Urban Infrastructure Investment Research Articles

ASTA — A method for multi-criteria evaluation of water supply technologies to Assess the most SusTainable Alternative for Copenhagen

Utilities in larger cities have to make complex decisions planning future investments in urban water infrastructure. Changes are driven by physical water stress or political targets for environmental water flows e.g. through the implementation of the European water framework directive. To include these environmental, economic and social sustainability dimensions we introduce a novel multi-criteria assessment method for evaluation of water supply technologies. The method is presented and demonstrated for four alternatives for water supply based on groundwater, rain- & stormwater or seawater developed for augmenting Copenhagen's current groundwater based water supply. To identify the most sustainable technology, we applied rank order distribution weights to a multi-criteria decision analysis to combine the impact assessments of environment, economy and society. The three dimensions were assessed using 1) life-cycle assessment, 2) cost calculations taking operation and maintenance into account and 3) the multi-criteria decision analysis method Analytical hierarchy process. Specialists conducted the life-cycle assessment and cost calculations and the multi-criteria decision analyses were based on a stakeholder workshop gathering stakeholders relevant for the specific case. The workshop reached consensus on three sets of ranked criteria. Each set represented stakeholder perspectives with first priority given to one of the three sustainability dimensions or categories. The workshop reached consensus and when the highest weight was assigned to the environmental dimension of sustainability then the alternative of ‘Rain- & stormwater harvesting’ was the most sustainable water supply technology; when the highest weight was assigned to the economy or society dimensions then an alternative with ‘Groundwater abstraction extended with compensating actions’ was considered the most sustainable water supply technology. Across all three sets of ranked weights, the establishment of new well fields is considered the least sustainable alternative.

Urban traffic infrastructure investment and air pollution: Evidence from the 83 cities in China

Emissions from heavy urban traffic have been the most abundant components of urban air pollution in China. Compared to the fast increasing consumption of automobile, the growth rate of urban traffic infrastructure investment (UTII) is relative low. It is a controversial issue for the policymaker whether promoting the UTII could make a positive impact on reducing air pollution or not. This study is designed to test the relations between the UTII and air quality, using the data of 83 cities from 2000 to 2012. Based on the empirical results from the fixed effect model and dynamic panel data model, increasing the UTII could generally mitigate the air pollution, but the long-run and short-run effects are significantly different. In the short run, the UTII effect on air quality is −0.02, since the urban traffic infrastructure construction might cause more detours and road blockages, which would enhance the fine-particle emissions of the low-speed traffic. In contrast, the UTII could widen the roads and make the traffic system more accessible in the long run, so the estimated positive effect is about 0.05. The robustness tests about different regions and scales of cities are conducted. Policy suggestions are further recommended to reduce air pollution.

Market Maker: The Role of China Development Bank in Incubating Market

Abstract The present paper aims to use the case of China Development Bank (CDB) to tackle the fundamental question of why development banks in an effort to shed light on the broader debate about the role of state in economic development. By delving deeper into the role of CDB in incubating the market for long-term urban infrastructure investments, it argues that development banks can play an indispensable role in incubating markets especially in developing and transition economies where capital markets are underdeveloped and market institutions are flawed. This perspective goes beyond the conventional approach to justifying why development banks, i. e., fixing market failures. It further argues that realizing the role of market incubation requires at least two conditions: building “firewalls” within development banks to resist undue political influence; and designing incentives for development banks to exit when markets are mature in order to avoid suppressing financial development and crowding out private capital. It concludes that well-managed development banks can help to create synergies between state and market by incubating markets.

