. It may also include some of the facilities associated with "soft" infrastructure, such as parks, public pools and libraries.

Marxism

In Marxism, the term "infrastructure" is sometimes used as a synonym for base in the dialectic synthetic pair base and superstructure

Other uses

In other applications, the term infrastructure may refer to information technology, informal and formal channels of communication, software development tools, political and social networks, or beliefs held by members of particular groups. Still underlying these more conceptual uses is the idea that infrastructure provides organizing structure and support for the system or organization it serves, whether it is a city, a nation, a corporation, or a collection of people with common interests. Examples: IT infrastructure, research infrastructure, terrorist infrastructure, tourism infrastructure.

Related concepts

The term infrastructure is often confused with the following overlapping or related concepts:

Land improvement and land development

The terms land improvement and land development are general terms that in some contexts may include infrastructure, but in the context of a discussion of infrastructure would refer only to smaller scale systems or works that are not included in infrastructure because they are typically limited to a single parcel of land, and are owned and operated by the land owner. For example, an irrigation canal that serves a region or district would be included with infrastructure, but the private irrigation systems on individual land parcels would be considered land improvements, not infrastructure. Service connections to municipal service and public utility networks would also be considered land improvements, not infrastructure.^[11][12]

Public works and public services

The term public works includes government owned and operated infrastructure as well as public buildings such as schools and court houses. The term public works generally refers to physical assets needed to deliver public services.

Public services include both infrastructure and services generally provided by government.

Typical attributes

"Hard" infrastructure generally has the following attributes:

Capital assets that provide services

• They are physical assets that provide services;
• The people employed in the "hard" infrastructure sector generally maintain, monitor and operate the assets, but do not offer services to the clients or users of the infrastructure. Interactions between workers and clients are generally limited to administrative tasks concerning ordering, scheduling or billing of services.

Large networks

• They are large networks constructed over generations, and are not often replaced as a whole system.
• The network provides services to a geographically defined area.
• The system or network has a long life because its service capacity is maintained by continual refurbishment or replacement of components as they wear out.

Historicity and interdependence

• The system or network tends to evolve over time as it is continuously modified, improved, enlarged, and as various components are re-built, decommissioned or adapted to other uses.
• The system components are interdependent and not usually capable of subdivision or separate disposal, and consequently are not readily disposable within the commercial marketplace.
• The system interdependency may limit a component life to a lesser period than the expected life of the component itself.

Natural monopoly

• The systems tend to be natural monopolies, insofar that economies of scale means that multiple agencies providing a service are less efficient than would be the case if a single agency provided the service.
• The assets have a high initial cost and a value that is difficult to determine.
• Once most of the system is built, the marginal cost of servicing additional clients or users tends to be relatively inexpensive, and may be negligible if there is no need to increase the peak capacity or the geographical extent of the network.

Types of "hard" infrastructure

The following list is limited to capital assets that serve the function of conveyance or channelling of people, vehicles, fluids, energy or information, and which take the form either of a network or of a critical node used by vehicles, or used for the transmission of electro-magnetic waves. Infrastructure systems include both the fixed assets and the control systems and software required to operate, manage and monitor the systems, as well as any accessory buildings, plants or vehicles that are an essential part of the system. Also included are fleets of vehicles operating according to schedules such as public transit busses and garbage collection, as well as basic energy or communications facilities that are not usually part of a physical network (oil refineries, radio and TV broadcasting facilities).

Transportation infrastructure

• Road and highway networks, including structures (bridges, tunnels, culverts, retaining walls), signage and markings, electrical systems (street lighting and traffic lights) and edge treatments (curbs, sidewalks, landscaping)
• Railways, including structures, terminal facilities (railyards, train stations), level crossings, signalling and communications systems
• Canals and navigable waterways requiring continuous maintenance (dredging, etc.)
• Seaports and lighthouses
• Airports, including air navigational systems
• Mass transit systems (Commuter rail systems, subways, tramways, trolleys and bus transportation)
• Bicycle paths and pedestrian walkways;
• Ferries.

Energy infrastructure

• Electrical power network, including generation plants, electric grid, substations and local distribution;
• Natural gas pipelines, storage and distribution terminals, as well as the local distribution network. Some definitions may include the gas wells, as well as the fleets of ships and trucks transporting liquified gas;
• Petroleum pipelines, including associated storage and distribution terminals. Some definitions may include the oil wells, refineries, as well as the fleets of tanker ships and trucks;
• Coal mines, as well as specialized facilities for storing and transporting coal;
• Steam or hot water production and distribution networks for district heating systems.

