Soft Infrastructure Research Articles

Muddling from the middle out: Multi-scalar governance for place-based and adaptive sustainability in Texas

Given the eclectic and localized nature of environmental risks, planning for sustainability requires solutions that integrate local knowledge and systems while acknowledging the need for continuous re-evaluation. Social-ecological complexity, increasing climate volatility and uncertainty, and rapid technological innovation underscore the need for flexible and adaptive planning. Thus, rules should not be universally applied but should instead be place-based and adaptive. To demonstrate these key concepts, we present a case study of water planning in Texas, whose rapid growth and extreme weather make it a bellwether example. We review historic use and compare the 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2022 Texas State Water Plans to examine how planning outcomes evolve across time and space. Though imperfect, water planning in Texas is a concrete example of place-based and adaptive sustainability. Urban regions throughout the state exhibit a diversity of strategies that, through the repeated 5-year cycles, are ever responding to evolving trends and emerging technologies. Regional planning institutions play a crucial role, constituting an important soft infrastructure that links state capacity and processes with local agents. As opposed to “top-down” or “bottom-up”, we frame this governance as “middle-out” and discuss how such a structure might extend beyond the water sector.

Mitigating soft and hard infrastructure deficiencies in emerging markets

This study examines the impact of soft and hard infrastructure deficiencies on foreign firms’ investments in emerging markets and firm strategies to mitigate such impact. Soft infrastructure refers to intangible components such as institutions and regulations, while hard infrastructure encompasses tangible physical components like transportation, energy systems, and water supply. Drawing on resource dependence theory, we argue that foreign firms are likely to decrease their investment scale in countries with deficient soft and hard infrastructures to reduce uncertainty. We further propose two strategies to mitigate the negative effects of infrastructure deficiencies. First, foreign firms can adopt an influencing strategy, increasing their influence on the host government to alleviate the negative impact of soft infrastructure deficiencies. Second, a shielding strategy can be employed to reduce dependence on the host government, particularly when dealing with hard infrastructure deficiencies. We analyze data from a sample of 3,341 foreign firms operating in 88 emerging economies between 2005 and 2020 and find empirical support for these arguments, highlighting the significance of infrastructural considerations for foreign investments in emerging economies.

Navigating sustainable horizons: exploring the dynamics of financial stability, green growth, renewable energy, technological innovation, financial inclusion, and soft infrastructure in shaping sustainable development.

This paper examines sustainable development, which employs an integrated approach to tackle environmental, social, and economic challenges. It provides a theoretical underpinning by examining sustainable development's inception, fundamental tenets, and conceptual structures. This study highlights the interdependence of social equity, economic prosperity, and environmental conservation, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive approach. Quantitative methodology is utilized in this study, and the dependent variable is sustainable development. Financial risk, green growth, technological innovation, renewable energy, financial inclusion, and soft infrastructure are all independent variables. The analysis is predicated on secondary data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and World Development Indicators databases spanning 2004 to 2019. An entropy-weighted method used for the green growth index is a metric that enhances the precision of variable indicators. Cointegration, correlation, VIF, cross-sectional dependency, and stationarity tests are among the diagnostic tests that inform the selection of methods for the panel data set. It is determined that fully modified ordinary least squares is the suitable technique. The findings suggest statistically significant positive correlations among greenhouse gases, financial inclusion, and soft infrastructure. Conversely, significant negative correlations exist between financial risk, green growth, renewable energy, and technological innovation. An estimated 55% long-run variance is present. The study's key finding is that financial risk has an adverse effect on sustainable development, while an impactful relationship where increased green growth is linked to decreased GHG emissions. This association is notably significant. Results show that renewable energy has a negative coefficient and significant negative impact on greenhouse gases, showing an active relation to enhancing sustainable development. In contrast, financial inclusion has a significant positive effect on sustainable development. The implications imply that providing incentives to institutions engaged in alternative energy, precisely renewable sources, could positively impact the environment. Government policies and funding regulations oriented toward sustainable development are indispensable for environmental sustainability. Government policies and incentives are pivotal in advancing an environmentally conscious and sustainable future. This study's contribution lies in elucidating the positive correlation between government interventions and promoting renewable energy adoption, thereby paving the way for a greener tomorrow.

Achieving sustainable development in Africa: to what extent trade facilitation matter*?