Inequality, Bi-Polarization and Mobility of Urban Infrastructure Investment in China’s Urban System

In periods of rapid urbanization, investment in urban infrastructure should not only meet the increasing demands of all urban people, but also be equally allocated between cities to achieve social equity and sustainable development. This paper aimed to conduct quantitative research on the unbalance of urban infrastructure investment between cities in China. The measurement models for inequality, bi-polarization and the mobility of urban infrastructure investment were constructed by means of the Gini coefficient, bi-polarization index and mobility function from the urban system, and an empirical study was conducted based on panel data from 2006 to 2014. The results show that: (1) The overall inequality of urban infrastructure investment in China’s urban system was relatively prominent and showed a “U-shaped” change generally. (2) The inequality between different administrative levels or regional cities only partially accounted for the overall inequality of China’s urban system. (3) Inequality and bi-polarization showed inconsistent performance. (4) Mobility played a positive role in reducing the inequality and bi-polarization. Based on the empirical findings and the reality of China’s urban infrastructure investment and financing, targeted policy suggestions were proposed in terms of adjusting inequality and bi-polarization, innovating investment and financing mechanisms, and optimizing urban infrastructure investment strategies.

Enhancing Urban Development Quality Based on the Results of Appraising Efficient Performance of Investors—A Case Study in Vietnam

Economic development and the overpopulation in Vietnam have led to rapid urbanization, which has posed countless difficulties and challenges to its government. In particular, creating adequate accommodation, life activities, and entertainment are extremely urgent issues. The planning and investment in industry zones, urban areas, residential districts, and amusement parks at the right time and right place contribute to social stability and economic development, and are important issues for every government—especially in Vietnam which remains a developing country with regard to rapid industrialization and modernization speed. The population density in many localities is too dense, while in others it is too thin, resulting in a state where inhabitants have no shelter, whereas many of the buildings have been abandoned. To deal with these matters, the authors used this study to assess the investment effectiveness of leading corporations in the field of investment in urban development and infrastructure investment in Vietnam. The study focused on addressing the following issues: assessing the effectiveness of corporations in urban development and infrastructure investment in Vietnam and predicting the business state of the groups. Through business data of corporations from 2013–2016, the authors used a Grey system theory to forecast business situations for the period from 2017–2020. The authors also used data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the effectiveness of investments of the group from 2013–2020. The results will help corporations in creating suitable investment and business strategies with the changes of the domestic and world economy, and can be considered as a foundation for management units, for local government to create planning projects with feasible content, for long-term vision, and practical efficiency to quickly meet the needs of urban development plans.

Mega Sporting Events, Real Estate, and Urban Social Economics The Case of Brazil 2014/2016

These events promise to improve the urban quality of life and to induce social legacy because of investments in urban infrastructure, transportation, and sporting facilities. Our analysis of the case of Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro (host of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games) shows that such benefits may differ locally and may accentuate the process of socio-spatial segregation. Urban projects often include forced evictions of low-income populations and the consequent expansion of social segregation. In public opinion, mega events are also responsible for increasing rents and (real estate) prices. However, such inflationary phenomenon occurs in most Brazilian cities, including non-host cities. The appreciation of real estate is explained largely by population and economic growth and the reduction of interest rates through mortgage programs, as well as reduced social inequality. Public investments in mega events account for only approximately 0.15% of Brazilian GDP from 2007 to 2016 and are thus too small to be responsible for the (increasing) social problems. Obviously, the perceived lack of public accountability for mega event finances as well as the perceived lack of susceptibility to social issues by the mega sporting projects may harm the public opinion of mega events. International sporting federations should thus have every interest in ensuring that their mega events target social inclusion and pay more attention to the needs of local urban and social policies.

The New Era of Global Economic Growth and Urban Infrastructure Investment: Financial Intermediation, Institutions and Markets

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, questions have been raised about the capacity of banks and related savings institutions to play their traditional roles in financing urban and regional development. Drawing on the theory of intermediation, this paper suggests that, over the past twenty-five years or so, these types of organizations have lost out to new forms of financial intermediation. As a result, in some countries financial services ‘deserts’ coexist with overwhelming market opportunities concentrated in certain cities and regions. Implications are drawn for urban and regional growth in circumstances where bank solvency is an issue, and where new kinds of intermediaries have come to market seeking to realize the value embedded in urban economies. Referencing the experience of Europe and Krugman’s argument that we are in the midst of an economic depression, the paper provides a stylized account of how the ‘new’ financial intermediaries have begun to fill the vacuum left by traditional intermediaries by investing in urban infrastructure. The paper closes with a brief assessment of the costs and consequences of the global surplus of saving for the development of cities and regions.