Water management infrastructure

• Drinking water supply, including the system of pipes, storage reservoirs, pumps, valves, filtration and treatment equipment and meters, including buildings and structures to house the equipment, used for the collection, treatment and distribution of drinking water
• Sewage collection and disposal
• Drainage systems (storm sewers, ditches, etc..)
• Major irrigation systems (reservoirs, irrigation canals)
• Major flood control systems (dikes, levees, major pumping stations and floodgates)

Communications infrastructure

• Postal service, including sorting facilities.
• Telephone networks (land lines) including switching systems
• Mobile phone networks
• Television and radio transmission stations, including the regulations and standards governing broadcasting;
• Cable television physical networks including receiving stations and cable distribution networks. (Does not include content providers or "networks" when used in the sense of a specialized channel such as CNN or MTV).
• Internet backbone, including high-speed data cables, routers and servers as well as the protocols and other basic software required for the system to function. (Does not include specific websites, although may include some widely-used web-based services, such as Social network services and online search engines).
• Communication satellites
• Undersea cables
• Major private, government or dedicated telecommunications networks, such as those used for internal communication and monitoring by major infrastructure companies, by governments, by the military or by emergency services
• Pneumatic tube mail distribution networks
• Server farms computing infrastructure

Waste management

• Municipal garbage and recyclables collection;
• Solid waste landfills
• Solid waste incinerators
• Materials recovery facilities
• Hazardous waste disposal facilities;

Earth monitoring and measurement networks

• Meteorological monitoring networks
• Tidal monitoring networks
• Stream Gauge or fluviometric [2] monitoring networks
• Seismometer networks
• Remote sensing satellites
• Geodetic benchmarks
• Global Positioning System

Types of "soft" infrastructure

"Soft" infrastructure includes both physical assets such as highly specialized buildings and equipment, as well as non-physical "systems" such as the body of rules and regulations governing the various systems, the financing of these systems, as well as the systems and organizations by which highly skilled and specialized professionals are trained, advance in their careers by acquiring experience, and are disciplined (if required) by professional associations (professional training, accreditation and discipline).

Institutional infrastructure

• The financial system, including the banking system, the payment system, exchanges, the money supply, financial regulations;
• The system of government and law enforcement, including the political, legislative, law enforcement, justice and penal systems, as well as specialized facilities (government offices, courthouses, prisons, etc.) and specialized systems for collecting, storing and disseminating data, laws and regulation;
• Emergency services, such as police, fire protection, ambulances, etc., including specialized vehicles, buildings, communications and dispatching systems.

Industrial infrastructure

• Manufacturing infrastructure, including industrial parks and special economic zones, mines and processing plants for basic materials used as inputs in industry, specialized energy, transportation and water infrastructure used by industry, plus the public safety, zoning and environmental laws and regulations that govern and limit industrial activity;
• Agricultural, forestry and fisheries infrastructure, including specialized food and livestock transportation and storage facilities, major feedlots, agricultural price support systems (including agricultural insurance), agricultural health standards, food inspection, experimental farms and agricultural research centers and schools, the system of licencing and quota management, enforcement systems against poaching, forest wardens and fire fighting.

Social infrastructure

• The health care system, including hospitals, the financing of health care, including health insurance, the systems for regulation and testing of medications and medical procedures, the system for training, inspection and professional discipline of doctors and other medical professionals, public health monitoring and regulations, as well as coordination of measures taken during public health emergencies such as epidemics;
• The educational and research system, including elementary and secondary schools, universities, specialised colleges, research institutions, the systems for financing and accrediting educational institutions;
• Social welfare systems, including both government support and private charity for the poor, for people in distress or victims of abuse.

Cultural, sports and recreational infrastructure

• Sports and recreational infrastructure, such as parks, sports facilities, the system of sports leagues and associations;
• Cultural infrastructure, such as concert halls, museums. libraries, theatres, studios, and specialized training facilities;
• Business travel and tourism infrastructure, including both man-made and natural attractions, convention centers, hotels, restaurants and other services that cater mainly to tourists and business travellers, as well as the systems for informing and attracting tourists, travel insurance, etc.

Economics, management and engineering

The following concerns mainly "hard" infrastructure and the specialized facilities used for "soft" infrastructure.

