October 7th
Session Eight – Urban Infrastructure
NOTE: REQUIRED READING FROM TEXTBOOK EVERY WEEK BEGINNING THIS SESSION
This session will focus on the concept and functions of urban infrastructure, and on how infrastructures are designed and managed to deliver water, waste, energy, transportation, building, food, and social services to urban populations. The following questions will guide our discussion.
- What is meant by the term “urban infrastructure”?
- Infrastructure refers to the long-lived engineered structures, equipment, facilities, and services that are used by economic production and by households (World Bank)
- Long-lived: Maybe more than fifty years.
- Engineered: using modern industrial technologies.
- Examples I hadn’t included in assignment 1
- Parks
- Post offices
- Factories
- Infrastructure refers to the long-lived engineered structures, equipment, facilities, and services that are used by economic production and by households (World Bank)
- Why is it useful to focus on water, waste, energy, transportation, building and food systems infrastructures as we think about sustainable development?
- What are the essential components and achievements of “sustainable” urban infrastructures?
- How can cities effectively focus simultaneously on economic development and mitigating the negative impacts of urbanization?
- How can ecological and economic considerations be merged in a way that fosters cumulative and lasting advantages for cities?
- What specific approaches exist to foster sustainable urban infrastructures?
- What specific appropriate technologies exist to foster sustainable urban infrastructures?
REQUIRED READING FOR SESSION EIGHT (click on Session 8 on left side to access reading)
- Alternative Urban Futures: Introduction Chapter
- IPPC Climate Change Report, October 2018
- The Climate Wrecking Industry and How to Beat It by Jason Mark, The Nation 924/18
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT FOR SESSION NINE- Due October 12th
- Write down all the ways in which you used water on the day you did this assignment. Remember to include all of the activities you engaged in, the food you ate, the infrastructures and technologies you relied on. Be prepared to discuss your list in class.
- Watch the Video: The Future of Water: Dr Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy at TEDxUSF
Videos
Infrastructure and Urban Development
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNvmaq3e3Hk
Designing Urban Infrastructure for Today and Tomorrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GSfo4dTjk0 (46 minutes)