City Planning 2021 College Major
Infrastructue
Topic 7
Unit 6
What is Infrastructure?- helps uplift eco activities and growth of the country
Infrastructure:the facilities and systems that serve the population of a
City Planning
city/society
Types of Infrastructure
● Transportation roads, bridges, parking lots, & signs-allows
mobility/connectivity of goods/services & people
● Communication cell phone towers, television cables, and internet services-
economies of scale & brings multinational corporations = economic growth
● Distribution systems for water, gas, electricity - fulfills domestic,
industrial, and commercial needs
● Community Safety, such as police stations, courthouses, and fire stations
● Trash/Sanitation Systems for sewage & garbage - keeps people & the environment
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safe
● Entertainment venues, such as museums, theaters, and sports facilities
● Open spaces, such as public parks and town squares
● Public/Social Services, healthcare networks (hospitals), education systems
(schools)= drive social goals, education of future employees
Good infrastructure lowers the cost of production helping
businesses reach economies of scale → improves city economies
Political Organization & Infrastructure
The term municipal refers to the local government of a city or town and the
City Planning
services it provides.
Municipality refers to a local entity that is all under the same jurisdiction.
The municipal government is responsible for managing infrastructure at the local
scale, although the federal government often subsidizes large expenses.
Urban Infrastructure: Creation and Maintenance
● Planning: Urban planners design infrastructure (roads, utilities, public services)
with zoning laws for organization.
● Public Sector: → Government Funding: Local, state, or national governments allocate
budgets for major infrastructure projects like highways, bridges, public transit,
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water, and sewer systems. → City or municipal departments oversee the design,
construction, and maintenance of public infrastructure.
● Private Sector: → Private Developers: Housing, office buildings, and retail centers
are often constructed by private developers who are required to contribute to local
infrastructure (e.g., roads, sidewalks, drainage systems) → Public-Private
Partnerships (PPPs): Cities often collaborate with private firms to finance and
manage infrastructure projects like toll roads or public transportation systems.
College Major
● Financing: → Taxes and Fees: Property taxes, sales taxes, tolls, and user fees help
fund ongoing maintenance and upgrades. → Grants and Federal Assistance: State and
federal governments often provide grants for large-scale infrastructure projects.
● Maintenance: Routine inspections and repairs extend lifespan; technological upgrades
improve efficiency.
● Impact: Quality infrastructure boosts economic growth, business attraction, and
social development.
Economic Development & Infrastructure
Building, repairing, and replacing infrastructure is costly → so why do some cities not invest more in
City Planning
infrastructure, public transportation, and services?
Fiscal squeeze: occurs when city revenues cannot keep up with increased demands for city services and
expenditures on decaying urban infrastructure
▫ Causes of Fiscal Squeeze:
▫ Cities have lost residential population and commercial establishments to suburban areas =
abandoned housing, lack of jobs, vacant warehouses, neglected neighborhoods, & crumbling
infrastructure
▫ Migration of middle/upper-class to suburbs = decreases the city’s tax base = less tax revenue
for the city to be able to pay to develop new infrastructure or maintain existing
infrastructure → Ex: Coppell residents pay taxes to Coppell (suburb) and not to Dallas
(inner-city/CBD) → leads to well developed/maintained infrastructure in Coppell, but due to
lower income (and therefore lower taxes) residents in Dallas, Dallas has poorly maintained
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infrastructure
▫ ALSO city occupied by elderly or poor = need higher access to welfare & public/social
services, but no income to be taxed to pay for it
▫ Solutions-ish:
▫ Cities attracting/developing businesses -sports franchises, business/conference centers,
tourist attractions, and large businesses (Amazon, Microsoft)
▫ However attracting businesses requires expensive infrastructure that leads to more
fiscal squeeze (parking, sewage)
▫ City offers fiscal advantages to businesses as incentives to relocate to their city -
reduction in taxes to business; but again, this leads to less revenue and more fiscal squeeze
Global Perspective:The higher the level of economic development, the more expendable money the country has to
invest in their infrastructure. The more infrastructure, the more they are able to increase their economic wealth! Semi-periphery
countries are more able to overcome the challenges of providing public services compared to cities in countries of the periphery,
core countries can overcome challenges better than semi-periphery countries.
