Briefing: An examination of social legacy using a long-term perspective

Abstract

The social legacy of infrastructure is a complex concept that is not clearly understood. It can incorporate social value practices, as defined in legislation, but must also consider the intrinsic benefits of infrastructure, that is the services that infrastructure provides to allow communities to flourish and, crucially, how long that impact will last. Examination of the impact of infrastructure systems – in this case sewers – reveals that engineering solutions can over time become burdens on society that are expensive to maintain and difficult to transition away from, restricting the ability to seek better approaches. The key lesson is that the legacy of our infrastructure may be to constrain the choices open to future generations by locking them in to a path we have defined. The conclusion is that the social legacy that engineers should consider is how to avoid burdening future generations, leaving them free to seek solutions that best suit the circumstances of their time.