Constructing hybrid infrastructure: Exploring the potential ecological, social, and economic benefits of integrating municipal infrastructure into constructed environments

Abstract

Centralized infrastructure systems are ineffective infrastructure solutions for a diverse range of contexts, yet they comprise a substantial portion of current and planned infrastructure systems in municipalities throughout the world. The synthesis of a multidisciplinary, two phase review of existing literature on potentially higher performing infrastructure solutions is presented in this paper.In the first phase, the potential economic and ecological advantages of semi-decentralized and decentralized infrastructure systems are explored. The results of the first phase of the study indicated that innovative infrastructure solutions, particularly hybrid infrastructure, can have substantial economic and ecological performance benefits.Hybrid infrastructure is defined in this paper as infrastructure systems that are integrated within buildings and landscapes that also provide non-infrastructure uses. In order to be considered hybrid infrastructure, the infrastructure system(s) must provide a greater quantity of infrastructure services than the quantity of services that are required by the individual building or landscape, and their occupants.Through an analysis of the results of the second phase of the review, the potential ecological, social and economic benefits of hybrid infrastructure are explored, some of which would otherwise be unattainable. The potential effectiveness of several hybrid infrastructure performance assessment methods is also discussed. The results of this discussion have substantial implications for building performance assessment methods and metrics. In particular, refocusing building performance goals and assessment methods to the urban scale can be more effective than current building performance goals and assessment methods. In addition, the results suggest that improving the ecological integrity of ecosystems through building and landscape design can also benefit the economic and social performance of buildings, landscapes, and local communities.Thus, this paper contributes to deepening the understanding of the maximum ecological performance potential of buildings and landscapes. This is accomplished by investigating potentially effective ways buildings and landscapes can contribute to the development of sustainable cities and regions, in ways that improve the ecological integrity of local natural ecosystems.