Addis Ababa Urbanism: Indigenous Urban Legacies and Contemporary Challenges

Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, has been experiencing rapid urbanization as the entire country has transformed into an emerging market economy featuring a spectacular average ten percent GDP growth rate over the last ten years. However, this economic growth has not provided a poverty elimination momentum for the city where over half of its residents still live in slum areas and over thirty percent are unemployed or involved in informal economic activity. This paper examines the factors behind Addis Ababa’s inhibited urban progress focusing on urban legacies stemming from the city’s one-hundred-thirty years of independent development as well as on the present-day economic challenges. The empirical evidence suggests that there is a correlation between Addis Ababa’s inadequate investment in urban housing and infrastructure and Ethiopia’s low levels of foreign direct investment. Further analysis indicates that the country’s service-driven growth model of development may be contributing to overurbanization and poverty production in Addis Ababa.

Why We Should But Don't Pay the Right Prices for Urban Infrastructure

Economics tells us that user charges should be used to finance many local public services and to pay for the related infrastructure. The only other way to do so is taxation. All the other possible ways to finance infrastructure investment that are so often discussed – borrowing, transfers, private-public partnerships and the like – are little more than ways to shift the burden from direct users to taxpayers, past, present or future. In the end some taxpayer at some level of government ends up paying the taxes used that support the transfers, borrowing or private participation. Since no one likes taxes, it is thus a bit curious that so little use has been made of user charges to finance infrastructure investment. A variety of reasons for this neglect may be found in the literature, ranging from technical problems in implementing the right kind of user charges to concerns that charges cannot finance large capital works or that externalities are so important that they swamp direct user benefits, often supported by rather vague expositions about why people do not understand or like user charges as well as almost always by laments about their undesirable distributive effects. This paper reviews this literature and concludes that the basic reasons so little attention is paid to user charge financing are in fact essentially political, although sometimes very deep-rooted and difficult to overcome. Though perhaps simply illustrating the triumph of hope over experience that keeps academics going, the paper concludes by offering a few ways that one may perhaps be able to do a better job in persuading the obviously skeptical and resistant public that it makes sense for user charges to play a much bigger role in financing urban infrastructure investment than is now evident anywhere.

Costs and Benefits of Urbanization: The Indian Case

Urbanization has both benefits and costs. In a market economy, the trade-off between benefits and costs determines the level, speed, and pace of urbanization. This paper summarizes research findings on how urbanization enhances productivity and economic growth in both rural and urban sectors, taking the case of India.We study the relationship between urbanization and growth in the Indian context by examining micro-economic evidence on how enterprises and consumers share production and infrastructure costs, match with specialized workers and employers more efficiently in the labor market, and learn from other producers and workers. Based on extensive data analyses of urbanization, we find no impact of urban–rural inequalities on urbanization, but a significant impact on the population of the largest city in the state.When accounting for the two-way relationship between urbanization and the rural–urban income ratio, we find that urbanization increases urban–rural inequalities initially, but, at higher levels, reduces them. This paper also studies how the urban areas are affected by migration from rural areas and how rural areas benefit from urban development. Furthermore, policy implications regarding telecommuting and investments in urban infrastructure are summarized. Lessons from India and the People’s Republic of China for each other’s urbanization are also discussed.

Evolutionary Design and Calibration of District Metered Area of Water Supply Networks Using H2OMAP Model

Water distribution has to be thought from the source to the consumer's tap. A correct distribution system has to be wellplanned and designed beforehand, and adapted maintenance performed while in use. Municipal water distribution systems form a major portion of the investment in urban infrastructure and a critical component of public works. The goal is to design water distribution systems to deliver potable water over spatially extensive areas in required quantities and under satisfactory pressures. In addition to these goals, cost-effectiveness and reliability in system design are also important. The role of Direct Metered Area (DMA) management is to divide the distribution network into manageable areas or sectors into which the flow can be measured to determine whether bursts are present. In this study an attempt has been made to create water distribution network model in H2OMAP Water for a pilot study of Adikmet DMA area for continuous water supply. The results of the study indicate that a good correlation between the observed field data and simulated data has been observed. It is seen from the results that a good correlation between observed and simulated pressure shows the developed model has a good accuracy and well suited for simulation of continuous water supply distribution system. The calibrated WDN also helps in better understanding of leakages in the network.