ABSTRACT Despite the extensive literature on trade facilitation and economic development, little is known about the empirical nexus of trade facilitation and sustainable development. This article analyses the role of trade facilitation in achieving sustainable development in Africa with a focus on the sustainable environment captured by carbon dioxide emissions. By employing two-stage least square and the system generalized method of moment estimators on 36 African countries over the period 2007–2019, the main results reveal a significant positive relationship between trade facilitation and sustainable environment. Moreover, our results support the inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP and CO2 emissions (Environmental Kuznets Curve theory) and between trade facilitation and CO2 emissions in Africa. Our findings suggest that African countries’ model of facilitating trade should actively build on the low-carbon development of hard and soft infrastructures.

Smart cities and communities in the GCC region: from top-down city development to more local approaches

City planners are seeking ways to incorporate human-centric urban projects that combine smart technology, good infrastructure and people’s perception as well as their participation. Smart city developments are increasingly being applied to smaller scales at which communities can co-design hard infrastructure and the resulting services. Experiences from city projects at this level have produced a plethora of designs, challenges and success factors, particularly from cases in countries with long legacies in city development. In the Gulf Cooperation Council region, young cities and new planned cities house the bulk of the population and face environmental challenges related to urban segregation, urban sprawl and large consumption footprints. The political-economy of this region in terms of central urban planning and government-led economic development offers valuable insights on the limits and challenges in implementing projects related to smart and connected communities (SCC). SCC as a label for smart urban interventions towards more connectedness between hard and soft (human-related) infrastructure can provide opportunities for participatory and sustainable urban planning in the region. This paper analyzes the role of community-level interventions within the smart city policies of Gulf countries. It shows that only few local-level projects exist, while the barriers to large-scale SCC initiatives are related to demographics, community characteristics, technological sophistication, lack of conducive regulations, and the prevalence of central urban planning. The success of local smart city approaches in the Gulf is dependent on public leadership in terms of clearing obstacles, designing broader strategies, and expanding projects to include the residential sector. Considering the potential of SCC projects to enhance the transition to sustainability in the predominantly urban Gulf societies, broader engagement of local governments, utilities, and community-level developers can result in tangible benefits in terms of more sustainable, smart and tailored local services.

Industrial clusters, creating a strategy for continued success

PurposeThis study aims to describe and propose an effective strategy for an industrial cluster and investigates industrial cluster-promoted growth.Design/Methodology/Approach: A qualitative study was carried out within the Irish Medtech cluster with key stakeholders from the cluster. FindingsThe findings demonstrate significant opportunities for further cluster development and to potentially double the number of spin-outs and value of R&D investments while enhancing an entrepreneurial culture. This study also recommends that multiple agencies collaborate to achieve the future strategic objectives of the cluster. The soft infrastructure of regulatory and intellectual policies is as important as the hard infrastructure of roads and buildings. Practical implicationsThis study has implications for government policy, informing how they align the local needs of compact industrial clusters with policies to make the Irish cluster more unique and gain a sustainable competitive advantage. The approach is applicable and has implications for all industrial clusters.Originality/Value: This is one of the first studies to look at the Irish Medtech cluster in terms of its shortcomings and future opportunities.

Realizing the soft infrastructure mixing of Shanghai's catering industry based on land expansion and population growth

This study takes Shanghai's restaurants as a case study of urban soft infrastructure, employing big data sets from third-party website platforms for multi-source data fusion, to deeply analyze the impact of urban land expansion and population dynamics on the availability, affordability, acceptability, and accessibility of restaurants. The case study reveals that, despite the Shanghai municipal authorities' focus on mitigating overcrowding in the central urban areas, soft infrastructure such as restaurants in new urban districts remains at a relative disadvantage. The decentralization of soft infrastructure to peripheral urban areas has not met policy expectations, presenting a spatial imbalance characterized by greater provision in the main urban areas than in new urban districts, and higher in Puxi than in Pudong. The single-threshold model uncovers that the positive impact of land urbanization and population dynamics on restaurant convenience undergoes a transformation after reaching a certain critical point, where the linear relationship and synchronous growth shift. By controlling the development area of construction land and the population density within regions, a dynamic combination of availability, affordability, acceptability, and accessibility of restaurants can be achieved. This forms a spatio-temporal management strategy that integrates land, population, and comfort facilities, potentially alleviating the inequity of comfort facilities in Shanghai and the central urban areas' siphoning effect.

