5
14
on the capacity to build a sustainable future. Following its project on Urban Innovations
(1993-96) the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
implemented in 1997 a project on Urban Governance and Infrastructures of the Future.
This study explores the challenges for urban infrastructures in the European Union. Cities strive
to gain from globalisation, achieve social cohesion and progress towards sustainability.
Infrastructures are part of their man-made capital, the endowment which humans have created
over time and added to the stock of urban assets. They have to be intelligently reinvented and
socially regenerated in order to open up the horizon of opportunities. As ever, policy makers
must maximise benefits and minimise costs.
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Challenges for Urban
Infrastructure in the
European Union
ISBN 92-828-3673-8
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Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Urban infrastructures and governance are cornerstones of a city’s productivity and impact greatly
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Challenges for Urban
Infrastructure in the
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9 789282 836736
EUROPEAN FOUNDATION
for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions is an autonomous body of the
European Union, created to assist the formulation of future policy on social and work-related matters. Further
information can be found at the Foundation web site: http//www.eurofound.ie/
Frank J. Convery is Heritage Trust Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Environmental Institute at
University College Dublin. He previously worked as Associate Professor of Natural Resource Economics at Duke
University, North Carolina, and has served as a visiting professor with the World Bank in Washington DC. His main
research interests focus on mobilising market forces to achieve environmental objectives and the integration of
environmental quality and economic development. He has led a number of research projects and policy fora with various
directorates-general of the European Commission.
Challenges for Urban
Infrastructure in the
European Union
Professor Frank J. Convery
EUROPEAN FOUNDATION
for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Tel: +353 1 204 3100 Fax: +353 1 282 6456/282 4209 E-mail: [email protected]
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1998
ISBN 92-828-3673-8
© European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 1998
For rights of translation or reproduction, applications should be made to the Director, European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Printed in Ireland
The paper used in this publication is chlorine free and comes from managed forests in Northern Europe. For every tree felled,
at least one new tree is planted.
Foreword
In 1997, the Foundation implemented a research project on Urban Governance and Infrastructures
of the Future. The project can be seen as a continuation of the project Innovations for the
Improvement of the Urban Environment, which identified and analysed innovative interventions
on the hardware and software of the cities of the European Union.
Infrastructures and institutions are considered to be the cornerstones of urban productivity and
quality of life. Governance issues have been rediscovered with the preparation of HABITAT II
(the Second UN Conference on Human Settlements, Istanbul, 1996). A workshop, organised in
Dublin on 19-20 June 1997, focused on the challenges faced by urban infrastructure and
governance at the dawn of the 21st century and highlighted the importance of social and built
capital for the children, citizens, employers and workers of the future.
Professor Frank Convery, Director of the Environmental Institute, UCD, has been in charge of the
study on Challenges for Urban Infrastructures. This report is the result of his work and should be
seen as a companion publication to the corresponding report produced by Georges Cavallier on
Challenges for Urban Governance. Both reports highlight new challenges for European cities in
the era of globalisation, sustainability and cohesion.
The reports were evaluated in Brussels on 12 December 1997, by a committee comprising
representatives of the European Commission and the social partners. Dr Voula Mega, Research
Manager of the project, prepared an introduction to the report to give the broader perspectives of
the urban agenda and to highlight the links with the project on Innovations for the Improvement
of the Urban Environment and the bridges between the two reports.
Clive Purkiss
Director
Eric Verborgh
Deputy Director
v
Contents
Foreword
v
List of Tables
viii
Acknowledgements
ix
An Introduction by Voula Mega, Research Manager
1
Prospects for a CityÕs Built Capital in the Era of Globalisation, Sustainability and Cohesion
Chapter One
The policy context
11
Chapter Two
Why focus on urban infrastructure?
15
Chapter Three Towards an analytical framework
23
Chapter Four
Forms of urban infrastructure and how they influence well-being
33
Chapter Five
The importance of scale
43
Chapter Six
Creating and managing urban infrastructure
51
Chapter Seven Policy implications and conclusions
61
Appendix
69
Bibliography
71
vii
Tables
1.
Net saving rate for selected countries
18
2.
Infrastructural responses to developments in transport technology
30
3.
Gasoline use per person, by city
36
4.
Estimated total capital and per capita costs of meeting EU waste
water treatment requirements, over 10 years
38
Additional costs to achieve harmonisation with the EC Urban
Waste Water Directive
38
6.
Marginal costs of waste water treatment
39
7.
Population and transport infrastructure, 50 major cities in Europe
45
8.
Motorways infrastructure, by city and country
47
9.
Metro systems infrastructure, by city and country
47
10.
Light rail infrastructure, by city and country
48
11.
Cycle lane infrastructure, by city and country
48
12.