Housing affordability during the urban transition in Spain

During the decades prior to the Civil War, Spain experienced a rapid process of urbanization, which was accompanied by the demographic transition and sizeable rural–urban migrations. This article investigates how urban housing markets reacted to these far‐reaching changes, which increased demand for dwellings. To this end, this study employs a new hedonic index of real housing prices and constructs a cross‐regional panel dataset of rents and housing price fundamentals. This new evidence indicates that rents were not a significant financial burden on low‐income families and, hence, housing was affordable for the working classes. The article also shows that families’ access to new homes was facilitated by a sizeable growth in the housing supply. Substantial investments in urban infrastructure and the institutional framework enabled the construction of new homes at affordable prices. Our results suggest that housing problems were not as pervasive during the urban transition as the literature often seems to claim.

Promoting Community Participation in Peri - Urban Infrastructures

AIM: The aim of this research is to examine the importance of community participation in education and social infrastructure in Peri - Urban of Tirana city.MATERIAL AND METHODS: This research states that “involvement of community” is a direct response to giving the community a voice in shaping their future environment to promote urban regeneration in combination with the respecting of the principle of sustainability.RESULTS: This rich picture of community participation and urban planning brings an improver's eye to the real issue on the ground, focused mainly on the guidelines set by the European Union. The goal of the project participation which generates public space, beyond the values that carry on improving the quality of life for the citizens – can illustrate how urban regeneration projects may have a huge impact on the entire city life. The result is to create an area which improves profits and a good lifestyle; re-conceptualization of investment as an investment in urban infrastructure, an investment that can have a large impact even with a relatively low cost.CONCLUSIONS: This article emphasises the need for a real metamorphose to all barriers between builders and users which must be abolished so that building and usage become two different parts, of the same planning process.

The Eurozone Crisis and Emerging‐Market Expansion: Capital Switching and the Uneven Geographies of Spanish Urbanization

AbstractThe theory of capitalist urbanization posits that the built form serves as a crucial sink through which overaccumulated capital is ‘switched' from industrial production into long‐term investment in urban infrastructure. Since Harvey's (1978) deployment of the theory, researchers have attempted to empirically substantiate the switching thesis with limited success. Christophers (2011) revisited the debate with new data and methods to support the claim that significant investment had switched into the built environment at the onset of the 2007/08 financial crisis. However, Christophers' study overlooks how crises are also geographically displaced. This article analyses Spanish trade data for the years 1993 to 2013, the years prior and subsequent to the housing‐induced economic crisis (1997 to 2006). Two studies are undertaken. The first replicates Christophers' methodology to assess how and to what extent a sectoral switch into property investment occurred in Spain between 1997 and 2006. The second modifies the methodology to investigate the extent to which overaccumulated capital in Spain has been geographically displaced through investment in the Moroccan building industry since 2006. These approaches situate uneven development (geographical switching) and turnover time (sectoral switching) as the twin dynamics through which capitalist urbanization is spatio‐temporally fixed.

Narratives of Sustainable Indian Urbanism: The Logics of Global and Local Knowledge Mobilities in Chennai

1. Introduction After 100 days in office, the Indian Prime Minister renewed his commitment to develop “100 smart cities” for India in September 2014. He forged international ties with Japan, China, Germany and France, among other countries, for enhanced partnership in sustainable economic development and investments in urban infrastructure. Meanwhile, Singaporean politicians and consultancy firms visited the new state of Andhra Pradesh to pledge support in constructing its new capital city Am...