Assessing the trade–connectivity linkages in South Asia in post-pandemic period: an empirical investigation

The study unravels the relationship between trade and connectivity and presents a narrative to re-energise the South Asian regional economic integration in the post-pandemic period. In addition, the study also examines the effect on conflicts and institutional factors in South Asian trade. The study uses the bilateral gravity analysis in 2SLS (Two-Stage Least Squares) framework to address the endogeneity issues. The study finds that South Asia may gain enormously if they reduce the conflicts across the border and secure improvement in both hard and soft infrastructure. Given that the trade is a dynamic concept, connectivity disruption costs cause havoc to the region, which then promotes dis-integration. Facilitating business beyond the border in post-pandemic requires an enhanced trade facilitation and connectivity in the region. The renewed and shared agenda of the South Asian regional cooperation in post-pandemic should, therefore, aim to reduce both intra- and inter- regional trade facilitation gaps as well as to expand the connectivity. The process of South Asian regional integration has to contribute to narrowing the gaps by providing resources for the development of trade infrastructure. Therefore, South Asia has to enhance its own connectivity and trade facilitation arrangement to take forward the agenda of South Asian integration.

Analysis of Optimization Waena Terminal Infrastructure, Jayapura City

A terminal is a part of land transportation which is the node point for various land transportation facilities (modes). The Waena Terminal has been equipped with terminal facilities and complementary buildings, but has not been used optimally, and even looks dirty and unkempt. This research aims to analyze the condition of the infrastructure, utilization and maintenance of the Waena Terminal. This research was conducted in Jayapura City, precisely at the Waena Public Transport Terminal which is administratively part of the Jayapura Municipal government area. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively. The research results show that the physical infrastructure at Waena Terminal is very complete when viewed against the standards set by the government. However, in terms of soft infrastructure, the Waena terminal has not been fulfilled, namely there is no terminal management by the related parties. The use and maintenance of the Waena Terminal has not gone well because it appears there is no terminal management.

Evaluation of Infrastructure Management of Solo’s Fort Vastenburg Heritage Building

Surakarta is an old settlement in Indonesia that has many infrastructure heritages in the center of the city, one of which is in the form of soft infrastructure, namely the Vastenburg Fort building. This building has been neglected, even though it is listed as a national cultural heritage building and is protected by the cultural heritage law. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the existing of the cultural heritage building assets of Fort Vastenburg. This type of research is evaluation research with a qualitative approach. The process of collecting data by searching archives and documents of ownership of Fort Vastenburg assets and in-depth interviews with parties related to the management of cultural heritage management of fort buildings. The evaluation stage is carried out by measuring the suitability between the regulations of Law with empirical facts in the field. Furthermore, an assessment is carried out using qualitative analysis techniques, namely: reduction, presentation, and conclusion drawing or verification. The results showed that the land certificate owners of Fort Vastenburg amounted to 12. This makes it difficult for the Surakarta City Government to preserve the cultural heritage building of Fort Vastenburg, therefore the evaluation results are at a sufficient level.

Logistics performance system and their impact on economic corridors: a developing economy perspective

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the various systems in logistics industry of Pakistan through the lens of the World Bank's logistics performance indicators (LPI) and understand their impact on the China–Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) that is a vital part of China's belt and road initiative (BRI).Design/methodology/approachIn this study thematic analysis was performed on twenty-three semi-structured interviews with experts in Pakistan's logistics and supply chain sector to gain an in-depth insight into the logistics performance relative to CPEC.FindingsA performance gap exists in the logistics systems in Pakistan, both for hard and soft infrastructure. The significant challenges are the inefficiencies of the government, minimal use of information and computing technology (ICT), and an incapable workforce. It is essential to be cognizant of the ground realities and amendments required in the existing policies and practices in light of the challenges faced and best practices adopted by developed and developing countries with good standing in logistics performance. This study will guide policymakers and practitioners for hard and soft logistics infrastructure improvement, which may benefit economic corridors in general and CPEC in particular.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the role of ICT in improving both soft and hard logistics infrastructure, which can lead to significant development of economic corridors. The study makes use of a case study of the CPEC to demonstrate the lack of ICT can hamper the growth of an economic corridor despite billions of dollars of investment in the hard infrastructure development projects.

