Infrastructure Strategies Research Articles

Financing Public Investment Through Concessions and Future Budgetary Obligations (FBO): The Case of Colombia 2002–2018

This document assesses the financial risks involved in funding public transportation through concessions in Colombia over the period 2002-2018. During this period, the Uribe and Santos Administrations launched and ambitious program of concessions, requiring investments amounting to US$20 billion (called the “Fourth-Generation”, 4G), representing about 7% of GDP of 2018, to be executed over a decade. Nearly 70% of those resources were raised through banks (locals provided nearly 50% of the total); capital markets funded another 20% (locals providing 10% of the total); and multilaterals and government supported the remaining 10%. Given the high exposure of local banks to long-term projects (5-7 years), under the more stringent Basel-III rules, several issues of “systemic risk” have been raised. In order to limit such risks, the central government of Colombia had to provide a “financial-cushion” through issuing Future Budgetary Obligations (FBO). It has been estimated that such FBOs currently amount to 12% of GDP in Net Present Value, representing a “contingent” liability that might have to be added to the “explicit” gross debt of nearly 52% of GDP at the level of the general government. Hence, we here discuss the financial pros/cons of this strategy of public infrastructure financed under private concessions supported by FBOs. In particular, we assess: i) the cash and stock effects over public debt after issuing such FBOs; ii) the different types of public guarantees under those FBOs and their “contingent” impact (including risks associated to construction failures, lower than expected traffic flows, and foreign debt exposure supported by tolls in local currency); and iii) the manner in which those FBOs were issued in the short-term having to comply with a Fiscal Rule (since 2014) that targeted a convergence of the structural central government fiscal deficit from levels of nearly 4% of GDP down to 2.2% of GDP over the period 2016-2020.

Theoretical Basis of the Green Infrastructure Strategy: International Experience

The Green Infrastructure Strategy is used in different directions related to the design, protection and protection of the environment. Purpose. Analyze international experience in using the concept of green infrastructure, identify the main theoretical and practical approaches to assessing green infrastructure, analyze how to integrate green infrastructure strategies into territorial planning and integrate natural resources management in Europe and the world into policies. Methods. Literary search, analysis, synthesis, synthesis. Results. An analysis of scientific sources on the issue of studying the concept of green infrastructure; a review of the literature in related studies that directly or indirectly relate to the green infrastructure. It has been established that there are certain regional differences in the use of the concept of green infrastructure in Europe, America, and Asia. Directions of practical research in this area depend on the goals, functions and existing elements of the green infrastructure. As a result, its methodology can be modified. The possibilities and limitations of its use in Ukraine are revealed. The green infrastructure strategy has the greatest application in Europe and the USA to provide the ecological basis for the economic development of the territory. Now it is characterized as a development inward to greater detail, and in a spatial sense - covering all large areas. Conclusions. Given the lack of implementation mechanisms in Ukraine for the concept of green infrastructure, it is advisable to integrate it into landscape-ecological planning and recommend using it at the local level with subsequent spreading over large areas.

An ecomimicry design approach for extensive green roofs

Extensive green roofs (EGRs) have been promoted as a multifunctional urban green infrastructure (UGI) solution that can ameliorate some of the negative environmental effects associated with urbanisation and provide habitat for wildlife. To date ecological EGR research remains limited, yet studying and understanding the ecology and ecological processes of these novel urban ecosystems could maximise their potential to conserve biodiversity and deliver multiple ecosystem services to urban areas. Here we present an overview of how a novel ‘ecomimicry’ approach can be used to ensure that locally important habitats are created and restored as part of urban green infrastructure strategies, and that biodiversity is embedded at the heart of EGR design. This can help urban developments meet sustainability targets and contribute to the goal of no-net-loss of biodiversity. Conserving urban biodiversity through ecomimicry will increase opportunities for urban communities to reconnect with nature and improve the quality of life for people in cities.