Recent (and in prospect) economic infrastructure in selected European cities
52
5.
viii
Acknowledgements
I benefited greatly from: the contributions to a workshop on Urban Governance and Enterprise:
Institutions and Infrastructures of the Future, held at the European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin, June 19 and 20, 1997; an OECD
Workshop on Governing Metropolitan Areas: Institutions, Finance, Partnerships, Stockholm, 4-6
June, 1997; a series of publications by the European Foundation for Living and Working
Conditions on urban innovation and on the well-springs of sustainability in medium sized cities;
sundry discussions with Voula Mega, Programme Manager, European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, and members of her various project teams. A
review panel also provided very useful advice in regard to revisions and extensions of the work
when it was in draft.
This report was commissioned in parallel with a study of urban governance by Georges Cavallier.
My work has been enriched by insights which M. Cavallier brought to the diagnosis of the urban
condition; it is clear that the provision, management and performance of infrastructure is
influenced by governance, by the structures and spirit in which cities are shaped, and vice versa.
The usual disclaimer applies.
ix
An Introduction
by Voula Mega
A.
Prospects for a CityÕs Built Capital
in the Era of Globalisation,
Sustainability and Cohesion
European Cities: ÔBuilt PoliticsÕ at the Edge
of Opportunities and Threats
Europe is irrigated by urban vitalities. It consists of an archipelago with some of the most splendid
cities humanity ever created; the most complex and dynamic ecosystems, the only human ones,
open, dependent and vulnerable. Braudel called them Ôgreenhouses of civilisationÕ, and LeviStrauss Ôobjects of nature and subjects of cultureÕ. Twenty-five centuries ago, Aristotle defined the
city as Ôbuilt politicsÕ. From the traditional city, with its physical, institutional and sociological
entity, and the mid-20th century metropolis, dominated by a centre-periphery morphology, we
moved to the metapolis, a nexus for the world-wide transfer of ideas and enterprise (EF 1997a;
Ascher 1995). History is accelerating. Change is inevitable. The stake is how best to manage
change in order to achieve the best output (EF 1997a, BURA 1997). Cities are always the nucleus
of economic and cultural irradiation. They are all Ôbuilt politicsÕ, but politics confront even
dynamic shifting challenges.
Globalisation, sustainability and cohesion create a three-fold challenge for cities at the dawn of
the 21st century. Many European cities try to enhance their capacity to communicate and project
themselves onto the world stage. They gain importance as places where networks are decoded,
condensed, converted, metabolised, and where decision-makers, entrepreneurs and citizens
congregate at a point beyond which synergetic effects become more important than merely
accumulative ones. They produce more wealth than their demographic weight in the national
framework would suggest, and this is due largely to their institutions and infrastructures. The
regulatory framework for land and housing markets has an important contribution to make to
macro-economic performance. Deficiencies in infrastructures, the heavy cost of inappropriate
policies and the financial and technical weaknesses of municipal institutions are important
constraints, whose cumulative effects drain the potential for urban development. Improving
productivity depends on the successful balancing of the various elements of macro-economic 1
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
policy managed at national or city level. It needs a structure that can adjust flexibly and changemakers who heed the lessons to be learned (ACDHRD 1995).
The principle of urban sustainability projects the city onto the stage of the future. The concept has
been defined more and more as a process and not as an endpoint, as a trip rather than a destination.
It is a search for harmony, based on a well-defined consensus and a sense of mission. According
to the European Commission (EC 1994a), environmental sustainability cannot be achieved
without social equity and economic sustainability. It is a struggle between Ôthe Scylla of poverty
and the Charybdis of over-consumptionÕ (EC 1997b). ÔSustainability is equity extended into the
futureÕ, it must have a socially sustainable outcome. The Charter of European Sustainable Cities
describes sustainability as a creative, balance-seeking process extending into all areas of local
decision-making. To date, the work of the Foundation on urban issues has insisted on the
composition of sustainability as a multiple overarching concept, comprising a healthy
environment, social cohesion, economic efficiency and local democracy and participation, in
harmonious co-evolution (Alberti et al. 1994; EF 1996b, 1997b-e; Nijkamp & Perrels 1994;
UNESCO 1988; World Bank 1995).
Competition and emulation have been the driving forces of many cities throughout history. The
medieval towers of San Gimignano illustrate competition at city level. The forests of skyscrapers
in Kuala Lumpur are probably the equivalent of competition in a globalising world. The
competitiveness of a city depends on the macroeconomic environment, its economic and
commercial performance, openness to trade and investment, flexibility of the labour market,
adequacy of its infrastructure and infostructure, level of education and training and ability to
create and innovate. Improving competitiveness is an overall aim and it does not merely mean
raising productivity. It does not simply require producing more output from less input. Higher
productivity results from producing better quality products or by involving and stimulating a
trainable workforce. The information society provides new horizons and opportunities. More and
more cities recognise that increasing competitiveness cannot come from compromises in social
improvements and environmental achievements. Inward investment is recognised as a decisive
parameter. Education and research, instilling a culture of continuous improvement, are probably
the most important factors (EF 1997a).
