Municipal Infrastructure Research Articles

Research on Existing Problems in Urban Sewage Treatment and Solutions

In recent years, my country s cities and towns have developed rapidly, the level of modernization has become higher and higher, municipal infrastructure has gradually improved, and people s requirements for the quality of life have become higher and higher. In cities, sewage treatment has always been a major and difficult issue, which directly affects the urban environment and the quality of residents' living. Although my country already has a relatively sound sewage treatment system at this stage, in the course of practice, there are still some problems that need to be solved urgently. In this article, the author discussed in detail the problems in urban sewage treatment and proposed corresponding solutions to promote urban development and ensure ecological harmony.

An Analysis of the Effects that South Africa’s Informal Settlements have had on the Country’s River Systems

The quality of surface water has a significant impact on human health and the entire ecological system. Sewer spillages from the surrounding informal settlements discharging into the river, carrying high concentrations of fecal coliforms, are one of the major causes of extreme pollution in the rivers of South Africa. These informal settlements are common in many developing countries, and they are usually located near waterways to compensate for basic demands for water, sanitation, and recreational space, where municipal infrastructure lags behind urban growth. One major problem has been poor sanitation and poor waste disposal practices in the informal settlements, which has led to the contamination of water resources. This study aims to assess the extent to which poor sanitation in informal settlements impacts the water quality of South African rivers, given the rapid rise in population and unemployment rate. The study also highlights health and environmental issues in the local regions caused by poor sanitation. Contamination of water bodies is associated with serious health problems and fatalities. Therefore, there is a need for frequent monitoring and management of waste products discharged into the neighboring aquatic environments.

Possibilities of using cluster solutions in the policy of revitalisation of degraded municipal infrastructure in Ukraine

This paper discusses the issues concerning the policy of revitalisation as the basis for planning and carrying out the social and economic reconstruction of Ukraine. It is crucial to consider the scale of destruction and degradation of urban tissue, as well as the migration which occurred in the wake of the military operations. As a result, it is necessary to devise a specific programme of revitalisation which would use innovative organisational and guarantee instruments on a macro-, meso-, and microeconomic levels. The paper considers the factors which determine the aims of the municipal revitalisation policies, as well as their models, which include an analysis of degradation of urban areas as a step in the development of cities. The paper includes an examination of demographic factors, as well as those, which are associated with depopulation. In addition, the importance of urban infrastructure was highlighted in the process of revitalisation. Furthermore, the paper covers the analysis of literature regarding experiences in terms of using revitalisation clusters in degraded areas. The development of chosen clusters in cities in Western Europe was examined, having identified and evaluated basic conditioning factors of their use in revitalisation processes. Moreover, the importance of clusters was discussed, together with their possible use by establishing ‘Key National Cluster’ and, within its confines, ‘Regional Key Clusters’ in chosen oblasts in Ukraine according to their division into international areas of reconstruction. The scale of destruction and degradation of given areas of Ukraine was evaluated in terms of particular elements of revitalisation, together with the costs associated with reconstruction. This analysis covers the losses Ukraine experienced between July and December 2022.

Staging the New City: Urban spectacles and the ecological origins of Nayib Bukele's authoritarian populism

AbstractThis paper analyzes the connections between real estate speculation and authoritarian populism in El Salvador. Focusing on president Nayib Bukele's term as mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán (2012–2015), I examine the role speculative urbanism played in the crafting of his profile as a promising politician in the early years of his career. I trace how Bukele instrumentalized the ecosystem of Nuevo Cuscatlán's coffee forest as a means to fund a personalistic populist strategy whose main project called for the construction of a “New City.” This project involved the lifting of barriers to real estate investment to raise funds for social programs and municipal infrastructure. Its flipside was an aggressive process of deforestation and displacement of rural populations. Drawing on urban political ecology and critical agrarian studies, I argue that Bukele's New City project constituted a type of urban spectacle. This urban spectacle was rooted in two socio‐ecological dynamics: (1) The use of land as a revenue‐raising token of exchange; and (2) The fetishization of urban water infrastructure in the context of water scarcity. The paper concludes with various considerations about the destructive force of the link between authoritarian populism and urban extractivism in rural environments.