"Free" Public Access to Internet Services via satellite for rural UK

Internet Access is regarded by many as a key public service in modern societies. The UK Government is pursuing a Digital by Default agenda as part of its digital communications infrastructure strategy to make Internet connectivity available to all. While it has seen success in enabling connectivity to the majority of the population, the geographical location of the final 5% of hard-to-reach premises pose technical challenges, preventing traditional broadband services from being cost effective. In most remote and hard-to-reach areas, satellite broadband can provide connectivity, however, the present design of service offerings is unable to provide affordable or “Free” Internet service models combined with acceptable performance. One alternative is to offer lower-effort (LE) access to Internet services to provide "Free Internet". In contrast to terrestrial networks, providing LE services over a satellite network requires optimal cross-layer traffic engineering (TE) to offer acceptable performance. This paper presents an experimental service platform called Rural-PAWS (Rural- Public Access Wi-Fi Services). This was designed to support free high-speed access to government services, with basic access to traditional Internet services over satellite. The Rural-PAWS model uses a prototype multilevel service model that distinguishes Government Digital Services from LE traffic. The platform was deployed in a 12 months study over satellite across 8 pilot sites. This study sought to understand actual service requirements, user perceived performance of web access over satellite-based LE service, while investigating technical challenges to enable deeper understanding of whether it is technically viable to offer such services to hard-to-reach communities in the UK. The experimental results show that an LE service over satellite network can be provisioned, provided that (i) the web browser parameters are optimised for satellite networks and (ii) suitable application layer protocols are enabled over satellite networks.

The 6 A’s Global Transitional Care Model for Addressing Hospital-to-home Care Fragmentation

Introduction: An acute illness or injury can be life altering. However, few systems of care are organized to support individuals in the transition home from the acute hospital. Fragmented transitions in care lead to preventable complications, disability and depression. Care transitions without adequate planning and follow-up after an acute illness or injury is increasing the global disease burden. Methods: Our aim was to design a transitional care model appropriate for both developed and developing countries. We conducted a mixed methods study guided by the socioecological model that has a theory-base for understanding interacting levels of influence societal, community, institutions, social, family on individual behaviors and outcomes. We synthesized peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify national and regional infrastructure, health care and community-based strategies, involvement of family, and meaningful patient outcomes examined in transitional care models with demonstrated effectiveness. Our policy analysis for twelve countries three low-, middle- and high-income examined healthcare finance, availability and access to services, payment or policies for caregiver leave of absence, and products and technology that support independent living. Eighteen key informant interviews with healthcare and community leaders in six countries were conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding hospital-to-home care transitions. Results: Key informants in each low-, middle- and high-income country acknowledged the challenges with fragmentation and opportunities to improve care coordination. Although fewer supportive policies were legislated in developing countries, several national strategic plans acknowledged key areas for development such as improving access to care or health information technology. These perspectives, policies and the evidence-to-date led to the development of the 6 A’s global transitional care model to address the fragmentation in care and improve outcomes. The essential components of the 6 A’s model are to assess, advise and educate patients and families, arrange follow-up, services and supports, access and attend organized follow-up, adopt self-management strategies and positive behaviors, and achieve the greatest quality of life measured outcomes. Discussions: The 6 A’s model was designed to be implemented in the hospital assess, advise, arrange and after hospital discharge in the community attend, adopt, achieve and the components are balanced for accountability between healthcare providers, patients and families. While each setting may present with unique challenges for implementation, our formative research indicates that local creative solutions are possible once the need and buy-in are established. Conclusions: The 6 A’s model is largely dependent on care redesign or re-alignment of existing resources and skills training. Local policies and perspectives will need to be considered for each implementing environment. Lessons: Scale-up of transitional care models tested in high-income countries to lower resourced areas will not be feasible. The 6 A’s holds promise as a global model that can be considered within local contexts. Limitations: Although our research engaged representatives and included literature from a diverse selection of countries, key informants were advocates for improving integrated person-centred care. Future research: Implementation research using a community-based participatory approach with attention to the six health system building blocks is recommended for the 6 A’s global transitional care model.