Cities have an obligation to invent a better future: this cannot be simply the linear continuation of
the present. Globalisation is not just an economic process but also, more importantly, a cultural
one. It affects lifestyles and behaviour patterns, which are very important in the search for
sustainability. A global economy gives many more cities the opportunity of becoming parts of a
global city, but this world conglomeration might have strong central quarters and weak peripheral
ones. With advancing globalisation, shifts in the economy might be swift and lethal for cities
which do not innovate, while sustainability demands innovations which enhance the potential of
limited resources, environments, skills and possibilities. Fragmentation is one of the main
obstacles for cities striving to position themselves strategically in preparation for the 21st century.
Strengthening the social heart of cities is a precondition for reaping the fruits of globalisation and
2 sustainability (EF 1997a).
Prospects for a CityÕs Built Capital in the Era of Globalisation, Sustainability and Cohesion
B.
Innovations to Enhance the ÔMan-MadeÕ Capital
and the Prospects of Multiple Sustainability
New infrastructures and institutions are needed to enhance cities and project them onto the world
arena and the future. Innovations have to be conceived and implemented. Dramatic and thorough
changes must open up the horizon of capabilities. Sterile cities stagnate, fertile cities progress
(Jacobs 1969). Innovation is Ôcreative destructionÕ (Schumpeter 1976), the key to progress (OECD
1996b). The FoundationÕs project on Urban Innovations has been an odyssey into innovative
concepts, visions, alliances and projects in the European cityscape. It included an overview of
urban sites of the future. Many of them bring a radical shift in perceptions and achievements (EF
1993a, 1996c, 1997b), much more than the invention of new concepts, products or ideas. It
includes all the coalitions created for their implementation and the transformations achieved. Each
innovation is born to be surpassed. There is no more important innovation than the one to halt a
well-established practice. Vested interests will always resist change. Last, but not least, the
investment of innovations into mainstream policies and their ripple effects are crucial (EF 1997e).
The innovations identified can be divided into actions on the hardware or software of the cities.
There are some projects which could be classified as infrastructure-intensive, while others could
be classified as governance-intensive. However, this distinction, between the constructed part and
the less visible elements linked to the conditions of the visible transformation, is difficult and
might seem artificial. One should also highlight the sometimes delicate and permeable frontiers
between urban management, based on the direct exploitation of technological options
(infostructure) for greater system efficiency, and urban governance, based on partnerships,
alliances and coalitions. They both constitute the software which gives life to infrastructures.
Infrastructure is slowly evolving, at least in European cities. It is the silent, concrete and visible
material which underpins burgeoning socio-economic life, the almost permanent scene for urban
drama to take place. It has uses, functions and capacities. F. Convery defines it as part of the manmade capital, that endowment which humans have created over time and added to the stock of
urban assets, the natural capital and the environmental resource capital. It is interesting to see
cities as composite forms of capital, comprising human, natural and environmental resource
capital and man-made capital. The human capital includes all skills, lifestyles, cultural patterns
and ethical values that people bring to the city. Natural capital is described as the physical
endowments (land resources, assets typically transacted in markets), which must be distinguished
from environmental resource capital which comprises the life support systems, Ôoffering their
services for freeÕ. All policies try to fructify the urban capital.
The author of this study suggests that urban sustainability be approached through the evaluation
of the increase or decrease of the aggregate capital stock. If the overall capital is falling, the urban
system is unsustainable. If it is increasing, sustainability is ÔstrongÕ, and if it remains constant,
sustainability is ÔweakÕ. Pearce and Atkinson (1993) developed a classification of countries,
following the estimation of the rate of depreciation of capital stock and comparing it with the rate
of savings. There are, of course, limitations and assumptions, as when considering sustainability
as an overarching concept and composing indicators of economic, social, environmental and
cultural performance. However, this approach holds out the potential of linking sustainability with
economic performance and focuses attention on a societyÕs capital for the future.
3
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Urban sustainability is therefore synonymous with a stream of at least non-declining output and
inextricably linked to a non-declining urban capital (natural, physical and human). Urban
metabolism, the process which leads from flows of input (materials, products, energy, labour) to
flows of output (products, services), must be improved. A steady flow of output requires steady
flows of input and maintenance of the production process (Hartwick 1994). Infrastructure enters
into all parts of the equation. The capital depreciates over time and must be renewed in order not
to have a gradual reduction of the stock. The recycling of productive infrastructures is often linked
to the reconversion of urban economies from declining sectors into expanding ones. Emerging
technologies are usually followed by an evolution in infrastructure.
