Urban Infrastructure and the Problem of Moral Praise

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-129
Author(s):  
Shane Epting ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Significant Issue ◽  
Moral Language ◽  
Moral Praise

Most components of urban infrastructure remain hidden. Due to this condition, we do not think about them in a way that pays attention to the full scope of moral possibilities. For instance, when such topics are forced from the periphery of our thinking to the forefront of our minds, it is usually in terms of figuring out who to blame when they fail to function properly. In turn, one could argue that we only care to talk about an action’s moral status that pertains to infrastructure when it becomes a hazard. While this point deserves examination, the more significant issue is that we lack the moral language required to have conversations about moral praise regarding public works. The purpose of this paper, then, is to flesh out how to discuss morality and infrastructure regarding moral praise.

Rebuilding the Chinese capital: Beijing in the early twentieth century

Urban History ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingzheng Shi
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Public Works ◽  
The West ◽  
Urban Affairs ◽  
Imperial Authority ◽  
Early Twentieth Century

ABSTRACTThis paper studies the evolution of urban form in both physical and social manifestations through an examination of the transformation of the Chinese capital from a planned imperial city into a modern metropolis in the early twentieth century. The newly created municipal government sought to modernize Beijing through public works to improve the old urban infrastructure. Consequently, city walls and gates were reconfigured; streets were paved, widened and expanded; and new rules of urban planning and zoning were introduced. Reflecting changes in political power relations, the modernist transformation in the urban built environment was evidently brought about by a combined force of Western influences and Chinese indigenous developments, especially by a shift in ideological allegiance from imperial authority to people's rights, by the state's increasing intervention in urban affairs, and by new technologies transmitted from the West.

Canada's urban infrastructure: rehabilitation needs and approaches

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 700-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Adams ◽  
G. W. Heinke
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Economic Evaluations ◽  
Performance Improvements ◽  
Infrastructure Rehabilitation ◽  
Rehabilitation Needs ◽  
Management Alternatives

This paper reports on the results of a survey conducted for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities on the condition of urban infrastructure in Canadian cities and towns. The major emphasis was on roads, bridges, sewage collection and treatment, and water distribution and treatment systems. The Canadian findings are also compared with the reported U.S. situation. Although not as serious as in the U.S. cities, the survey shows that a significant decline has occurred in the condition of some infrastructure systems in Canadian urban areas. Costs to bring the most seriously deteriorated components of infrastructure (roads, bridges, sewer and water systems) back to acceptable levels are high. Even when spread over a 10-year recovery period, these costs will require an increase in current public works budgets of about 25%.Following the discussion of the state of urban infrastructure in Canada, the paper addresses approaches necessary to obtain optimum value for funds spent on rehabilitation of infrastructure. The need for rehabilitation must distinguish between structural and capacity inadequacies. Alternatives for rehabilitation must include both the engineering alternatives through repair, renovation, and replacement of systems and the management alternatives obtained through operational changes in the system and through changes in system demands. It is both desirable and possible to select engineering and (or) management alternatives on the basis of economic evaluations which trade off the cost of rehabilitation alternatives against the benefits from performance improvements, including the time staging or sequencing of alternatives. Key words: urban infrastructure, infrastructure deterioration, rehabilitation, alternatives, alternative evaluation.

scholarly journals Multi-Criteria Approach for Prioritizing and Managing Public Investment in Urban Spaces. A Case Study in the Triple Frontier

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3345
Author(s):  
Noé Villegas Flores ◽  
Yelinca Saldeño Madero ◽  
Camilo Alberto Torres Parra ◽  
Isidoro Fasolino ◽  
Hugo Alexander Rondón Quintana
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Condition Index ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Quality Parameters ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Urban Spaces