Mindset Changes for Dealing with Complex Climate Impacts - Experiences with a Tool from Courses on Digitalization and Climate-Adapted Urban Development

Economy and society are currently exposed to multi-layered multi-crises. Against the backdrop of the covid pandemic, a growing shortage of skilled workers, increasing armed conflicts or persistent refugee flows, cities and municipalities in particular have to deal with resulting local impacts. Parallel to these highly dynamic crisis events, cities and municipalities continue to be called upon to face the now established challenges of climate change, sustainability and digitalization. More and more, there are organizational and also psychological overloads in coping with everyday tasks as a result of increasing complexities. Because of the excessive demands, there is a retreat to familiar and routine-related everyday work and the neglect of the search for adequate solutions to the increasingly complex problems. Especially in the field of municipal infrastructure, which requires rapid and comprehensive adaptation to the manifold impacts of climate change, this excessive demand increasingly leads to recourse to rather simple solutions, which, however, do not justice to the complexity of the situation. During two certificate courses at Hof University of Applied Sciences (Germany) on the development of climate-adapted urban planning and on successful digitalization in municipal water management, a novel tool for dealing with complex situations was developed to practice on examples. It was observed among the approximately 70 participants in both courses that used this method two to three times already led to a visible change in the perception and assessment of complex situations, without the need for psychologically accompanied training of change behavior.

The Variability of Maximum Daily Precipitation and the Underlying Circulation Conditions in Kraków, Southern Poland

This article studies the intra-annual and long-term variability in the maximum daily precipitation totals and their association with atmospheric circulation in Kraków. It investigates daily precipitation maxima by year and by month. The research is based on daily precipitation totals in the years 1863–2021 and draws on the calendar of atmospheric circulation types by Niedźwiedź. It examines the frequency of precipitation maxima in individual months and their variation from one year to another. No statistically significant trend of change in precipitation over the study period has been found. All annual maximum daily precipitation totals in Kraków fall into the category of heavy precipitation (>10 mm), and almost 99% qualify as very heavy (>20 mm). In the summer months, these are about 3–4 times higher than in winter. The share of the daily precipitation maximum in the monthly total exceeds 30% in all months. The maximum daily precipitation occurring on 5 August 2021 was the highest in the period that extends from the start of instrumental measurements. The study period saw 12 cases of maximum precipitation that belong to ‘flood-inducing’ categories (over 70 mm/day). Such cases of the very heaviest precipitation occurred in cyclonic situations: Cc, Bc, Nc, NEc, Ec and SEc. Most spring and summer maxima were seen on days with a cyclonic circulation. The instances of high daily precipitation in the Kraków area led to the flooding of residential and historic buildings, as well as of municipal infrastructure.

Designing a Flexible and Adaptive Municipal Waste Management Organisation Using the Viable System Model

Changing consumption patterns, new packaging materials, innovative waste processing, and recycling technologies, but also unforeseen events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in the presence of the climate crisis and ecological degradation, necessitate the development of flexible and adaptive municipal waste management infrastructure and processes governed by equally flexible and adaptive organisations. In this regard, this paper presents the design process for such an organisation based on the Viable System Model (VSM). The VSM is a systems approach for the methodological diagnosis and design of organisations that can adapt to, and survive, changes in the environment that they are part of. Through a reference case of a large municipality in Greece, we demonstrate how the VSM and the related VIPLAN methodology can be used for the methodological development of flexible and adaptive municipal waste management systems (MWMS) for governing organisations.

Investigation of deformation coordination between optical fibre and borehole sand backfill

Land subsidence has threatened the safety of municipal infrastructures and even that of inhabitants. As one of the deformation monitoring methods, distributed optical fibre sensing (DOFS) technology has been developed for the investigation of land subsidence. The deformation coordination between the optical fibre and soil (DCf-s) under different conditions is critical for land subsidence monitoring with DOFS. In this paper, a medium-sized triaxial apparatus was modified for testing the DCf-s. Consolidated drained triaxial tests were conducted to investigate the effect of sand types on the DCf-s. By linearly fitting the deformation of the sensing cable with that of the triaxial specimen, the other factors that affect the DCf-s, such as the confining pressure, dry or wet state of the soil and cyclic variation of the loads, can be discussed. The experiments reveal that better DCf-s comes with a larger particle size, poor gradation of sand and larger confining pressure. The DCf-s of wet sand is better than that of dry sand. The DCf-s coefficient tends to be stable with an increase of loading cycles. The DCf-s obtained and its dependence on influencing factors can be used to modify the measured cable strain in practical land subsidence monitoring with DOFS.