Infrastructure has always played a determining role in defining cities: defensive fortifications,
religious temples, market and trading places, railways and industrial factories, motorway systems
and skyscrapers of banking, insurance and political power shaped cityscapes and civilisations.
The way in which urban infrastructure is created and used depends greatly on the other forms of
capital that make up the city, especially the social and institutional capital, sub-sets of human
capital. Infrastructure reflects values and beliefs. There exists considerable literature and research
on individual forms of infrastructure, but very little on the generic concept of urban infrastructure
per se, as a cluster of independent goods, and its role in shaping performance. Which
infrastructure is provided, by whom, under what conditions, for what purposes and with what
finances, significantly determines the well-being of a society.
The scale and diversity of cities are at the source of all their assets. The author reminds us that
economists tend to explain the existence of cities as the result of two pre-eminent forces: positive
externalities and the consequent generation of agglomeration economies, as well as increasing
economies of scale. Positive externalities lead to the mutual reinforcement of the viability of
individual economies, create pooled labour and technological spillovers. On the other hand,
negative externalities may lead to mutually damaging endeavours. The quintessence of urban
policy is to enhance the potential of cities for generating mutually reinforcing dynamics and
minimising the costs and risks of decline. The externality argument became salient in regard to
environmental policy, by aiming at enhancing the positive and minimising the negative effects of
sharing the environment as a common endowment. Infrastructures may lead to mutually
reinforcing or damaging activities (EF 1998).
Since urban infrastructures are the concrete assets of cities, their provision is a core preoccupation
for policy-makers. In the 19th century, it was common for large scale public works, for example,
water and energy supplies, to be financed by private capital. Monopolistic powers, frequently
conferred, created a basis for enormous wealth, and this, combined with ideological movements,
led to the shift towards public infrastructural financing. ÔGovernment failuresÕ followed Ômarket
failuresÕ, and the situation has now been reversed, with the UK leading the privatisation
revolution. To protect public interests, cities must ensure that the risk is shared between the
promoters and the State and that a monopoly is averted.
Throughout history, the recycling of infrastructure has generated amazing results. Declining
harbour and industrial areas are being transformed into technoburbs and teleports. On another
scale, prisons become archives and libraries. An extraordinary transformation made a protective
wall for the city out of the amphitheatre in medieval Arles. In present Europe, most innovations
4 concentrate on the regeneration of infrastructures rather than the creation of new ones. It is in the
Prospects for a CityÕs Built Capital in the Era of Globalisation, Sustainability and Cohesion
developing world that the creation of new infrastructures has an extraordinary pace, very often at
the expense of its quality and of the capacity of regulatory frameworks to regulate it.
In these waning years of the 20th century, urban growth is occurring almost exclusively in
developing countries. This is resulting in the urbanisation of both poverty and environmental
degradation to a greater degree than ever before. Among the defining measures for dividing cities
into ÔdevelopedÕ and ÔdevelopingÕ are the adequacy of infrastructures to provide water supply and
sewage collection, disposal and treatment, and the human and financial resources to operate it
effectively. In most mega-cities of the developing world, the supply of basic infrastructure falls
far short of demand, and health problems, mainly linked to water contamination, affect large parts
of the burgeoning population. The Ôwillingness to payÕ for quality water is very high relative to
income and there is a clear potential to make progress with the proper institutional and financing
mechanisms. While, for some European cities, the challenges related to health can be
encapsulated in the slogan Ôsmoke-free citiesÕ, in the third world, some cities are still confronted
with the challenge of achieving Ômalaria-freeÕ cities.
C.
Innovations in the Hardware of Cities: The Increasing
Potential of the Software
London, Paris, Berlin, the Randstad and the RŸhr area compete to become the global gates to
Europe. They develop an extraordinary array of performances based on new infrastructures or the
development of new uses for the existing infrastructure. Adequate and efficient urban
infrastructure determines the effectiveness with which a city can compete economically. Transport
and communication infrastructures are needed to meet the very challenge of the ÔgatewayÕ.
Airports, high-speed train stations, teleports and Ôedge citiesÕ expand. Developments in the
Randstad respect the preservation of the urban heart, while the RŸhr area is converting itself to
host expanding economic activities in congenial environments. Berlin, historyÕs fallow city, tries
to create a new future out of its emotionally charged past.
Ecological innovation strives to radically improve the metabolism of urban infrastructures. In
Berlin (often called the Ôrecycled cityÕ), the derelict space adjoining the former wall became, once
again, a central space for creation and innovation. A myriad of micro-projects announce the arrival
of a new era. In Kreuzberg, ÔBlock 103Õ is an interesting example, highlighting action on the
existing infrastructure to increase social well-being. Former squatters of the block have been
given the opportunity to own the space they occupy and, at the same time, have been trained in
converting the houses into ecological modern buildings. Special emphasis has been given to
energy, water, green spaces and new materials and techniques. ÔBlock 6Õ has been the field of
innovation for alternative water systems, through a system of canals and a learning and
communication process. Residents are trained to ÔfeelÕ the process and to participate in its
monitoring. This leads to 50% savings on water and can offer a paradigm for Ôthirsty citiesÕ
(Gelford et al. 1992).