Getting urbanization to work in Africa: the role of the urban land-infrastructure-finance nexus

ABSTRACTThe serious social and environmental problems and risks associated with large-scale urbanization in Africa are widely recognized. However, the potential for urbanization to strengthen economic growth and development across the continent has only recently been grasped. The stakes are high for efforts to ensure that urbanization reinforces rather than retards prosperity, yet urban policies are frequently ambivalent and piecemeal. The development trajectory of cities hinges on the quality of their physical foundations, which underpin functional efficiency and will endure for many decades. Realizing the opportunities of urbanization therefore requires more concerted efforts to plan and manage the form of urban growth. This means reformed arrangements governing the allocation and taxation of land, major investment in urban infrastructure and stronger local institutions to coordinate land and property development.

Urban–rural integration drives regional economic growth in Chongqing, Western China

ABSTRACTThe recent experience of rapid economic growth in Chongqing Municipality in Southwest China shows that rural–urban integration can drive regional growth. In Chongqing rural–urban migration, rural–urban land conversion, infrastructure investment, agricultural restructuring, rural development and employment generation drive growth. These generic processes are profoundly shaped by the policy-driven investment dynamics and the specificity of the Chinese social model. Chinese specificity is reflected in Hukou reform, urban and rural rights, the Annual Land Use Quota system, the di piao, public assets and the local government finance vehicles.

Research on investment and financing mode of urban infrastructure under perspective of cost management

In the wave of globalization, central parts of large cities are growing exponentially. As the phenomenon is expected to continue, the city and the state are expected to compete with each other in the future. However, the main factor that influences urban competitiveness, construction of infrastructure, continues to put decision-makers in cities in a dilemma. This paper uses data from the national bureau of economic analysis, the World Bank and the OECD to analyse the relationship between urban infrastructure investment and GDP, infrastructure investment as the proportion of real estate investment, the relationship between urban infrastructure construction investment and urbanization rate and per capita GDP. The above analysis leads to the finding that the channels match with all kinds of urban infrastructure investment and financing. Moreover, under perspective of cost management, the choice of investment and financing channels is analyzed. Simultaneously, the corresponding processes, principles and requirements in cost management are elaborated. This paper provides references for countries choosing different investment and financing channels.

Local promotion of electric mobility in cities: Guidelines and real application case in Italy

In the contest of European and National choices regarding energy and mobility policies, the goal of this paper is to introduce reasonable guidelines for the local promotion of electric mobility in an area of central Italy and possibly to extend the methodology to other regions/countries. In fact, the path towards car electrification is started worldwide, but the rate of increase of electrically powered cars will depend primarily on charging stations availability. In this respect, utilities that manage/own local grids may be key actors by investing on infrastructures and thus locally creating the conditions for the spreading of electric cars. A techno-economic analysis of the investment of a local utility has been performed taking into account medium- and long term-forecasts of electricity and fuel prices, as well as electric cars market share and economic risk. The study proved that an investment in urban charging station infrastructure in Italy can be profitable even without incentives, with a payback period of 4–5 years. The results of the analysis have been exploited by an Italian utility which owns/manages the local electric grid in two municipalities. The first steps of the plan implementation, which started in 2014, are reported in the paper.

Scenario-based Multi-criteria Prioritization Framework for Urban Transportation Projects

Given unprecedented levels of urbanization and motorization in addition to deteriorating infrastructure in developed countries, cities around the world have been facing the enormous challenge of delivering sustainable forms of infrastructure with fewer resources. The challenges in urban infrastructure investment become even more daunting as manifested by the staggering size of infrastructure funding gap. Therefore, prioritizing projects at the system level based on transparent and evidenced-based decision-making processes has emerged as one of the most promising ways to bridge enormous funding gaps especially for developing countries. To address the current limitations, this paper proposes a scenario-based multi-criteria prioritization framework for urban transportation projects in developing countries and then formulates it. This is done with the efficient use of pre-existing project evaluation information and emergent scenario of various stakeholders’ inputs. The framework is applied to set priorities for nine recent urban transportation projects constructed within a two-year framework in the Tianjin Binhai New Area, China. The results show that the proposed framework could serve as a consistent, robust, and comprehensive infrastructure project prioritization strategy that reconciles diverse perspectives among stakeholders. It also introduces sustainability in urban transportation decision making and links the prioritization process to the transportation planning that precedes it.