Unlocking system transitions for municipal solid waste infrastructure: A model for mapping interdependencies in a local context

Rapid global urbanization, urban renewal and changes in people's lifestyles have led to both an increase in waste generation and more complex waste types. In response to these changes, many local governments have invested in municipal solid waste infrastructure (MSWI) to implement circular strategies. However, matching and bridging the costly and logistically complex MSWI with the dynamic social context is a central challenge. In this paper we aim to explore the interdependencies between MSWI and the local social system, and then conceptualize and empirically validate the systemic nature of MSWI. We first review the current MSW treatment methods, corresponding infrastructure, and the challenges facing them. Then, we interrogate system-oriented concepts and use two key insights to set up a conceptual model for mapping the interdependencies in a MSWI system (MSWIS). Finally, a case study of the Dutch city of Almere is used to empirically validate the MSWIS model and identify the social systems that contribute to the development of the MSWIS. The analysis reveals that the development of MSWIS is beyond the municipality's control: efficient resource recovery facilities established by businesses under market rules and waste reuse facilities constructed by social organizations/individuals based on their own needs are key pieces of the puzzle to complete the MSWIS. This highlights the ability of the framework to capture interdependencies that go further than just the formal municipal sphere of influence.

Adaptive governance as bricolage

Abstract. Adaptive governance is proposed as an analytical framework for understanding water distributions in the Anthropocene and for fostering transformative interventions. In this contribution, we demonstrate the usefulness of bricolage thinking for a more grounded and power-sensitive analysis of adaptive water governance. More specifically, we employ the notions of institutional bricolage and extend them to socio-technical tinkering to argue for an understanding of adaptive governance as an experimental practice. To develop our arguments, we draw from research on municipal water supply governance in Accra, Ghana, and in Mansfeld-Südharz, Germany – two regions where the modern ideal of a centrally managed large-scale infrastructure is in growing tension with more modest imaginaries. We demonstrate how residents and water providers adapt to local historical–geographical contexts and unexpected disruptions by using novel and existing multi-purpose institutional and infrastructural arrangements across multiple scales. Through the notion of water bricolage, we show how modest imaginaries and realities of municipal water supply infrastructure and governance emerge. In concluding, we suggest everyday engagements with rules, people and materials as a lens to further understand adaptive governance and identify spaces for transformative interventions.

Hidden Threat: The Influence of Sea-Level Rise on Coastal Groundwater and the Convergence of Impacts on Municipal Infrastructure.

Sea-level rise (SLR) is influencing coastal groundwater by both elevating the water table and shifting salinity profiles landward, making the subsurface increasingly corrosive. Low-lying coastal municipalities worldwide (potentially 1,546, according to preliminary analysis) are vulnerable to an array of impacts spurred by these phenomena, which can occur decades before SLR-induced surface inundation. Damage is accumulating across a variety of infrastructure networks that extend partially and fully beneath the ground surface. Because the resulting damage is largely concealed and imperceptible, it is largely overlooked as part of infrastructure management and planning. Here, we provide an overview of SLR-influenced coastal groundwater and related processes that have the potential to damage societally critical infrastructure and mobilize urban contamination. In an effort to promote research efforts that can inform effective adaptation and management, we discuss various impacts to critical infrastructure and propose actions based on literature focused specifically on SLR-influenced coastal groundwater.

Sensors as media and sensor-mediated communication: an introduction to the special issue

Abstract This special issue examines mediated communication through the rise of sensors. Sensors are increasingly in the phones we carry, in the cars we drive, and throughout the homes and communities in which we live. In this introduction to the special issue, we define sensor-mediated communication (SMC) and argue the embedded, automatic, and datafied nature of sensors belie the glitches and biases in sensor mechanisms, networks, and infrastructure. The collection of articles in this issue explores SMC across a variety of contexts and cases, including municipal infrastructure, community, health, industry, and the domestic. They represent studies of voice assistants, self-tracking apps, self-driving cars, fitness games, home health care, as well as municipal sensor networks in urban, indigenous, and rural communities. Across them all we see the different ways through which mediated communication is initiated, transformed, and maintained by sensing technologies. Together they represent an important evolution in the study of computer-mediated communication.