The promotion of innovation requires research infrastructure to enhance this non-depletable
resource. An innovative milieu can lead to chains of innovations and develop their scope and
acceptance. Freiburg is the innovative seat of energy research infrastructure. Solar water heating,
passive solar architecture and photovoltaic systems are part of the cityÕs landscape. The oldest
active solar show-house in Germany is located there and a series of terraced houses, built in 1985, 5
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
exhibit the traditional principles of optimised passive solar compact buildings. A recently-built
commercial solar centre uses photovoltaic cladding. The Freiburg utilitiesÕ new tariff structure
encourages demand and offers more favourable buy-back rates for photovoltaic energy. The latest
developments include the first self-sufficient energy house in Germany, which uses the sun as its
only energy source, combining the most advanced solar and energy storage technologies. Good
governance created the virtuous circle of technical demonstration, raising of awareness and
participation, thanks to the commitment of the city and its citizens.
In the energy field, new infrastructures include district heating networks and mini power plants
for the co-generation of electricity and heat, like in Copenhagen. Innovations on a more modest
scale, but multiplied by a high number of users, include the retrofitting of older housing with
double glazing and insulated cladding or low-energy light bulbs. Good management focuses on
both city-wide and individual neighbourhood audits to increase energy savings or the
establishment of differential ÔprogressiveÕ tariffs to discourage profligate users. It contributes in
that solar energy solutions are not clustered in sunnier climates alone. Governance will advance
with the debate on higher insulation standards, the introduction of concerted policies for the
promotion of less power-consuming enterprises or public consultation on renewable energy
resources, investigating the ways to reduce their still prohibitive cost, and thus open the path to
their wider use (EF 1997e).
Greedy cities must take draconian measures for the management of their resources. Innovative
waste management considers waste as a resource and extends the limits of the known into the
recycling of new or difficult materials, like bio-waste. In Parma, a pioneer scheme recycles
plastics into building material used in public works. Governance in the field starts when
authorities establish innovative partnerships for the prevention of waste, through the raising of
public awareness, or when citizens recycle their own waste, as in Oeiras (EF 1993a). It is also a
matter of good governance to establish new collection agencies, especially in more sparselypopulated areas, e.g. the post office in the Mikkeli region of Finland, excluded from the recyclable
waste collection scheme because of the high costs involved (EF 1997e). It is important to note that
infrastructure and management in waste are still concentrated on the stage Ôafter the waste has
been producedÕ, while governance focuses more on waste prevention and reduction, e.g. through
public debates for concerted action, including regulation and pricing mechanisms.
The most difficult innovation is to halt dependence on private cars, judged to be the most
dangerous enemies to the urban environment. The human leg is the only truly sustainable
transport means. Copenhagen has been a pioneer city in recognising the human face and social
value of pedestrian zones. When the main street, Str¿get, was pedestrianised in 1962 (one of the
very first in Europe) a heated debate ensued. Many believed that the scheme went against the
Nordic mentality and culture; however, it was an almost instant success. Pedestrianisation
continued over a period of 30 years and the down-town parking policy aimed at removing 2-3%
of the parking spaces per year (EF 1995c; Rautsi 1993). EC research on the Ôcar-free cityÕ
suggested the structure of such a city as a constellation of car-free quarters (EC 1992b;
Municipality of Amsterdam 1994; EF 1995c). Many cities are experimenting with car-free
residential units (Burwitz et al. 1991). From Munich to Oulu and Montpellier, pedestrian precincts
expand. Italian cities (Perugia, Bolzano, Spoleto, Rome) have been pioneers in creating pedestrian
6 cultural environments. In Naples, places like Piazza de Plebiscito have rediscovered their former
Prospects for a CityÕs Built Capital in the Era of Globalisation, Sustainability and Cohesion
splendour by virtue of the ban on private vehicles. While Venice still remains the archetype of a
car-free city, Basle ranks first in the world for public transport use.
Dutch and Danish cities provide good examples in enhancing the potential of bicycle lanes, rooted
in local culture and tradition. Elaborate hierarchical bicycle networks, providing access to the city
centre and the regions, are a welcome reality in cities like Delft. Its experience shows that up to
55% of urban trips can be made by bicycle (EF 1997e). Innovation often proceeds by destroying
infrastructures of the sometimes very recent past. Parking spaces in city centres are eliminated and
architectural barriers, abandoned parts of disused heavy transport infrastructures, are removed.
