Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Systems A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives: Report of a Workshop (2009) / Chapter Skim
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4 Creating a New Paradigm
4 Creating a New Paradigm
Pages 31-42
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From page 31... ...
Meeting this century's challenges requires a fundamental reexamination of the purposes and value of critical infrastructure systems and of the current processes for infrastructure-related decision making and investment. While daunting, this reexamination can yield a new paradigm from which to develop practical solutions to complex issues.
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From page 32... ...
. Buildings can be designed to supply their own electricity using solar collectors and, in some cases, to gener ate excess electricity that can be sold back to power companies.
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O ngoing I ni t i a t ives Many groups and individuals have recognized the need to upgrade the nation's critical infrastructure systems and have proposed various solutions. An array of issue papers, plans, and strategies to repair and upgrade infrastructure as a whole or to deal with specific systems, such as water supply systems, have already been developed. At the regional, state, and local levels, community, government, nonprofit, and private-sector organizations are developing and implementing strategies to address one or more infrastructure-related challenges across jurisdictional and political boundaries. The following are examples of such initiatives: • For the Memphis metropolitan region, which includes por tions of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas as well as 40 individual cities, a conceptual framework titled See, for example, "America's Infrastructure: Ramping Up or Crashing Down" (Katz et al., 2007)
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From page 34... ...
. The goal of this effort, guided by a coalition of regional planners, scholars, and policy mak ers, is to develop a framework for the nation's future growth that considers trends such as rapid population growth and demographic change, global climate change, the rise in foreign trade, and infrastructure systems that are reaching capacity.
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From page 35... ...
By concentrating on single projects, technologies, financing mechanisms, or narrowly defined objectives, ad hoc efforts run the risk of wasting scarce resources and increase the probability of serious, unintended consequences. A framework is needed to create a structure within which ongoing activities, knowledge, and technologies can be aligned and leveraged to support critical infrastructure renewal and also to help achieve some of the nation's 21st century imperatives.
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From page 36... ...
• A focus on providing the essential services involving water and wastewater, power, mobility, and connectivity -- in contrast to upgrading individual physical facilities -- to foster inno vative thinking and solutions. • Recognition of the interdependencies among critical infra structure systems to enable the achievement of multiple objectives and to avoid narrowly focused solutions that may well have serious, unintended consequences.
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From page 37... ...
It should not be a vision of concrete, steel, and cables, but rather one of expectations for economic competitiveness, reduced dependence on imported oil, a high quality of life, and harmony with the environment. In the absence of such a vision, ad hoc initiatives and investments for critical infrastructure systems driven by economic forces or disaster recoveries will continue, but it will be difficult to integrate these into a coherent approach to meet 21st century needs.
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From page 38... ...
If stakeholders are to understand fully what is at risk and what choices need to be made, the public dialogue needs to be recast as a discussion on how best to provide essential services -- as opposed to its current focus on the merits and deficiencies of individual physical systems. As part of this discussion, it will be necessary to develop answers to questions such as the following: • What are the public's expectations for the levels of ser vices to be provided by critical infrastructure systems?
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From page 39... ...
Shifting the public dialogue to focus on essential services, the regional nature of infrastructure systems, and their interdependencies will provide opportunities to bring together stakeholders from a range of infrastructure-related organizations to discuss issues that cut across institutional, jurisdictional, and political boundaries. In doing so, they can potentially identify new ways to leverage resources, to optimize investments, and to identify solutions that meet multiple objectives.
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From page 40... ...
It could also help to communicate what is at stake and the risks involved when critical infrastructure investments are being considered. Performance measures may also help to estab lish long-term public support for investments in infrastructure among its users -- citizens, businesses, nonprofit organizations, Defined as a building with a net energy consumption of zero over a typi cal year: that is, energy produced minus energy used equals zero (Grabowski, 2008)
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From page 41... ...
. M O V I N G F O R WA R D An important first step in creating a new paradigm is to bring together those who have an essential stake in meeting 21st century imperatives and who are already involved in sustainable infrastructure efforts.
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