System dynamics model for natural gas infrastructure with storage facility in Latvia

Considering the recent happenings in the energy market of Latvia, future strategies for natural gas market and infrastructure remain unclear. For policy planners and gas market stakeholders it is crucial to deal with this uncertainty and aim for exploitation of existing natural gas infrastructure. In this case a model that allows to explore opportunities for renewable energy applications in natural gas infrastructure and at the same time provides information about security of energy supply can be highly desirable. Therefore, this paper presents a System Dynamics model made for natural gas infrastructure with storage facility in the Latvian context. The model incorporates the specific parts of the Latvia’s natural gas infrastructure (transmission system and storage facility) and their characterizing parameters: natural gas transmission system capacities, storage facility capacities, working regimes, processes performed by transmission system operator for transmission system balancing based on natural gas flows. Model has potential to be used as a tool in energy policy planning processes for evaluation of different RES strategies and natural and technogenic risks of gas supply disruption. For this purpose, model must be upgraded with aspects that show gas market dynamics.

Reliable, Resilient and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems: An Analysis of Robustness under Deep Uncertainty.

Reliability, resilience and sustainability are key goals of any urban drainage system. However, only a few studies have recently focused on measuring, operationalizing and comparing such concepts in a world of deep uncertainty. In this study, these key concepts are defined and quantified for a number of gray, green and hybrid strategies, aimed at improving the capacity issues of an existing integrated urban wastewater system. These interventions are investigated by means of a regret-based approach, which evaluates the robustness (that is the ability to perform well under deep uncertainty conditions) of each strategy in terms of the three qualities through integration of multiple objectives (i.e., sewer flooding, river water quality, combined sewer overflows, river flooding, greenhouse gas emissions, cost and acceptability) across four different future scenarios. The results indicate that strategies found to be robust in terms of sustainability were typically also robust for resilience and reliability across future scenarios. However, strategies found to be robust in terms of their resilience and, in particular, for reliability did not guarantee robustness for sustainability. Conventional gray infrastructure strategies were found to lack robustness in terms of sustainability due to their unbalanced economic, environmental and social performance. Such limitations were overcome, however, by implementing hybrid solutions that combine green retrofits and gray rehabilitation solutions.

URBAN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR CLIMATE RESILIENCE: A REVIEW

Abstract: As the climate change affectingon coastal cities by increasing the intensity and frequency of climate related disasters such as flooding, sea level rise, drought etc., the need to explore other urban infrastructure strategies than conventional one is required. This alternative not only mitigate the impacts but also improve the urban climate resilience. In line with it, green infrastructure/GI can be sustainable alternative in that way combine with gray infrastructure. Therefore, this paper reviews the concept of GI to advance the urban resilience associated with climate related disasters. Some strategies based on the current literature and projects are also recommended including managing flood risk, building resiliency to drought, reducing the urban heat island effect, lowering building energy demands, improving coastal resiliency, and reducing energy needed to manage water. Key words: Green Infrastructure, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Sustainability, Flood, Drought,Sea level Rise.

Towards 5G: Scenario-based assessment of the future supply and demand for mobile telecommunications infrastructure

Moving from 4G LTE to 5G is an archetypal example of technological change. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) who fail to adapt will likely lose market share. Hitherto, qualitative frameworks have been put forward to aid with business model adaptation for MNOs facing on the one hand increasing traffic growth, while on the other declining revenues. In this analysis, we provide a complementary scenario-based assessment of 5G infrastructure strategies in relation to mobile traffic growth. Developing and applying an open-source modelling framework, we quantify the uncertainty associated with future demand and supply for a hypothetical MNO, using Britain as a case study example. We find that over 90% of baseline data growth between 2016 and 2030 is driven by technological change, rather than demographics. To meet this demand, spectrum strategies require the least amount of capital expenditure and can meet baseline growth until approximately 2025, after which new spectrum bands will be required. Alternatively, small cell deployments provide significant capacity but at considerable cost, and hence are likely only in the densest locations, unless MNOs can boost revenues by capturing value from the Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Cities or other technological developments dependent on digital connectivity.

A study of the operationalization of management controls in United Kingdom Private Finance Initiative contracts

Utilizing evidence from a United Kingdom (UK) road case study Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project, this article considers how the UK central government's infrastructure strategy is operationalized through accounting‐based performance measures and incentive systems, and articulates how the adoption of such systems is moderated by trust practices. The findings indicate that initial government policy objectives, translated as performance indicators in the case study, failed to offer adequate incentives for contractors and created tensions. However, controls were later developed through inter‐party trust practices for managing performance and relational risk. These findings have important implications for PFI policy and practice, including that negotiation can: (i) lead to pragmatic controls being introduced to foster cooperation and trust‐building; and (ii) provide opportunities for adapting the monitoring and incentive mechanisms. This study also contributes to the previous literature where PFI control systems were largely regarded as inadequate for dealing with unforeseen conflicts between parties.

Canadian Network Sovereignty A Strategy for 21st Century National Infrastructure Building

This essay addresses the implications for developing a national digital strategy posed by Canada’s excessive dependence on U.S. internet infrastructure and enterprises. It shows that much of domestic Canadian internet communication passes through the US before returning to Canada. This ‘boomerang’ routing means data loses Canadian legal and constitutional protections and is exposed to mass surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA). It also impairs the efficiency and quality of internet services. The essay explains the part that major Canadian ISPs play in contributing to this boomerang traffic. It concludes by offering recommendations for advancing a national digital infrastructure strategy based on ‘network sovereignty’ – the long standing principle that to advance the public interest, Canadians need to exercise effective control over the communication networks upon which the social/economic life of the nation depends. Updated to the 21st century of dense global interconnection, this principle also means establishing links internationally that reduce the current dependence on the U.S.

Agroecology for the Shrinking City.

Many cities are experiencing long-term declines in population and economic activity. As a result, frameworks for urban sustainability need to address the unique challenges and opportunities of such shrinking cities. Shrinking, particularly in the U.S., has led to extensive vacant land. The abundance of vacant land reflects a loss of traditional urban amenities, economic opportunity, neighbors, businesses, and even basic city services and often occurs in neighborhoods with socially and economically vulnerable or underserved populations. However, vacant land also provides opportunities, including the space to invest in green infrastructure that can provide ecosystem services and support urban sustainability. Achieving desirable amenities that provide ecosystem services from vacant land is the central tenet of a recent urban sustainability framework termed ecology for the shrinking city. An agroecological approach could operationalize ecology for the shrinking city to both manage vacancy and address ecosystem service goals. Developing an agroecology in shrinking cities not only secures provisioning services that use an active and participatory approach of vacant land management but also transforms and enhances regulating and supporting services. The human and cultural dimensions of agroecology create the potential for social-ecological innovations that can support sustainable transformations in shrinking cities. Overall, the strength of agroecological principles guiding a green infrastructure strategy stems from its explicit focus on how individuals and communities can shape their environment at multiple scales to produce outcomes that reflect their social and cultural context. Specifically, the shaping of the environment provides a pathway for communities to build agency and manage for resilience in urban social-ecological systems. Agroecology for the shrinking city can support desirable transformations, but to be meaningful, we recognize that it must be part of a greater strategy that addresses larger systemic issues facing shrinking cities and their residents.

An integrated approach to place Green Infrastructure strategies in marginalized communities and evaluate stormwater mitigation

Increasing urbanization augments impervious surface area, which results in increased run off volumes and peak flows. Green Infrastructure (GI) approaches are a decentralized alternative for sustainable urban stormwater and provide an array of ecosystem services and foster community building by enhancing neighborhood aesthetics, increasing property value, and providing shared green spaces. While projects involving sustainability concepts and environmental design are favored in privileged communities, marginalized communities have historically been located in areas that suffer from environmental degradation. Underprivileged communities typically do not receive as many social and environmental services as advantaged communities. This research explores GI-based management strategies that are evaluated at the watershed scale to improve hydrological performance by mitigating storm water run off volumes and peak flows. GI deployment strategies are developed to address environmental justice issues by prioritizing placement in communities that are underprivileged and locations with high outreach potential. A hydrologic/hydraulic stormwater model is developed using the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM 5.1) to simulate the impacts of alternative management strategies. Management scenarios include the implementation of rain water harvesting in private households, the decentralized implementation of bioretention cells in private households, the centralized implementation of bioretention cells in municipally owned vacant land, and combinations of those strategies. Realities of implementing GI on private and public lands are taken into account to simulate various levels of coverage and routing for bioretention cell scenarios. The effects of these strategies are measured by the volumetric reduction of run off and reduction in peak flow; social benefits are not evaluated. This approach is applied in an underprivileged community within the Walnut Creek Watershed in Raleigh, North Carolina.