An appraisal of guidelines and practices for municipal infrastructure support agent to execute labour-intensive construction projects in South Africa

PurposeSeveral studies have shown that the mechanism of labour-intensive construction (LIC) projects can mitigate high unemployment and create skilled development, especially in developing nations. The guidelines and practices for implementation may have faced some encumbrances in some countries. Whether the current guidelines and practices for municipal infrastructure support agent (MISA) to execute LIC projects face hindrances in South Africa has yet to receive in-depth studies. Thus, this study attempts to proffer policy solutions to improve the proposed revised guidelines and practices for MISA in LIC project execution in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe study's objectives were accomplished via a combination of 16 virtual interviews of built environment professionals and government officials involved in LIC project execution in South Africa and supported by the analysed documents. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data and presented two main themes.FindingsFindings show lax enforcement of discretionary funds, lax institutional capacity and inadequate individual skills, among others, as the gaps in existing South Africa's LIC guidelines and practices. Also, policy solutions to address the gaps were proffered.Practical implicationsThe suggested feasible policies will improve the proposed revised guidelines and practices for MISA in LIC project execution in South Africa. This guide will promote the development of individual skills, institutional capacities and increase employment across South Africa.Originality/valueThis study promotes the use of LIC to create employment and contribute to proffering measures that will improve the proposed revised third edition of the guidelines and practices for MISA to execute LIC.

Exploring the Key Factors Influencing Sustainable Urban Renewal from the Perspective of Multiple Stakeholders

A successful urban renewal policy, process, and project implementation should advocate sustainable development from economic, social, and environmental perspectives. As different stakeholders have different interests and insights into the importance of the environment, housing, social wellbeing, and economic concerns, they often have different ideas concerning how to develop urban renewal strategies and implement projects. Although previous studies have focused on the opinions of governments and academics, fewer studies have considered the direct beneficiaries of urban renewal—the residents. This study examined the key factors that influence sustainable urban renewal from the perspective of multiple stakeholders, including local governments, residents, developers, and designers. Social network analysis (SNA) and the reliability interval method (RIM) were integrated to form a SNA-RIM analytical framework to analyze the importance of the influencing factors. The results showed that the adjustment of the regional industrial structure, employment opportunities, and environmental qualification improvement had the most significant influence on sustainable urban renewal from economic, social, and environmental perspectives, respectively. In addition, different types of stakeholders do not value sustainability indicators in the same way. Local governments place more emphasis on return on investment, employment opportunities, and environmental qualification improvement, whereas residents focus on per capita income growth rate, public service facilities, and convenience of municipal infrastructure. Developers are most interested in the land value growth rate, public service facilities, and effective land use space, whereas designers attach the greatest importance to the adjustment of regional industrial structure, public service facilities, and effective land use space. Therefore, this study can help urban planners and decision makers balance the interests, seek common benefits for different types of stakeholders, and improve sustainable and inclusive urban renewal.

Digital management method of municipal infrastructure engineering construction

In this paper, the digital management method of municipal infrastructure engineering construction is proposed, to improve the management level of municipal infrastructure engineering construction. After determining the project construction cycle, BIM technology is used to build the municipal infrastructure engineering model, screen the errors in the model through collision and roaming inspection, and use the DELMIA module of BIM software to realize the visual management of municipal infrastructure construction progress. BIM-VR conversion software is selected to convert the three-dimensional model of municipal infrastructure into a VR model, and immersively view the construction site of municipal infrastructure engineering through VR equipment, so as to realize the dynamic digital management of municipal infrastructure engineering construction. The experimental results show that this method can realize the digital management of municipal infrastructure engineering construction, accurately predict the project cycle of municipal infrastructure engineering construction, and ensure the smooth progress of municipal infrastructure engineering construction.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ РАЗВИТИЯ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННО-ЧАСТНОГО ПАРТНЁРСТВА В РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ

There is an insufficient amount of investment in domestic infrastructure facilities. The first place in the number of contracts was given to the sphere of municipal infrastructure. The implementation of projects related to the de-velopment of transport infrastructure is usu-ally postponed. Factors such as the econom-ic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in legislation influenced the decline in the indicators of concession agreements.

Rainbow infrastruggles: The infrapolitics of LGBTQ2S surplus visibility in suburban infrastructure

ABSTRACT Municipal rainbowization has proliferated globally in tandem with LGBTQ+ equalities gains. The rainbow—a globalized aesthetic of an imagined community that symbolizes LGBTQ+ empowerment, belonging, and safety—is increasingly integrated into municipal infrastructure as a neoliberal place-branding tool of social inclusion and performative progressiveness. On urban peripheries, the rainbowization of infrastructure embeds LGBTQ+ imaginaries in heteronormative suburbia, simultaneously evoking rainbow infrastruggles—morality-led conflicts over questions of representational excess and legitimacy. In the absence of queer infrastructure on the Vancouver city-region periphery, this paper examines how municipal rainbowization generates infrastruggle through bureaucratic processes that perform progressiveness by aestheticizing LGBTQ2S social inclusion in generic crosswalks, city hall plaza lighting, and flagpoles. It argues that as a metaphoric policy intervention, such rainbow aestheticization performs surplus visibility as progressiveness and confines LGBTQ+ issues to the symbolic realm. To compensate for inaction on more substantive LGBTQ+ social inclusion, municipal rainbowization is a rhetorical move in which queer bodies are absented in a quest for political absolution that maintains citywide heteroneutrality. The neologism infrastruggle contributes an understanding of infrastructure as a buried site of heteronormative political assumptions and a way of seeing the inconspicuous infrapolitics of a subordinated group in the public realm.

A Neutrosophic Framework for Assessment of Distributed Circular Water to Give Neighborhoods Analysis to Prepare for Unexpected Stressor Events

The global water issue is caused by a number of factors, including extreme weather, population increase, and industrial activity. One of the reasons we're running out of water as a planet is because of the outdated take-make-use-throw-away linear paradigm of handling water. It has been suggested that the circular economy may help alleviate water shortages by inspiring a fundamental change in municipal water infrastructure. Reduced consumption, recovered natural resources, and minimal waste are the three pillars of a circular water supply. A dispersed water supply is more adaptable and robust than a centralized one because it gives communities more time to be ready for emergencies. Nonetheless, there have been no extensive studies of the most important elements that influence the choice to build distributed water supplies. In order to better inform the planning process, this research seeks to identify critical selection factors that influence the evaluation of viable choices. This study proposed the triangular neutrosophic set with the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to compute the weights of criteria. The neutrosophic set is used to deal with uncertain data.

The struggle for water in rural Paraguay: a ‘perverse confluence’ analysis of subversive participation

In March 1999, the people of Paraguay found themselves at an historical crossroads. At the national level and in rural communities, the legacy of the 35-year Stroessner dictatorship continued to limit the ability of democratic actors to make social and political change in the country. The old one-party rule of the Colorados confronted by international and local pressure for transformation, led to a political crisis that challenged both neoliberal development policies and the lingering authoritarian populism of the dictatorship. This essay explores a municipal infrastructure and water project sponsored by the Paraguayan government, the Peace Corps and the Inter-American Development Bank, in which the joint effort revealed tensions between emergent forms of democratisation and the goals of campesinos and their allies in the Catholic Church. Struggles for improved quality of life through infrastructure development intertwined with neoliberal modes of governance and efforts to overcome years of local authoritarian rule. Local communities sought a more active role in governing their affairs, which led to the successful implementation of Juntas de Saneamiento or ‘sanitation councils’.

Analysis of the associations between urban infrastructure and population lifestyle: rationale, study design and methodology

The creation of a socially comfortable urban environment is crucial for reducing health risks among the population. Numerous foreign studies have shown that urban infrastructure such as buildings, transportation, street design, public spaces, and access to resources such as healthy food, recreational areas, and places for physical activity have a significant contribution to the health of urban residents.
 In Russia, the evidence on this topic is still scarce. Therefore, it is important to introduce the research methodology of the first Russian study on the associations between urban environment and population lifestyle. The aim of this article is to describe the rationale for the study, the study design, and the methodology of a comprehensive assessment of the municipal infrastructure that affects the health of the population. Additionally, the article will analyze the association between infrastructure and lifestyle to create a unified preventive environment at the municipal level. This will lead to the development of a comprehensive intersectoral health promotion program that takes into account the risk factors for the health of the population in a specific municipality.