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY IN VIETNAM: CURRENT STATUS AND POTENTIAL OF VIETNAM - SOUTH KOREA COOPERATION

The digital economy has received significant attention from many countries in recent years. The digital economy includes everyday economic and commercial transactions with people, businesses, and governments processed through information and communication technologies. As Vietnam's economy expands, the contribution of its internet-based or digital economy has significantly increased in recent years. To achieve a high level of digital economy, Vietnam will focus on three pillars: e-government, e-economy, and e-society. Data statistics show that Vietnam's digital economy has grown significantly over recent years. The growth of Vietnam's digital economy has been attributed to various factors, including hard and soft infrastructure. But there are significant problems for Vietnam's digital economy, such as slowing economic growth, limited infrastructure, and human capital resources. Vietnam-South Korean relations have rapidly developed over recent decades, especially in economics. Given South Korea's advanced digital economy, there are many chances for Vietnam and South Korea to cooperate in developing Vietnam's digital economy in the coming years.

Distributed Resource Centre: A Soft Infrastructure for Neighbourhood Creativity

This article presents the Distributed Resource Centre as a soft, low-cost, generative, and fun decentralised infrastructure for neighbourhood creativity. The article defines the concept (as flow vs stock), outlines some broad benefits (increased interfaces and resource availability, fostering of creative capability, and cost reductions), discusses the pilot and development projects which were involved in the development of the concept, and presents tentative findings for further exploration and discussion (making friends, porous, asynchronous and uncertain activity, neighbourhood = resource centre, berm = interface, multidimensional art centre). The submission ends with a coda and an invitation.

Human Capital and Innovation Nexus in India: Evidence from Simultaneous Equation Modelling

"Using a simultaneous equation model, the present study attempts to empirically, investigate the interrelationship between human capital and innovation in Indian context. The study is conducted by taking all the 36 Indian states and Union territories into consideration from a regional perspective, focusing mainly on the quantification of the factors used. Since the simultaneous equation model is often subject to the problem of simultaneous bias and endogeneity, instrumental variable method using Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) has been utilised to overcome the issue. In fact, the 2SLS provides the evidence of bidirectional spatial causality between human capital and innovation for Indian states, which holds significant policy implications for the country. Given a large demographic dividend in the form of highest working age population in the world, India could reap its benefits by promoting investments in the soft infrastructure such as health, education, and labour skills. This could help to boost its economic growth in the long run."

Policy Regime Analysis of Border Security Governance in Myanmar: A Preliminary Case Study of Myawaddy (2020–2021)

This study is a case-study research that explores the anatomy of Myanmar’s border security governance using the Myawaddy Township as an exploratory case study. To explore how the Burmese borderlands, represented by Myawaddy, have been governed, the policy–regime approach is adopted as a conceptual framework to illustrate the idiosyncrasies, including relevant parties and their interactions. It was found that the following actors are involved in the security governance of borderlands: ethnic armed organisation, local bureaucratic agencies, Border Guard Forces (BGFs) and foreign interest groups. Prima facie, civil government agencies have performed their duties of overseeing border activities; however, they appear to have only de jure authority, serving as soft infrastructures for the lawful border economy. Contrarily, Karen BGF leaders, appointed by the Tatmadaw (i.e. Myanmar armed forces), have held de facto authority, controlling and benefiting from the border’s shadow economy—which is marked by gambling businesses—as well as from running protection rackets. Still, the BGF units in Myawaddy have retained a considerable degree of autonomy without necessarily following the Tatmadaw’s order. In a nutshell, border security governance in Myanmar’s Myawaddy consists of several governing modes existing in parallel and, hence, it is prismatic in nature

Soft Infrastructure in Smart Sustainable Cities: A Literature Review

Learning from the cases in Indonesia, the proliferation of advanced technologies has engendered a burgeoning interest in smart city promotion as a dominant developmental theme, and this has an association heavily with physical infrastructure development, while there are other things that need to be thought about. The methodology entails the scholarly works, procurement of data, classification of data, and integration of resultant discoveries. The objective of this article is to furnish a thorough and intricate comprehension of the soft infrastructure that upholds crucial infrastructure systems. Qualitative assessments scrutinize outcomes within multiple frameworks to gauge the efficacy of the supple infrastructure in promoting resilience. As a result, the occurrence of the theme of soft infrastructure in smart sustainable cities poses a novel challenge to continuously enhance their skills and expertise. The soft infrastructure in smart sustainable cities addresses business-spatial, cultural-political, and humane-innovation issues. Such resources can effectively address integrated regional challenges and well-conceived planning for cities.

