Hillary Brown argues that the infrastructure priorities of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act further the carbon-intensive status quo and miss an unprecedented opportunity to build innovative, green systems.
At $132 billion, ARRA provides only a fraction of $2.2 trillion needed to repair and upgrade America's infrastructure, notes Brown. Furthermore, she says, by emphasizing private transportation over public, underfunding clean energy projects and doing nothing to break down the 'siloed thinking' that plagues the public works sector, ARRA will simply perpetuate the inefficiencies of current systems.
Instead, the next generation of infrastructure should employ 'bold strategies': co-location and integration of diverse functions, models that work in concert with natural processes, projects that bring programmatic benefits to communities, and resilient design capable of adapting to global climate change.
However, the ultimate challenge to smart infrastructure may be political rather than technical, Brown writes:
"Designing appropriate, sustainable technologies may be the least challenging aspect of our American infrastructural dilemma. The more daunting problem is our dysfunctional governance - a political culture that seems unwilling to commit to implementing what we know we need, and know how to make."
FULL STORY: Infrastructural Ecologies: Principles for Post-Industrial Public Works
Creating Ocean-Safe Plastic from Seashells
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Commentary: Colorado Will Forge Ahead With Conservation Work
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Nevada to Host National Outdoor Recreation Conference
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Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
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Researchers Use AI to Get Clearer Picture of US Housing
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Making Shared Micromobility More Inclusive
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Car Designs Make it Harder to See Pedestrians
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie