Telecommunications and transportation infrastructure: inter- and intra-sectoral borders — perspectives from Australia and the US

A growing body of literature suggests that the segregation of infrastructure and urban/regional planning is at the root of contemporary problems facing many of the world's metropolitan areas. More recently, the introduction of new telecommunication infrastructure highlights the invisible borders that exist within critical infrastructure that provide advantages to some areas such as transportation and disadvantages to others. This paper attempts to understand the nature of inter-sectoral and intra-sectoral borders across infrastructure in Australia and the US. It examines the sometimes contradicting market-led vs. government-led models adopted in the two countries to deliver broadband communications and transportation. The findings identify similarities and differences between the two countries, and reiterate that in order to achieve social equity, and enhance the provision of infrastructure to non-pro?table areas, government intervention is required. The paper concludes with a call for performance-based policies that go beyond traditional borders in an effort to better address the contemporary wicked planning problems.     

Spatially blind policies? Analysing agglomeration economies and European Investment Bank funding in European neighbouring countries

Policies promoting development need to take into account the fact that globalisation has made space more rather than less important. To take full advantage of agglomeration economies that come with urban concentration, infrastructure plays a key role. For a long time development policies have focused on the provision of infrastructure. In this work, we analyse: first how urban concentration and infrastructure interact with each other for encouraging economic growth; and second whether policies promoting infrastructure have considered the spatial distribution of economic activity. As a case study, we focus on the European Investment Bank (EIB) projects financing infrastructures, for both the European Union and the EU neighbourhood. We perform panel data analysis considering different measures of infrastructure, and we also analyse the EIB projects. Our results suggest a relevant role of connectivity infrastructure (i.e. transport and communications) for agglomeration benefits to take place in European Neighbouring Policy countries. Our results also suggest that EIB funding in ENP countries is mostly country specific and displays no spatial dimension.     

The productivity and supply of urban infrastructures

The paper examines the productivity and supply of urban infrastructure capital using a panel data set of 85 West German cities. A simple theoretical framework is used to infer the impact of infrastructure services on private production cost. Assuming local firms to operate under perfect market conditions we derive an optimal local infrastructure supply rule and an optimal business capital tax rate. The empirical part of the paper proceeds by a two step procedure. In a first step we examine the productivity of urban infrastructure service provision by evaluating the cost reductions that are associated with the supply of infrastructures. In a second step, the adjustment of the urban infrastructure capital stock and the urban business tax rate is estimated, incorporating the estimated monetary productivity effects as well as some simple inter-jurisdictional competition variables into the empirical model.The paper is a revised and abridged version of a paper presented at the 33rd European Congress of the Regional Science Association, Moscow, August 1993. I gratefully acknowledge suggestions for improvement by Klaus Conrad and two anonymous referees.     

Traffic, transportation, infrastructure and externalities A theoretical framework for a CGE analysis

In Europe traffic congestions make it impossible to estimate travel time. The increasing number of cars calls for a transportation policy towards an improved efficiency of the transportation system. However, extending road infrastructure to reduce the congestion externality implies another type of externality, air pollution. Designing a transportation policy in industrialized countries one has to consider this trade-off. Our objective is to investigate the role of transportation services and their pricces within an interindustry framework. The authority wishes to minimize total cost of production with respect to the provision of infrastructure subject to an emission standard. By omitting a financial constraint to finance infrastructure we determine the size of infrastructure where no congestion occurs. The productivity effect of infrastructure and the cost savings from a dissolved congestion determine the optimal stock of infrastructure. Our congestion index is unity in that case of no financial constraint. If the extension of infrastructure has to be paid for by taxation, we obtain a lower level of infrastructure. In view of the trade-off between the benefit of a productivity gain from a dissolved congestion and the deadweight loss from taxation this lower level of infrastructure will result in an index of congestion higher than unity, implying a negative externality to the economy. Received: June 1996 / Accepted: February 1997     

Transport and mobility in sub-Saharan African cities: An overview of practices,lessons and options for improvements