Ownership and financing

Infrastructure may be owned and managed by governments or by private companies, such as public utility or railway companies. Generally, most roads, major ports and airports, water distribution systems and sewage networks are publicly owned, whereas most energy and telecommunications networks are privately owned. Publicly owned infrastructure may be paid for from taxes, tolls or metered user fees, whereas private infrastructure is generally paid for by metered user fees. Major investment projects are generally financed by the issuance of long-term bonds.

Note that government owned and operated infrastructure may be developed and operated in the private sector or in public-private partnership in addition to in the public sector.

In the United States, public spending on infrastructure has varied between 2.3% and 3.6% of GDP since 1950.^[13]

Planning and management

The method of 'Infrastructure Asset Management' is based upon the definition of a Standard of Service (SoS) that describes how an asset will perform in objective and measurable terms. The SoS includes the definition of a minimum condition grade, which is established by considering the consequences of a failure of the infrastructure asset.

The key components of 'Infrastructure Asset Management' are:

• Definition of a Standard of Service
  • Establishment of measurable specifications of how the asset should perform
  • Establishment of a minimum condition grade
• Establishment of a whole-life cost approach to managing the asset
• Elaboration of an Asset Management Plan

The 2009 report card produced by the American Society of Civil Engineers [3] gives America's Infrastructure a grade of "D".

Engineering

Most infrastructure is designed by engineers, urbanists or architects. Generally road and rail transport networks, as well as water and waste management infrastructure are designed by civil engineers; electrical power and lighting networks are designed by electrical engineers; and telecommunications, computing and monitoring networks are designed by systems engineers. In the case of urban infrastructure, the general layout of roads, sidewalks and public places may sometimes be designed by urbanists or architects, although the detailed design will still be performed by civil engineers. If a building is required, it is designed by an architect, and if an industrial or processing plant is required, it may be designed by industrial engineer or a process engineer.

In terms of engineering tasks, the design and construction management process usually follows these steps:

• Preliminary Studies:
  • Determine existing and future traffic loads, determine existing capacity, and estimate the existing and future standards of service;
  • Conduct a preliminary survey and obtain information from existing air photos, maps, plans, etc.
  • Identify possible conflicts with other assets or topographical features;
  • Perform environmental impact studies:
    • Evaluate the impact on the human environment ( Noise pollution, odors, electromagnetic interference, etc. ..);
    • Evaluate the impact on the natural environment (disturbance of natural ecosystems);
    • Evaluate possible presence of contaminated soils;
  • Given various time horizons, standards of service, environmental impacts and conflicts with existing structures or terrain, propose various preliminary designs;
  • Estimate the costs of the various designs, and make recommendations;
• Detailed Survey:
  • Perform a detailed survey of the construction site;
  • Obtain As Built drawings of existing infrastructure;
  • Dig exploratory pits where required to survey underground infrastructure;
  • Perform a geotechnical survey to determine the bearing capacity of soils and rock;
  • Perform soil sampling and testing to estimate nature, degree and extent of soil contamination;
• Detailed Engineering:
  • Prepare detailed plans and technical specifications;
  • Prepare a detailed bill of materials;
  • Prepare a detailed cost estimate;
  • Establish a general work schedule;
• Authorization:
  • Obtain authorization from environmental and other regulatory agencies;
  • Obtain authorization from any owners or operators of assets affected by the work;
  • Inform emergency services, and prepare contingency plans in case of emergencies;
• Tendering:
  • Prepare administrative clauses and other tendering documents;
  • Organize and announce a Call for Tenders;
  • Answer contractor questions and issue addenda during the tendering process;
  • Receive and analyse tenders, and make a recommendation to the owner;
• Construction Supervision:
  • Once the construction contract has been signed between the owner and the general contractor, once all authorisations have been obtained, and once all pre-construction submittals have been received from the general contractor, the construction supervisor issues an Order to Begin Construction;
  • Regularly schedule meetings and obtain contact information for the general contractor (GC) and all interested parties;
  • Obtain a detailed work schedule and list of subcontractors from the GC.
  • Obtain detailed traffic diversion and emergency plans from the GC;
  • Obtain proof of certification, insurance and bonds;
  • Examine shop drawings submitted by the GC;
  • Receive reports from the materials quality control lab;
  • When required, review Change request s from the GC, and issue Construction Directives and Change Orders;
  • Follow work progress and authorize partial payments;
  • When substantially completed, inspect the work and prepare a list of deficiencies;
  • Supervise testing and commissioning;
  • Verify that all operating and maintenance manuals, as well as warranties, are complete;
  • Prepare "As Built" drawings;
  • Make a final inspection, issue a certificate of final completion and authorize the final payment.