Integral accessibility programmes, developed in El Ferrol and Salamanca, are based on the
Ôcreative destructionÕ of such ÔobstaclesÕ and the redesignation of the recovered space for public
purposes (EF 1993a).
The population density of European cities is at the basis of pronounced scale effects concerning
public transport infrastructure. Pioneering cities, such as Basle and Zurich, bear witness to the
inextricably linked action on infrastructures, management and governance. The continuous
upgrading of the public transport network and the creation of pedestrian precincts and bicycle
lanes were complemented by improvements in services and the integration of public transport
planning into land-use policy. The interventions were supported by the population, as shown in
Zurich in the 1987 opinion polls. The environmental travel cards in Freiburg and Basle attracted
new users to the public systems and the overall number reached the highest levels in Europe in an
area of very high income per capita. Concerning the type of public transport infrastructure, Zurich
opted for the reorganisation and upgrading of the surface network instead of an underground
system which could have proved ten times more expensive. Maximising the use of infrastructure
is inspiring, as shown in Karlsruhe, where the trams run on the urban light rail infrastructure and
on the heavy rail tracks of the German railways (EF 1996b, 1997e).
Innovations in urban traffic management focus on the intermodality of traffic calming and flow
controls. Governance extends to public consultations, e.g. on urban tolls, which is a burning issue
in Europe, or partnerships with organisations offering free bicycles, or public transport to
employees, or the levying of extra taxes on businesses to pay for public transport investments. The
introduction of urban tolls is linked to the pricing of the use of infrastructures, which should
reflect the marginal cost for supplying the service. It is intended to bring an equilibrium between
supply and demand. The benefits of applying such a pricing regime could be considerable in
dealing with traffic congestion, even if the Oslo experience serves only to generate moderate
expectations (EEA 1995a). On the partnership front, one should refer to outstanding examples
from Perugia or La Rochelle, where taxi companies complement the public transport network and
many more actors amalgamate their services in the public interest.
The industrial landscape of the European city today is very different from what it was ten years
ago. Crises have taken their toll on the heavy manufacturing sector, and city-centre harbours and
waterfront areas have been abandoned, leaving behind the husk of an infrastructure in search of a
new role. The atrophication of industrial capacity has yielded space to the activities of the future.
Disused industrial and dock buildings are being converted into cultural centres, exhibition halls,
craft workshops and retail shops. The Salford Quays development on the Manchester ship canal
is an example of leisure areas replacing derelict spaces. The recycling of the former shipyards area
of Gothenburg created a mixed-use, multifunctional area, through a partnership between the city, 7
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
the architects, the former shipbuilding companies and citizensÕ associations. Careful planning
together with citizen consultation can ensure that waterfront developments are not reserved for
luxurious office and leisure areas, but become part of ÔordinaryÕ towns. Architectural innovation,
sometimes inspired by the past, can result in new, beautiful and functional structures. In Turku,
the metamorphosis of the former industrial harbour area into a new cultural centre has been
realised through the creation of a magnificent mixture of old and new structures, combining
tradition and modernity. Before the reconversion, citizens were invited to take a vote on the ugliest
building in the area. Pin-pointing retrograde projects might also be an important starting point for
innovations (EF 1996c).
The profound changes in the manufacturing sector and the closing down of industrial units gave
way to the better organisation of healthy industry into industrial parks or the reconversion of the
enterprises and their relocation in technological and business parks. The creation of Ôedge citiesÕ
turned areas of blight into healthy spaces and areas of positive environmental and economic profit.
The constructed capital is important and alliances which bring together citizens, local authorities,
developers and other actors (e.g. universities) will ensure that these developments will not simply
entice business investment, but will confer added benefits upon the community. Stockley Park, a
former derelict rubbish tip within the green belt to the west of London, gives an inspiring example
of a partnership transforming the area into an international business park and a high quality
recreational area. In Emscher Park, in the northern RŸhr district, an amalgam of interesting
coalitions and projects led to the ecological landscaping and the restructuring of the Emscher area
into a park, the preservation, re-use and recycling of coal mining settlements and the creation of
new housing and attractive high quality locations for clean industry and services (EF 1993a;
Municipality of Amsterdam 1994).
Unemployment scars the face of European cities. It is at the basis of all their inequalities and
social imbalances. Reinforcing the entrepreneurial capacity of cities and identifying sources of
employment needs a chain of innovations in perceptions, education and training. The need is
urgent and the achievements not always promising (EC 1995b). Services improving everyday life
and the quality of the environment, as well as services of leisure and tourism, might have
important potential for employment and enterprise creation. Most schemes include training,
enhancing the ability for reconversion, professional guidance and orientation (EF 1993a, 1994b).