Urban mobility is increasingly becoming one of the planning and development issues for cities in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. Sub-Saharan cities are growing fast, outstripping the current transport infrastructure. Despite the population and spatial growth, many cities are defined by inadequate planning, rapid urbanisation and deteriorating transport infrastructure and services. In most sub-Saharan African countries, modes of urban mobility are highly dependent on income. Transport options are limited. In fact, walking and cycling are often the main means available for the majority of city commuters. Little effort is made to develop a range of transport options or to improve bike or walking paths. Combined with traffic jams, poor governance and the increasing cost of living, public transport mobility in sub-Saharan cities is having a tremendous impact on their liveability and citizens development aspirations. This paper argues that inclusive and broad ranging transport planning must be prioritised in SSA cities to improve the capacity of citizens to participate in work opportunities as well as to fulfil their daily domestic needs. Using observations and comparing progress in other countries and regions, we note that the majority urban poor, women in particular, are often bearing the brunt of inadequate planning and transport provision. We note that urban planning and transport infrastructure should therefore be (re) designed with particular focus on the wellbeing of the poor. The paper thus ends with a range of suggestions on what planning, design and policy options might be available to better integrate various commuting modes into urban planning infrastructure. In doing so, the paper notes that safety and security are critical elements of improving urban and spatial transport planning in the sub-Saharan Africa region.     

Behaviour-based safety management in Hong Kong's construction industry: the results of a field study

Hong Kong's construction industry has had a poor site safety record for over a decade. Behaviour-based methods of safety management (BSM) have proved successful in other industries and in other countries. Hence, this study aimed to test the effectiveness of BSM by applying goal-setting and feedback interventions to specific areas of safety performance on Hong Kong Housing Authority construction sites. Using a within-group experimental design and with the use of a proportional rating safety measurement instrument, data were collected on the effectiveness of BSM on Hong Kong sites. The data were recognized as time series data; this has been a serious methodological oversight in much previous research. The data were analysed using autoregressive moving averages models, and the results were mixed in that a significant improvement in safety performance occurred in the housekeeping category of intervention but no improvement was observed in the access to heights and bamboo scaffolding categories. Based on these results a goal setting/expectancy theory model of site safety improvement has been synthesized, and the lack of provision of an adequate safety infrastructure has been identified as a serious impediment to improvement.     

住房合作社对土耳其住房供应的贡献

在土耳其，从20世纪30年代中期开始，合作社就一直向其成员（股东）提供住房。房屋建造完成后，合作社成员对其住房拥有完全产权，合作社完成任务即告解散。与许多欧洲国家的合作社不同，土耳其的合作社并不建造用于租用的住房，因为立法并未规定住房合作社有相关责任。20世纪80年代的上半年，合作社提供的住房开始增多。在20世纪的最后20年，约1／4的新住房是由合作社建造的。地方和中央政府向合作社提供支持，形式包括在分配公共资金贷款、销售由地方政府或中央政府部门开发的土地方面优先考虑住房合作社，以及优先考虑向合作社的住房项目提供基础设施。公共部门提供的各类支持大多数包含政府补贴的形式。     

INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION AND LOCATIONAL EFFICIENCY IN A FEDERATION: A NUMERICAL APPROACH

ABSTRACT How do different strategies of infrastructure provision affect the spatial distribution of firms and households in a federation? The current article analyzes three polar cases: in the first case there is no publicly provided infrastructure at all. The second case is the case of uniform provision, i.e., a federal government provides the same amount of infrastructure to each region, regardless of the initial spatial distribution of firms, households, and tax revenues. The third strategy is decentralized provision, i.e., infrastructure is provided according to regional tax revenues. It is shown that the superior strategy depends on the initial distribution of firms among regions which may reflect historical accidence.     