Impact on economic development

Investment in infrastructure is part of the capital accumulation required for economic development.^{[citation needed]}

Use as economic stimulus

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many governments undertook public works projects in order to create jobs and stimulate the economy. The economist John Maynard Keynes provided a theoretical justification for this policy in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,^[14] published in 1936. Following the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, some are again proposing investing in infrastructure as a means of stimulating the economy (see the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)

History

The following concerns mainly "hard" infrastructure.

Before 1700

Infrastructure before 1700 consisted mainly of roads and canals. Canals were used for transportation or for irrigation. Sea navigation was aided by ports and lighthouses. A few advanced cities had aqueducts that serviced public fountains and baths, and even fewer had sewers.

Roads:

The first roads were tracks that often followed game trails, such as the Natchez Trace.^[15]

The first paved streets appear to have been built in Ur in 4000 BC. Corduroy roads were built in Glastonbury, England in 3300 BC^[16] and brick-paved roads were built in the Indus Valley Civilization on the Indian subcontinent from around the same time. In 500 BC, Darius I the Great started an extensive road system for Persia (Iran), including the Royal Road.

With the advent of the Roman Empire, the Romans built roads using deep roadbeds of crushed stone as an underlying layer to ensure that they kept dry. On the more heavily traveled routes, there were additional layers that included six sided capstones, or pavers, that reduced the dust and reduced the drag from wheels.

In the medieval Islamic world, many roads were built throughout the Arab Empire. The most sophisticated roads were those of the Baghdad, Iraq, which were paved with tar in the 8th century.^[17]

Canals and irrigation systems: The oldest known canals were built in Mesopotamia circa 4000 BC, in what is now modern day Iraq and Syria. The Indus Valley Civilization in Pakistan and North India (from circa 2600 BC) had a sophisticated canal irrigation system.^[18] In Egypt, canals date back to at least 2300 BC, when a canal was built to bypass the cataract on the Nile near Aswan.^[19]

In ancient China, large canals for river transport were established as far back as the Warring States (481-221 BC).^[20] By far the longest canal was the Grand Canal of China, still the longest canal in the world today at 1,794 kilometres (1,115 mi) long, and completed in 609.

In Europe, canal building began in the Middle Ages because of commercial expansion from the 12th century AD. Notable canals were the Stecknitz Canal in Germany in 1398, the Briare Canal connecting the Loire and Seine in France (1642) followed by the Canal du Midi (1683) connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Canal building progressed steadily in Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries with three great rivers, the Elbe, Oder and Weser being linked by canals.

1700 to 1870

Roads: As traffic levels increased in England and roads deteriorated, toll roads were built by Turnpike Trusts, especially between 1730–1770. Turnpikes were also later built in the United States. They were usually built by private companies under a government franchise.

Water transport on rivers and canals carried many farm goods from the frontier U.S. (between the Appalachian mountains and Mississippi River) in the early 19th century, but the shorter route over the mountains had advantages.

In France, Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet is widely credited with establishing the first scientific approach to road building about the year 1764. It involved a layer of large rocks, covered by a layer of smaller gravel. John Loudon McAdam (1756–1836) designed the first modern highways, and developed an inexpensive paving material of soil and stone aggregate (known as macadam).^[16]

Canals: In Europe, particularly Britain and Ireland, and then in the young United States and the Canadian colonies, inland canals preceded the development of railroads during the earliest phase of the Industrial Revolution. In Britain between 1760 and 1820 over one hundred canals were built.

In the United States, navigable canals reached into isolated areas and brought them in touch with the world beyond. By 1825 the Erie Canal, 363 miles (584 km) long with 82 locks, opened up a connection from the populated Northeast to the fertile Great Plains. During the 19th century, the length of canals grew from 100 miles (160 km) to over 4,000, with a complex network making the Great Lakes navigable, in conjunction with Canada, although some canals were later drained and used as railroad rights-of-way.

Railways: The earliest railways were used in mines or to bypass waterfalls, and were pulled by horses or by people. In 1811 John Blenkinsop designed the first successful and practical railway locomotive,^[21] and a line was built connecting the Middleton Colliery to Leeds. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway,^[22] considered to be the world's first "Inter City" line, opened in 1826. In the following years, railways spread throughout the United Kingdom and the world, and became the dominant means of land transport for nearly a century.