Assessing Dimensions Influencing IoT Implementation Readiness in Industries: A Fuzzy DEMATEL and Fuzzy AHP Analysis

The rapid growth of the information age and digital technologies has ushered in innovative concepts such as Industry 4.0, smart health, digital services, and smart cities. The Internet of Things (IoT) technology has emerged as a crucial driver across domains, engaging businesses, platforms, and industries. The IoT encompasses a holistic ecosystem and a value chain that necessitate evaluating influential dimensions for successful implementation. This research applies Fuzzy DEMATEL and Fuzzy AHP methods to rank and examine dimensions affecting IoT implementation readiness. Findings underscore the significance of organizational factors, hard infrastructures, and soft infrastructures as critical dimensions. Attention to strengthening organizational aspects and developing reliable infrastructures facilitates successful IoT integration. Additionally, while relatively less significant, environmental factors, security and privacy, data analytics, and customer and training dimensions contribute to industry readiness. The combined results provide insights for decision-makers and stakeholders involved in IoT implementation, guiding the development of appropriate strategies, resource allocation, and enhancing operational efficiency. By comprehending the interrelationships and prioritizing influential factors, industries can effectively prepare for successful IoT implementation.

Implications of a Northern Corridor on Soft Infrastructure in the North and Near North

Implications of a Northern Corridor on Soft Infrastructure in the North and Near North

ASSESSING THE INFLUENCE OF HARD AND SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE ON PERCEIVED DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS: PERSPECTIVE FROM VISITORS IN SARAWAK

Tourism is one of the rapid growing economic sectors in the world. Destination competitiveness became an imperative aspect for every country as it determines the tourism revenue of the country. Infrastructure is one of the determinants of destination competitiveness. There are two kinds of infrastructure namely hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure. The current study investigated the impact of hard infrastructure (transportation, telecommunication, accommodation) and soft infrastructure (government tourism policy, health services, and safety and security) on perceived destination competitiveness from tourists’ points of view. The study was conducted based on quantitative research. A PLS-SEM analysis was performed by using WarpPLS. The result indicated that transportation, accommodation, and health services have a significant relationship with perceived destination competitiveness. This study is expected to benefit policymakers and industry players in terms of decision-making. Besides, this study will equip more literature and evidence for scholars to perform further studies in the field.

Climate change and anthropogenic pressure on Bintan Islands, Indonesia: An assessment of the policies proposed by local authorities

Bintan island is one of Indonesia’s national priority regencies of climate resilience for the marine and coastal sectors. This area also has had the highest frequency of disaster events within the province over the past ten years, where climate-related hazard was dominant. Therefore, it is necessary to receive public support for climate policies within the region. From this point of view, this paper aims to explore the local evidence of climate change, anthropogenic pressure which worsens climate hazards, and the linkage with local policies. The primary data source was a climate data set of observations from 1976–2021, land use change information from 1990–2020, historical climate-related hazards, and related current policy documents. We found that the region’s air temperature has continuously increased over 45 years with the positive standardized precipitation index (SPI) being dominant. Meanwhile the wind speed was tended to decrease since 2015 with the highest extreme record occurred in February 2021. Moreover, climate-related threats occurred more than 70 times in Bintan from 2011 to 2021 where forest fire and flood were tended to worsen. Another anthropogenic source, such as land use change, also puts significant pressure on the part where the open land has increased by 187%, and vegetation area has decreased by 51.1%. This condition creates these small islands vulnerable to climate change, especially climate-related hazards. However, in the regional development plan document 2021–2026, climate change adaptation is not one of the local priority issues, but their concern about disaster mitigation is quite severe. The local authorities work on hard and soft infrastructure to implement disaster risk reduction but less for ecosystem-based solution. However, promoting adaptation efforts in the local policy document is still necessary for sustainable development at the local level.