转型时期基础设施供给管治体系研究

运用管治理念提出了基础设施供给管治的概念,详细分析了由于经济体制转型所导致的基础设施供给中的变化——规划决策与生产建设、运营管理垂直分离,提出了基础设施供给管治体系的思想,并就每一管治子系统的管治目标及模式等做了详细的说明。     

Developer behavior in local infrastructure provision in Indonesia: Implications for policy

Residential areas in Indonesia face many challenges related to the adequacy and quality of infrastructure due to the limited scope of policies that regulate infrastructure provision by housing project developers. The analysis explores the role of developers in local-scale infrastructure provision. We adapt multi-criteria decision analysis to survey data for Indonesia. The analysis finds that the private developer's attitude is the top-ranking factor influencing their behavior in providing local infrastructure that is up to standard. This study proposes the elements that must be regulated and detailed in local government policy and regulation by considering the behavior of developers.     

Central‐local relations in Sweden and Australia: Power,responsibility and territorial equity in comparative perspective

Different governmental arrangements have varying impacts on the equity of provision of public services. But these impacts are modified by the cultural‐political traditions of nations. In this paper we compare central‐local relations in Sweden and Australia in broad qualitative terms. We explore the concept of ‘territorial equity’ and employ a resource model of government power to describe central‐local relations in the two countries. In any society the relative emphasis given to the opposing distributive principles of the governmental and market spheres—equity and efficiency—will greatly affect outcomes. We discuss the different significant variables contributing to a degree of equality in service provision in the two countries and foreshadow changes ahead, with varying capacity in the two countries to resist moves towards greater inequality in the provision of essential public services.     

Voting for highway construction in economic geography

This paper investigates the efficiency of voting for provision of transportation infrastructure such as highways, and discusses the effect on regional structure. The salient conclusions of this study show that voting and political competition engender overprovision of large-scale transportation infrastructure. In addition, consideration of industrial location reveals that the provision of transportation infrastructure exerts a negative effect on development of rural areas.     

Cost comparison of infrastructure on greenfield and infill sites

Planning policy in most Australian capital cities aims to divert development from the fringe into established inner urban areas. A fundamental logic underlying this policy of land recycling is that State and Local governments are challenged financially to provide appropriate standards of infrastructure and services in greenfield locations. This paper explores the range of infrastructure provision issues and seeks to identify the actual costs of provision in different locations. Three case studies in metropolitan Adelaide are used to explore the cost factors for developers and government. The study highlights the complexity of analysing the infrastructure cost of different developments which arises from variable record keeping and accounting practices. Nevertheless, the study is able to draw conclusions about the relative costs of infrastructure provision in different locations and reinforces previous studies that have demonstrated the higher costs of infrastructure on the fringe as opposed to infill. The estimated infrastructure costs for the infill development case study at Bowden are shown to be approximately one third that of both greenfield and renewal areas of the Playford Alive project on the urban fringe.     

Urban sprawl and municipal budgets in Spain: A dynamic panel data analysis

Urban sprawl has recently become a matter of concern throughout Europe, but it is in southern countries where its environmental and economic impact has been most severe. This low‐density, spatially expansive urban development pattern can have a highly marked impact on municipal budgets. Thus, local governments may see sprawl as a potential source of finance, in terms of building‐associated revenues and increased transfers from upper tiers of government. At the same time, sprawl leads to increased levels of expenditure, as it may raise the provision costs of certain local public goods and requires greater investment in extending basic infrastructure for new urban development. What, therefore, is the net fiscal impact of urban sprawl? Do local governments consider the long‐run net fiscal impact of new urban growth or do they simply focus on its short‐term benefits, ignoring future development costs? This paper addresses these questions by analysing the dynamic relationship between urban sprawl and local budget variables. To do so, we estimate a panel vector autoregressive model using data for 4,000 Spanish municipalities for the period 1994–2005. Computed generalized impulse response functions show: (i) that sprawl considerably increases demand for new infrastructure; (ii) that the capital deficit generated by this new infrastructure is covered in the main by intergovernmental transfers and, to a lesser extent, by revenues linked to the real estate cycle; and (iii) that sprawl leads to a short‐term current surplus, as the increase in current revenues offsets the increase in current expenditures due to public service provision for new developments. Overall, these findings point to a moral hazard problem for local governments in which inordinate intergovernmental transfers and development revenues encourage excessive urban sprawl.     