What electric vehicle users want: Real-world preferences for public charging infrastructure

ABSTRACTElectric vehicles offer a means to achieve environmental goals within personal passenger transportation. However, one central challenge in transitioning to electric vehicles remains the lack of adequate public charging infrastructure. In this paper, we address this challenge by focusing on user preferences for public charging infrastructure. We present new insights from a survey of 843 electric vehicle users in Germany regarding their preferences for public charging infrastructure. The online survey allowed users to locate additional public charging stations required for their personal use and define the characteristics for each station: charging power, location description, accessibility, and expected frequency of use.From the results we identify a need for more public charging infrastructure. We find three critical overarching user preferences and three central infrastructure strategies. First, there is a preference for semi-fast (22 kW AC) charging stations. Second, we find that slow charging (3.7 kW AC) is acceptable for frequently used stations, whereas fast charging (50 kW DC) is desired for infrequently used stations. Third, slow charging is acceptable for locations where vehicles are parked over a longer period of time. For public charging infrastructure strategies, a mix of all station characteristics is critical. There should be infrastructure where people already park plus an additional backup fast network for infrequent charging. Finally, public stations should be provided mainly outside of the freeway system. The results of the survey provide valuable insights into effective and user-oriented public charging infrastructure, which is critical to the success of electric vehicles.

Earth’s field MRI for the non-invasive detection of fouling in spiral-wound membrane modules in pressure vessels during operation

R. Ujihara acknowledges scholarship funding from the Forrest Research Foundation. The authors acknowledge the facilities and scientific and technical assistance of the National Imaging Facility, a National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) capability, at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, and especially the assistance of Dr. Kirk Feindel.

Ecological risk Evaluation and Green Infrastructure planning for coping with global climate change, a case study of Shanghai, China

Coping with various ecological risks caused by extreme weather events of global climate change has become an important issue in regional planning, and storm water management for sustainable development. In this paper, taking Shanghai, China as a case study, four potential ecological risks were identified including flood disaster, sea-source disaster, urban heat island effect, and land subsidence. Based on spatial database, the spatial variation of these four ecological risks was evaluated, and the planning area was divided into seven responding regions with different green infrastructure strategy. The methodology developed in this study combining ecological risk evaluation with spatial regionalization planning could contribute to coping with global climate change.

Google Maps Security Concerns

Google Maps and other such maps in GIS have a lot of significance in every one’s life for in modern world due to technological development as well as contemporary needs in travelling, business planning, agriculture, e-marketing supply chain management, census and planning and excessive use of mobile phones. Being a revolutionary technology, it attracts the users from its inception. It has been revolutionary in having an impact on one’s daily life by helping one explore geographical locations virtually anywhere on the whole planet. It has become a norm that people use Google Maps before or while commuting to a certain place as most of the people rely on it to provide the shortest or fastest route to a destination. Google Maps has had a profound impact not only one’s personal life, but has opened new avenues of marketing, business intelligence, urban planning, infrastructure strategy development, as well as traffic engineering. Hence, no one can deny the impact it has had on our society in a short period. However, Google Maps has security concerns associated with its use. This is because whenever a user is searching for a geographical location on Google Maps, there is no way to ascertain his/her intention. As result, whatever is requested by the user, it is provided without much security checks or personal specific logging history. Criminal minded people may use the technology to carry out unwarranted and uncalled-for activities such as terror attacks, exploitation of military assets, target killing, trailing a potential victim, kidnapping, demanding ransom money, and compromising national security etc. Numbers of such activities may be carried out using the guidance from “Google Maps” without getting noticed. This is largely due to that anonymous login is allowed into Google Maps. The paper highlights the main security issues that exist in the use of Google Maps and suggests the key areas to improve upon. In this research paper, we discuss the security concerns related to Google Maps utilization and try to identify the associated risks that may be worst in some situations due to that it is significant to assess the usage of this tremendous technology. We categorize the millions of Anonymous Google Maps users into two major categories (Anonymous Good Users and Anonymous Bad Users) based on Google Maps browsing and analyze the associated risks and potential threats and propose the way to minimize them. In future, if Google Maps adopts the proposed techniques and improves upon, then its utilization minimizes security concerns and makes the world much safe place.