In the United States, the 1826 Granite Railway in Massachusetts was the first commercial railroad to evolve through continuous operations into a common carrier. The Baltimore and Ohio, opened in 1830, was the first to evolve into a major system. In 1869, the symbolically important transcontinental railroad was completed in the United States with the driving of a golden spike at Promontory, Utah.^[23]

Telegraph service: The first commercial electrical telegraph was first successfully demonstrated on 25 July 1837 between Euston and Camden Town in London.^[24] It entered commercial use on the Great Western Railway over the 13 miles (21 km) from Paddington station to West Drayton on 9 April 1839.

In the United States, the telegraph was developed by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail. On 24 May 1844, Morse made the first public demonstration of his telegraph by sending a message from the Supreme Court Chamber in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the B&O Railroad "outer depot" (now the B&O Railroad Museum) in Baltimore. The Morse/Vail telegraph was quickly deployed in the following two decades. On 24 October 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph system was established.

The first successful transatlantic telegraph cable was completed on 27 July 1866, allowing transatlantic telegraph communications for the first time. Within 29 years of its first installation at Euston Station, the telegraph network crossed the oceans to every continent but Antarctica, making instant global communication possible for the first time.

1870 to 1920

Roads: Tar-bound macadam (tarmac) was applied to macadam roads towards the end of the 19th century in cities such as Paris. In the early 20th century tarmac and concrete paving were extended into the countryside.

Canals: Many notable sea canals were completed in this period: the Suez Canal (1869); the Kiel Canal (1897) - which carries tonnage many times that of most other canals; and the Panama Canal, opened in 1914.

Telephone service: In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell achieved the first successful telephone transmission of clear speech. The first telephones had no network but were in private use, wired together in pairs. Users who wanted to talk to different people had as many telephones as necessary for the purpose. A user who wished to speak, whistled into the transmitter until the other party heard. Soon, however, a bell was added for signalling, and then a switchhook, and telephones took advantage of the exchange principle already employed in telegraph networks. Each telephone was wired to a local telephone exchange, and the exchanges were wired together with trunks. Networks were connected together in a hierarchical manner until they spanned cities, countries, continents and oceans.

Electricity: At the Paris Exposition of 1878, electric arc lighting had been installed along the Avenue de l'Opera and the Place de l'Opera, using electric Yablochkov arc lamps, powered by Zénobe Gramme alternating current dynamos.^[25][26] Yablochkov candles required high voltage, and it was not long before experimenters reported that the arc lights could be powered on a 7 mile circuit.^[27] Within a decade scores of cities would have lighting systems using a central power plant that provided electricity to multiple customers via electrical transmission lines. These systems were in direct competition with the dominant gaslight utilities of the period.

The first electricity system supplying incandescent lights was built by Edison Illuminating Company in lower Manhattan eventually serving one square mile with 6 "jumbo dynamos" housed at Pearl Street Station.

The first transmission of three-phase alternating current using high voltage took place in 1891 during the international electricity exhibition in Frankfurt. A 25 kV transmission line, approximately 175 kilometers long, connected Lauffen on the Neckar and Frankfurt. Voltages used for electric power transmission increased throughout the 20th century. By 1914 fifty-five transmission systems operating at more than 70,000 V were in service, the highest voltage then used was 150,000 volts.^[28]

Water distribution and sewers: In the 19th century major treatment works were built in London in response to cholera threats. The Metropolis Water Act 1852 was enacted. "Under the Act, it became unlawful for any water company to extract water for domestic use from the tidal reaches of the Thames after 31 August 1855, and from 31 December 1855 all such water was required to be "effectually filtered".[15] The Metropolitan Commission of Sewers was formed, water filtration was made compulsory, and new water intakes on the Thames were established above Teddington Lock. The technique of purification of drinking water by use of compressed liquefied chlorine gas was developed in 1910 by U.S. Army Major (later Brig. Gen.) Carl Rogers Darnall (1867–1941), Professor of Chemistry at the Army Medical School. Darnall's work became the basis for present day systems of municipal water 'purification'.

Subways: In 1863 the London Underground was created in 1890 it first started using electric traction and deep-level tunnels. Soon afterward Budapest and many other cities started using subway systems including New York. By 1940 19 subway systems were in use.

Since 1920

Roads: In 1925, Italy was the first country to build a freeway-like road, which linked Milan to Lake Como.^[29] It is known in Italy as the Autostrada dei Laghi. In Germany, the autobahns formed the first limited-access, high-speed road network in the world, with the first section from Frankfurt am Main to Darmstadt opening in 1935. The first long-distance rural freeway in the United States is generally considered to be the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which opened on October 1, 1940.^[30] In the United States, the Interstate Highway System was authorized by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.^[31] Most of the system was completed between 1960 and 1990.