Urban development policies for the provision of utility infrastructure: a case study of Dhaka,Bangladesh

This research aims to analyse three urban development policies relevant to the utility infrastructure provision in Dhaka, Bangladesh for improving the environment. Available relevant literature, site survey data, and stakeholder's opinion derived from semi-structured interviews were utilised for qualitative analysis. The results reveal that providing the utility infrastructure in the existing urbanised areas is possible by service upgrading and incremental development. Nevertheless, though implementation is politically and financially challenging, this research suggests that the new urban policy with the utility infrastructure provision prior to development is more effective.     

Rural roads versus African famines

This paper formalizes and demonstrates how transport infrastructure between rural areas helps Third World countries deal with crop failures. In developed economies where transport costs are negligible, a crop failure in one area enhances market opportunities for producers in other growing regions. In developing countries where transport costs can be prohibitive, a crop failure in one area can have the reverse effects on other growing regions??undermining market opportunities??especially where crops must be transported through a central market to which food aid is delivered. We analyze the impacts of crop failures and food aid in a Walrasian general equilibrium model of a small, open, three-region economy, stylized to mimic African countries with prohibitively high costs of transport between rural regions.     

Allocation mechanisms in public provision of transport and communication infrastructure

This study explores the allocation mechanisms in the public provision of interregional transport and communication infrastructure in Sweden. The logistics of the flow of infrastructure investments from the government budget is examined. The purpose is to consider how the demand for infrastructure investment is estimated by public agencies, how judgments are made on governmental expenditure policy, and what determines the spatial distribution of infrastructure investment. The analysis is carried out along four main lines; demand for infrastructure services, political intentions and goals, the modal composition of investments for transport and communication, and the spatial distribution of infrastructure. The discussion considers functional, spatial, and temporal consistency aspects in the public provision of infrastructure.     

生态系统服务评估在美国城市绿色基础设施建设中的应用进展评述

城市绿色基础设施提供着雨洪管理、空气净化、气候调节、能耗节约、提供生态栖息地以及文化功能等重要的生态系统服务。近年来,在美国国家环保局、美国风景园林基金会等相关组织机构的倡导下,生态系统服务监测和评估被结合到城市绿色基础设施的规划建设之中。本文分析了城市绿色基础设施生态系统服务的研究进展和评估方法,并归纳了现今美国生态系统服务评估在绿色基础设施建设中的应用方式,包括为政策制定提供量化依据、为项目认证提供评价标准、以及为项目建设提供收益分析3种类型。最后,本文探讨了对我国绿色基础设施建设的相关启发,包括加强城市绿色基础设施生态系统服务研究和实践的结合,重视城市绿色基础设施生态系统服务的整体性和协同性,以及完善基于生态系统服务的城市绿色基础设施绩效监测体系3个方面。     

INFRASTRUCTURE AND METROPOLITAN REORGANIZATION: AN EXPLORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP IN AFRICA AND INDIA

Despite decades of effort, deficiencies in access and quality of infrastructure persist in cities of the developing world. One common response to the infrastructure problem is to reorganize the structure of metropolitan areas in the hopes that infrastructure provision, management, and quality will improve. What is not clear globally, however, is how the reorganization of metropolitan areas comes to be, and how infrastructure deficiencies function as a rationale for reform in conjunction with other dominant reasons or drivers of metropolitan reorganization. Building on the demand for increased cross‐regional comparison in urban studies generally, this article explores and compares the relationship between infrastructure quality and political and social pressures in four cities—two in India and two in East Africa. The comparison is intended to be exploratory; it shows how city and national government efforts to improve infrastructure quality are shaped by political and social pressures. The results provide a foundation for future cross‐regional comparison and theory building.