Korupsi dan Klientalisme dalam Pemilihan Walikota Cimahi 2017

Tulisan ini membahas tentang praktik klientelisme sebagai mesin politik untuk memobilisasi dukungan bagi calon kepala daerah yang terjerat kasus korupsi. Riset ini terutama ingin menjawab pertanyaan, mengapa kandidat kepala daerah petahana yang telah menjadi tersangka kasus korupsi, masih mendapatkan dukungan suara dengan jumlah yang cukup banyak. Kendati petahana gagal memenangkan pilkada, tetapi dukungan suara yang diperolehnya menjadi alasan untuk mengungkap strategi redistribusi dan infrastruktur yang digunakan untuk meredam image petahana sebagai politisi yang korup. Temuan dari riset ini menunjukkan bahwa partai politik pendukung menggunakan kasus korupsi sebagai momentum untuk mengubah strategi politik, dengan mentransformasikan identitas personal menjadi identitas partai. Tim sukses yang terdiri dari gabungan partai politik menggunakan kasus korupsi sebagai momentum untuk menjadikan calon wakil walikota sebagai figur alternatif dengan tetap mempertahankan keuntungan petahana dari sosok pasangannya. Dengan menggunakan strategi ini, koalisi partai politik dalam tim sukses mempertahankan soliditasnya sekaligus membangun ulang struktur patronase yang dilemahkan oleh kasus korupsi. Perubahan strategi yang dipakai tim sukses dalam membingkai ulang isu korupsi menunjukkan bekerjanya jejaring klientelisme untuk menjustifikasi konstruksi baru tentang kasus korupsi yang dialami petahana, sehingga petahana tetap memperoleh dukungan suara meskipun telah dinyatakan sebagai tersangka dalam kasus tersebut.

Implementing green infrastructure policy in agricultural landscapes—scenarios for Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Green infrastructure (GI) has been identified as helping to protect Europe’s natural capital by fostering environmental protection outside nature reserves and enabling better overall adaptation to changing conditions. The aim of Europe’s green infrastructure strategy is to integrate GI implementation into existing policies. In intensively farmed agricultural areas, this mainly means the greening measures of the Common Agricultural Policy, which are mandatory for farmers wishing to receive full direct payments. We explore how GI implementation might develop under different future scenarios. We use a participatory scenario development approach to explore the benefits and limitations perceived by local actors in the agricultural regions of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Limiting factors include ecosystem disservices, economic constraints relating to income, labour costs, investments and land tenure, and social considerations including the farmers’ self-image as primarily food producers and local people’s opinions regarding good farming practices. The limiting factors also include a lack of knowledge about the ecological usefulness of measures, and failings in the design of the measures regarding practicability, flexibility and reliability. Benefits are seen in various ecosystem services, job creation and in fulfilling society’s demands for environmental protection. We conclude by stating that GI implementation in agricultural landscapes requires reliable and flexible measures that fit farming practices and are well communicated, and that landscape level coordination and cooperation could enhance their effectiveness.

“Walls of Freedom”: Street Art and Structural Violence in the Global City

This article argues that contemporary street art (or graffiti) uses a unique set of resistant techniques to foreground the contours and shapes of different kinds of structural violence inscribed into, and perpetuated by, the infrastructural layouts of the twenty-first century’s increasingly global cities. Graffiti can resist structural violence as it is shaped and exacerbated by—even embedded within—the physical walls of city spaces, ricocheting off into alternative and on occasion more democratic modes of urban habitation. Through a discussion of examples from urban spaces as diverse as revolutionary Cairo, divided East Jerusalem and the West Bank in Palestine, and South African townships and gentrifying East London, the article shows that street art can transform the violent infrastructural strategies of oppressive state governance into a canvas that articulates calls for democratic and political freedom.