In Rinkeby, the merging of social services and the support for Ôstarting workingÕ in a community
highly dependent on social welfare produced extraordinary results. The project includes
meaningful training, the establishment of an SMEs incubator for immigrants and the creation of
new jobs in activities ranging from crime and drug abuse prevention to theatre performances (EF
1996c).
Infrastructure for equity and job creation covers a broad spectrum, from business incubators to
special equipment for the employment of disabled people. Vocational training centres are often
fully equipped enterprises. On the other hand, each new infrastructure, or the recycling of a former
one, creates new jobs. In Kemi, Finland, this new infrastructure was the worldÕs greatest snow
castle. Until its creation, snow was not viewed as a resource because it was not scarce! Since
working spaces, jobs and land values are closely linked, the extension of working hours towards
the 24-hour city may kick-start new innovations. The city is a chronotopos. Innovations should
enhance the capacity of infrastructures not only in space, but also in time. However, many
8 innovative employment schemes are not linked to the direct creation of infrastructure. Ethical
Prospects for a CityÕs Built Capital in the Era of Globalisation, Sustainability and Cohesion
auditing, for instance, introduced by the Body Shop and Sparkassen, Nordjylland, focuses on the
publication of an annual ethical accounting statement, done by independent auditors, which shows
the extent to which the company is living up to its code and standards (EF 1997e).
Housing is an important field for infrastructural innovation, since it demands interventions in the
living cells of a city. The reconversion of mass, remote, uniform and anonymous housing estates,
located in the vulnerable social fringes of European cities, into vibrant, individualised homes, is
gaining ground. Responsive local management is needed to enhance the corporate neighbourhood
space, to provide proof of vitality of work and enterprise and allow personal identification. Good
governance will address the beneficiaries of housing policies not simply as recipients but as
actors, whose potential has to be activated and strengthened. Messages abound from projects such
as the renewal of the Holly Street estate in London (EF 1993a), the Top Toijala project in Finland
(EF 1996c) and the Respond schemes in Ireland (EF 1993a). In some cases, the energies and skills
of social derelicts, drunkards and down-and-outs can be harnessed and enhanced to improve their
own homes, as has been done in Pihlajisto, Helsinki (EF 1996c).
Where renewal is not sufficient to fulfil housing needs, investment both in infrastructure and
governance must again go hand-in-hand. In Bavaria, former military lands are being transformed
into open, mixed neighbourhoods and model settlements. There are usually few obvious sites for
new housing in cities and contentious sites create conflict. The pressure on ÔemptyÕ spaces is
enormous. In Holland, artificial islands are created to house urban units and provide both rented
and owner-occupied housing for a wide range of income brackets. One of the two referenda
organised in Amsterdam in 1997 focused on the creation of new housing on the Ljburg artificial
islands to be connected by rail to the city centre.
Innovations to enhance safety in cities are mostly concerned with the protection of urban
infrastructures. Transport infrastructures are the ones most affected by attacks: during recent
decades, these infrastructures have suffered greatly from graffiti attacks (not related to any form
of artistic expression). RATP in Paris works on the prevention of graffiti through research on the
attackers and on the most efficient and effective ways of preventing and repairing the damage.
Good governance focuses on the creation of safety committees by the inhabitants of the affected
areas, Ôstreet mediatorsÕ and Ôguardian angelsÕ, or invests in imaginative schemes employing the
offenders themselves in the cleaning up of the affected areas (EFUS 1997). In Maastricht, the
creation of the colourful, visible Ôanti-graffitiÕ bus was complemented by many invisible
partnerships, which ensured the tracing and conditional or alternative punishment of offenders and
even provided them with training to become graffiti artists (EF 1993a).
Urban infrastructure is sometimes spectacularly enriched with flagship projects and landmarks, as
well as with structures left behind after a cityÕs Ôonce-in-a-life-timeÕ event, such as universal
EXPOs and the Olympic Games. The long-term potential of such infrastructures has to be
harnessed and enhanced. The later possibilities of the infrastructure created for the Barcelona
Olympic Games in 1992 were analysed before construction and the Olympic Village is now a
fully-occupied, mixed-use, lively quarter. Moreover, such an event has been a catalyst for many
infrastructural innovations. The city, which had always lived with its back to the sea, now has an
accessible, reconciliating waterfront. Ciutat Vella, its historic heart, is still undergoing dramatic
transformation. Unsound activities and environments have been dismantled, spaces have been
upgraded, residential and working units have been created through regeneration, renewal and 9
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
selective demolition and reconstruction. Civic centres and citizensÕ associations give a special
atmosphere. The Olympic Games have been, first and foremost, a school of solidarity and
citizenship. Sydney has announced recyclable infrastructures for the 2000 ÔgreenÕ Olympic
Games, which will be accessed only by public transport. Athens is trying to make the best of the
projected infrastructure for the 2004 Games, to invent a better future.