Infrastructure & Economic Development
Economic wealth is not evenly distributed; cities in wealthier countries = can spend more $$ on
City Planning
developing, maintaining, and improving infrastructure.
LDC-Lagos, Nigeria
One of world’s most populous megacities
● Lots of commerce, also music, fashion, and film industries
● Extensive unplanned population growth = severe obstacles
in transportation, utilities, and sanitation (rural-urban
migr. & high Birth rates)
● Roads are in severe disrepair - mud paths → limits the
movement of resident and commerce affecting economic
development
● Lacking technology to improve communication and economic
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development
MDC-Frankfurt, Germany
● Airport is about a 2 hr flight to most European
capital cities
● Frankfurt Airport provides services to more
than 100 countries
● Highly-developed rail transportation
● At the national scale, Frankfurt- most
important Internet exchange center in Germany
● At the global scale, one of the world’s largest
and most reliable data transfer sites
Infrastructure - Suburbs & Businesses
Why Suburbs Depend on Infrastructure Impact of Infrastructure on
Advancements Business Location
● Automobiles: The invention and mass ● Suburban Expansion: Businesses
production of cars allowed people to followed population movement to
live farther from city centers while suburbs for greater customer access
commuting to work. and cheaper land.
● Highways: Expansion of roads and ● Highways & Logistics: Proximity to
interstates connected suburbs to urban major highways improved shipping,
areas, making daily travel feasible. leading to business parks and
● Public Transit: Suburban growth was distribution centers outside cities.
also supported by railroads, buses, ● Public Transit Hubs: Companies often
and commuter trains, reducing travel locate near transit stations to
time. attract employees and customers.
● Result: Without efficient ● Global Connectivity: Airports and
transportation, living far from jobs, ports have made cities major hubs
services, and entertainment would be for trade and international
impractical. business.
Infrastructure - Growing Your Economy
Improve Your Infrastructure → Improve Case Studies → Semi-periphery countries
Your Economy leveling up their economies with
infrastructure!
What companies want/need:
● Efficient transportation Shanghai, China; Mumbai, India, Sao
● Efficient communication Paulo Brazil → have all become major
technologies global economic centers due to their
increased investments in transportation
How governments/public policy makers and communication infrastructure.
can improve their infrastructure to
encourage economic growth and They have built stock exchanges in these
development: city centers which have allowed them to
● Provide advanced communication gain global importance and influence
networks - 5g cell phone service, despite being in semi-periphery
high-speed or fiber optic wireless countries Sao Paulo Stock Exchange
internet connections
● Create flexible work spaces to
rent downtown close to well
maintained public transportation
(bus lines, trains,light rails)
Shanghai Stock Exchange
Mumbai Stock Exchange
Transportation and Urban Infrastructure
Dense population of cities = high # of commuters to CBD for jobs = high demand for transportation
systems (roads/highways & car ownership) = multifaceted problem of automobile use:
- N-Environmental: Air pollution and excessive use of nonrenewable energy sources from cars
- S-Social: congested roads and long commute times → decreases happiness/mental health
while increasing stress,takes time away from family/friends,
- E-Economic: valuable real estate is being used for parking areas and costs associated
with car ownership; time spent in traffic reduces the time people have to work or engage
in productive activities
One solution- public transportation - buses, subways, light rails, and trains are operated by a
government agency.
Benefits of Public Transportation
- They use less land area in congested urban areas (one railway can transport more people,
faster than a highway and take up a fraction of the land area)
- They provide transportation for those who do not drive
- They reduce air pollution in urban areas
- They concentrate development along fixed routes and stops (rather than causes sprawl as
automobiles do, development in concentrated around the public transportation routes and
areas where it stops to allow people on/off → more likely to build up than out and
increases population density in those area)
Ex: New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco, are known for their success of their mass
transit systems → however few cities other than these within the U.S. have extensive systems and
ridership → lower ridership/use causes public transportation to be more expensive to cover the
costs of running & maintaining it → poor can no longer afford it, even though they are the ones in
most need of it!
Higher percentage of the population of cities in Europe, Latin America, and parts of Asia rely on
public transportation.