The aspirations of public administrations to meet quality parameters and standards in urban spaces have fostered new strategies and tools that allow users to give safety and well-being. The participation and interaction of different actors during decision-making in the context of allocation of public resources implies a significant degree of complexity when prioritizing actions in public works. The objective of the study focuses on obtaining an urban street condition index (USCI) that allows an efficient diagnosis of urban infrastructure. The study provides an innovation component for decision-making through the construction of guidelines to prioritize spending on investment in urban infrastructure. The case study has been developed in three countries, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina (Triple Border) with the aim of drawing management guidelines during the process in public entities. The results for Brazil and Argentina present streets with satisfactory USCI. Paraguay reflects a significant lack of urban infrastructure and compliance of accessibility regulations. Regarding the city of Foz de Iguazú, it has been observed that 50% of the roads require prevailing actions to improve the mobility of the roads; 40% of these reflect reduced mobility and deterioration of urban components, configured as an urgent action, and only 10% of the roads studied reflect adequate mobility conditions.

Who Pays, Who Benefits, Who Decides? Urban Infrastructure in Nineteenth-Century Chicago and Twentieth-Century Phoenix

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol E. Heim
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Impact Fees ◽  
Development Impact Fees ◽  
Special Assessment ◽  
The Cost

This article compares the financing of urban infrastructure in nineteenth-century Chicago and twentieth-century Phoenix, highlighting distributional conflicts over the cost of public goods. Using the rich secondary literature on Chicago, particularly Robin Einhorn's book, Property Rules: Political Economy in Chicago, 1833–1872, I explore whether adoption of development impact fees in Phoenix in 1987 represented a transition similar to that in Chicago between 1847 and 1851, when a system of special assessments paid by property owners benefiting from an improvement arose, in contrast to citywide financing of public works for citywide benefit. I examine the history of adoption and implementation of development impact fees, which were intended to “make growth pay for itself” by assessing new development to finance infrastructure it would require, and consider whether the fees resembled Chicago's special assessment system in constituting a privatization of government and in reflecting a view that government should not be used to redistribute. I conclude that models that address the provision of urban infrastructure, such as the Tiebout model, would benefit from greater attention to efforts to shift the cost of public goods over space, time, and social groups or classes in growing communities.

Social Movement, Territory and Memory in La Malinche, Mexico City

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-360
Author(s):  
María Ana Portal
Keyword(s):  
Mexico City ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Public Works ◽  
The West ◽  
Social Resistance ◽  
Social Struggle ◽  
Constant Tension ◽  
La Malinche

Over the last 12 years, Mexico City has endured significant transformations, which have given rise to constant tension between the need for public works that modernize the urban infrastructure and the needs of the population affected by such works and projects. These changes are part of a broader process of capital’s global expansion under the neoliberal modality. For this reason, urbanization is most often planned against the interests of the local population. By looking at the movement of social resistance against the construction of the West Superhighway through La Malinche, this paper shows how changes in the world’s economic model—and the particularities they produce in a country like Mexico—have taken a toll on both organizational forms and elements of social struggle.

Strategic Planning Information Systems Enterprise Architecture Planning Method Case Study of Semarang City Public Works Department

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-122
Author(s):  
Agustinus Fritz Wijaya ◽  
Mahendra Wahyu Prasetyo
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Enterprise Architecture ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Swot Analysis ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Value Chain Analysis ◽  
Application Architecture ◽  
Chain Analysis ◽  
The City

Semarang City Public Works Department is a state-owned enterprise that works in the area of public services in the city of Semarang. Most of the technological conditions in the Public Works Department are still in manual data management, which is hampering business processes from going well. Therefore this research was conducted to design an Information System at the Semarang City Public Works Department using the Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP) method which includes a SWOT analysis and Value Chain analysis. The existing framework in the Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP) method can help align the data architecture and application architecture to get the expected results, which is achieving the business objectives of the City of Semarang Public Works Department so that business functions can run by the desired business processes. This research resulted in several proposals for the development of Information Systems and Information Technology in organizations including the development of several applications in the next 5 years.

A Globe Scan Of Urban Infrastructure In Third World Countries

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 51-54
Author(s):  
Jay B Thakar ◽  
◽  
Vinesh Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Third World ◽  
Urban Infrastructure
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document