IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i20p8308-d425414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Infrastructure Is Key to Make Cities Sustainable

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Neuman

    (School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, London NW1 5LS, UK)

Abstract

Infrastructure is all around us: under, above, even inside our built and natural landscapes. Sometimes hidden, sometimes visible. The flows that course through them make our cities, economies, and lives possible. Cities could not even exist without infrastructure. Life is endowed with more possibilities by infrastructure. The centrality of infrastructure is pervasive. Worldwide, cities embrace infrastructure for economic competitiveness, well-being, access, environmental protection and knowledge creation. As cities are crucibles that concentrate the human condition, infrastructures are conduits that enable that concentration and empower human achievement. As infrastructures shape almost every aspect of daily life, this article assays the various ways it currently makes places both less sustainable and resilient, as well as more so, and how we can minimise the former and optimise the latter.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Neuman, 2020. "Infrastructure Is Key to Make Cities Sustainable," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:20:p:8308-:d:425414
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8308/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8308/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fay,Marianne & Lee,Hyoung Il & Mastruzzi,Massimo & Han,Sungmin & Cho,Moonkyoung, 2019. "Hitting the Trillion Mark -- A Look at How Much Countries Are Spending on Infrastructure," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8730, The World Bank.
    2. Scott A. Kulp & Benjamin H. Strauss, 2019. "Author Correction: New elevation data triple estimates of global vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal flooding," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-2, December.
    3. Kim, Hwan Yong & Wunneburger, Douglas & Neuman, Michael & An, Sang Young, 2014. "Optimizing high-speed rail routes using a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS): the Texas Urban Triangle (TUT) case," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 194-201.
    4. Scott A. Kulp & Benjamin H. Strauss, 2019. "New elevation data triple estimates of global vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal flooding," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Kurt Lambeck & Tezer M. Esat & Emma-Kate Potter, 2002. "Links between climate and sea levels for the past three million years," Nature, Nature, vol. 419(6903), pages 199-206, September.
    6. Robert E. Kopp & Frederik J. Simons & Jerry X. Mitrovica & Adam C. Maloof & Michael Oppenheimer, 2009. "Probabilistic assessment of sea level during the last interglacial stage," Nature, Nature, vol. 462(7275), pages 863-867, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael Neuman & Lorenzo Chelleri & Thorsten Schuetze, 2021. "Post-Pandemic Urbanism: Criteria for a New Normal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-6, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luke J. Jenkins & Ivan D. Haigh & Paula Camus & Douglas Pender & Jenny Sansom & Rob Lamb & Hachem Kassem, 2023. "The temporal clustering of storm surge, wave height, and high sea level exceedances around the UK coastline," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 115(2), pages 1761-1797, January.
    2. Alberto Alesina & Marco Tabellini, 2024. "The Political Effects of Immigration: Culture or Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 5-46, March.
    3. Xueyang Liu & Xiaoxing Liu, 2021. "Can Financial Development Curb Carbon Emissions? Empirical Test Based on Spatial Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    4. D. J. Rasmussen & Scott Kulp & Robert E. Kopp & Michael Oppenheimer & Benjamin H. Strauss, 2022. "Popular extreme sea level metrics can better communicate impacts," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 1-17, February.
    5. Stephanie A. Siehr & Minmin Sun & José Luis Aranda Nucamendi, 2022. "Blue‐green infrastructure for climate resilience and urban multifunctionality in Chinese cities," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(5), September.
    6. Michaël Goujon & Olivier Santoni & Laurent Wagner, 2022. "The Physical Vulnerability to Climate Change Index computed at the sub-national level," Working Papers hal-03672203, HAL.
    7. Julien Boulange & Yukiko Hirabayashi & Masahiro Tanoue & Toshinori Yamada, 2023. "Quantitative evaluation of flood damage methodologies under a portfolio of adaptation scenarios," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 118(3), pages 1855-1879, September.
    8. Hasselwander, Marc & Bigotte, Joao F. & Antunes, Antonio P. & Sigua, Ricardo G., 2022. "Towards sustainable transport in developing countries: Preliminary findings on the demand for mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) in Metro Manila," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 501-518.
    9. Aishwarya Narendr & S. Vinay & Bharath Haridas Aithal & Sutapa Das, 2022. "Multi-dimensional parametric coastal flood risk assessment at a regional scale using GIS," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 9569-9597, July.
    10. Yong Jee KIM & Brigitte WALDORF & Juan SESMERO, 2020. "Relocation, Retreat, and the Rising Sea Level: A Simulation of Aggregate Outcomes in Escambia County, Florida," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 51, pages 31-43.
    11. Amar Causevic & Matthew LoCastro & Dharish David & Sujeetha Selvakkumaran & Ã…sa Gren, 2021. "Financing resilience efforts to confront future urban and sea-level rise flooding: Are coastal megacities in Association of Southeast Asian Nations doing enough?," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 48(5), pages 989-1010, June.
    12. Katerina Trepekli & Thomas Balstrøm & Thomas Friborg & Bjarne Fog & Albert N. Allotey & Richard Y. Kofie & Lasse Møller-Jensen, 2022. "UAV-borne, LiDAR-based elevation modelling: a method for improving local-scale urban flood risk assessment," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 113(1), pages 423-451, August.
    13. Arun Rana & Qinhan Zhu & Annette Detken & Karina Whalley & Christelle Castet, 2022. "Strengthening climate-resilient development and transformation in Viet Nam," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 1-23, January.
    14. Bera, Subhas & Das, Arup & Mazumder, Taraknath, 2021. "Spatial dimensions of dichotomous adaptive responses to natural hazards in coastal districts of West Bengal, India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    15. Jingfan Zhang & Shuchai Gan & Pingjian Yang & Jinge Zhou & Xingyun Huang & Han Chen & Hua He & Neil Saintilan & Christian J. Sanders & Faming Wang, 2024. "A global assessment of mangrove soil organic carbon sources and implications for blue carbon credit," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    16. Laura Bakkensen & Quynh Nguyen & Toan Phan & Paul Schuler, 2023. "Charting the Course: How Does Information about Sea Level Rise Affect the Willingness to Migrate?," Working Paper 23-09, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    17. Lomborg, Bjorn, 2020. "Welfare in the 21st century: Increasing development, reducing inequality, the impact of climate change, and the cost of climate policies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    18. Mohamed A. Abdelhafez & Hussam N. Mahmoud & Bruce R. Ellingwood, 2024. "Adjusting to the reality of sea level rise: reshaping coastal communities through resilience-informed adaptation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(7), pages 1-20, July.
    19. Mengmeng Cui & Filipa Ferreira & Tze Kwan Fung & José Saldanha Matos, 2021. "Tale of Two Cities: How Nature-Based Solutions Help Create Adaptive and Resilient Urban Water Management Practices in Singapore and Lisbon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-22, September.
    20. Simon Merschroth & Alessio Miatto & Steffi Weyand & Hiroki Tanikawa & Liselotte Schebek, 2020. "Lost Material Stock in Buildings due to Sea Level Rise from Global Warming: The Case of Fiji Islands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:20:p:8308-:d:425414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.