Rural electrification: This is a stub.

Telecommunications: This is a stub.

See also

• Airport infrastructure
• Asset Management Plan
• Critical infrastructure
• Infrastructure Asset Management
• Infrastructure security
• Infrastructural capital
• Land improvement
• National Spatial Data Infrastructure
• Public services
• Public works
• Pseudo-urbanization

References

1. ^ Infrastructure, Online Compact Oxford English Dictionary, http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/infrastructure (accessed January 17, 2009)
2. ^ Sullivan, arthur; Steven M. Sheffrin (2003). Economics: Principles in action. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 474. ISBN 0-13-063085-3. http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ3R9&PMDbSiteId=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbCategoryId=&PMDbProgramId=12881&level=4.
3. ^ Infrastructure, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/infrastructure (accessed January 17, 2009)
4. ^ Infrastructure, JP1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, p. 260, 12 April 2001 (rev. 31 August 2005) http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA439918&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf(accessed January 17, 2009)
5. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/infrastructure (accessed: April 24, 2008)
6. ^ The Etymology of Infrastructure and the Infrastructure of the Internet, Stephen Lewis on his blog Hag Pak Sak, posted September 22, 2008. http://hakpaksak.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-etymology-of-infrastructure-and-the-infrastructure-of-the-internet/ (accessed: January 17, 2008)
7. ^ Infrastructure for the 21st Century, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1987.
8. ^ http://www.opendb.net/element/19099.php
9. ^ Association of Local Government Engineers New Zealand: "Infrastructure Asset Management Manual", June 1998 - Edition 1.1
10. ^ D.O.D. Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, 2001 (rev. 2005)
11. ^ Land improvement, Online BusinessDictionary.com, http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/land-development.html (accessed January 31, 2009)
12. ^ Land development, Online BusinessDictionary.com, http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/land-development.html (accessed January 31, 2009)
13. ^ "Money for Public Projects", The New York Times, November 19, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/11/19/business/economy/19leonhardt_graphic.ready.html (accessed January 26, 2009)
14. ^ Keynes, John Maynard (2007) [1936]. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0230004768 http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/essays/keynes/keynescont.htm.
15. ^ Lay, M G (1992). Ways of the World. Sydney: Primavera Press. pp. 401. ISBN 1-875368-05-1.
16. ^ ^{a b} Lay (1992)
17. ^ Dr. Kasem Ajram (1992). The Miracle of Islam Science (2nd ed.). Knowledge House Publishers. ISBN 0-911119-43-4.
18. ^ Rodda 2004, p. 161.
19. ^ Hadfield 1986, p. 16.
20. ^ Needham 1971, p. 269.
21. ^ "John Blenkinsop". Encyclopedia Brittanica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9001800. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
22. ^ "Liverpool and Manchester". http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RAliverpool.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
23. ^ Ambrose, Stephen E. (2000). Nothing Like It In The World; The men who built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863–1869. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84609-8.
24. ^ The electric telegraph, forerunner of the internet, celebrates 170 years BT Group Connected Earth Online Museum. Accessed July 2007
25. ^ David Oakes Woodbury (1949). A Measure for Greatness: A Short Biography of Edward Weston. McGraw-Hill. p. 83. http://www.archive.org/stream/measureforgreatn001419mbp/measureforgreatn001419mbp_djvu.txt. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
26. ^ John Patrick Barrett (1894). Electricity at the Columbian Exposition. R. R. Donnelley & sons company. p. 1. http://books.google.com/?id=lF5KAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
27. ^ Engineers, Institution of Electrical (1880-3-24). "Notes on the Jablochkoff System of Electric Lighting". Journal of the Society of Telegraph Engineers IX (32): 143. http://books.google.com/?id=lww4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA143. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
28. ^ Bureau of Census data reprinted in Hughes, pp. 282–283
29. ^ Paul Hofmann, "Taking to the Highway in Italy", New York Times, 26 April 1987, 23.
30. ^ Phil Patton, The Open Road: A Celebration of the American Highway (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986), 77.
31. ^ "The cracks are showing". The Economist. 2008-06-26. http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11636517. Retrieved 2008-10-23.

External links

• World Bank Infrastructure for Development
• Next Generation Infrastructures international research programme
• What is a megaproject
• Body of Knowledge on Infrastructure Regulation
• Report Card on America's Infrastructure

Categories: Monopoly (economics) | Construction | Infrastructure | Development

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