Public infrastructure concerns public buildings and open spaces, as well as the green belts or
ÔlungsÕ of the city (EF 1997e). It has often to support symbols and enhance legends and myths.
The construction of a transparent building to host the regional council in Marseilles creates a
majestic landmark in a relatively poor area of the city. It is a transparent structure called ÔLe grand
bleuÕ, to highlight the visibility of the procedures that will take place within. Open public spaces
can be seen as infrastructure; R. Koolhaas defined them as Ôfortresses of freedomÕ. Many suggest
that the shaping of these open spaces should be thought out before planning the shape of the
closed structures, so that they enhance aesthetics and sociability. Every intervention in public
spaces, from street furniture to the landscaping, should be thought out with care. Good urban
management would keep them accessible, agreeable and clean. Good governance would involve
public participation in their designation, design and development. It would focus on integration,
the breaking down of specialist barriers and boosting distinctiveness and civic pride.
There is one kind of infrastructure which is much more important than its use and output, and is
of particular importance for the future of a sustainable Europe (Mega 1997). It concerns the
constructed cultural capital, all the landmarks which symbolise a cityÕs march through history. The
dialectic of tradition and modernity provides inspiration in shaping these unique sites which owe
their existence to the influence of charismatic leaders and architects as well as to the impulse to
memorialize significant historical events. There is no ÔEurocultureÕ or ÔEuroaestheticsÕ; Europe is
a kaleidoscope of unique cultures. The projects realised in Paris, on the occasion of the bicentenary of the French Revolution, at the initiative of a President who declared that ÔInnovation
is our dutyÕ (and Ôpolitics is the governance of symbolsÕ), offer us a good example. No matter what
the exact use is of controversial PeiÕs Pyramid in the Louvre or the offices in the Arche de la
DŽfense, they have already been established on the cultural horizon of Paris. In many cases, the
public image Ôfrom the outsideÕ is totally different from the everyday image of the occasional user,
as the officials of the Ministry of Public Works in the Arche de la DŽfense or of the Department
of the Environment in the Custom House, Dublin, would readily attest. Innovations often involve
not only constructing or renewing an extraordinary piece of cultural heritage, but also enhancing
it in an extraordinary way, e.g. through the organisation of the Ônuits du patrimoineÕ in Rochefort
or HelsinkiÕs festival of light.
A city cannot, by definition, exist without built references concentrated in space. It would be
merely a boring grid of streets if collective myths and legends did not charge it with magic and
urbanity. They often depend on the charisma of some leaders who, proceeding with relatively little
consultation, mark periods of light and darkness. There are also local authority- or business-led
models, including traditional or avant-garde consultation. The London Docklands constitutes an
overwhelming success of such a development, with the transformation of an isolated, derelict area
into an active economic hub of mixed-use urban units, in close proximity to the city. There are
also community-led participative models which give new dimensions to visions. Intangible
cultural factors and value-laden frameworks influence the whole process, which is being shaped
10 by a cityÕs all-invisible hands.
Chapter 1
The Policy Context
Cities have to struggle for the attention of those in the policy process. In part, this is because of
their success: they are perceived as places which grow naturally, which both attract and create
wealth, which do not in a sense need attention. Sometimes, benign neglect gives way to policy
antagonism, a view that cities are somehow parasitic, a source of costs rather than opportunities,
places to be discriminated against. And the view that virtue resided especially in the countryside
is not a new phenomenon: over 2000 years ago, Pliny the elder quoted Cato idealising the
agricultural life as follows:
The agricultural population, says Cato, produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers,
and a class of citizens the least given of all to evil designs.
Until relatively recently, this benign, and sometimes not so benign, neglect of cities was
characteristic of European Union policy also, where the bulk of budgetary effort and much policy
attention was focused on agriculture and rural development. But the characteristic dichotomy of
cities as simultaneously opportunities and problems is now recognised. The evolution of European
Union urban policy is summarised in Towards Sustainable Development for Local Authorities
(EEA 1997) from which some of what follows is drawn. The EU urban policy has three strands.
The first is the provision of funding: substantial Structural Funds have been allocated for urban
purposes in a number of cities, and there was a specific initiative Ð URBAN Ð in which ECU 850
million have been allocated to support development of deprived neighbourhoods.
The second strand has been the development of principles and an urban ÔphilosophyÕ, which was
marked by the release of the CommissionÕs Green Paper on the Urban Environment in 1990 (EC
1990). This paper was issued as a discussion document, and advocated integration of urban
economy and environment, and a holistic, ÔecologicalÕ approach to urban development. The
Commission established an Expert Group on the Urban Environment to develop some of the ideas 11
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
in, and reactions to, the Green Paper, in the context of its Sustainable Cities project which had as
its aims the development of a set of ecological, socio-economic and organisational principles and
tools for urban management. The GroupÕs final report, European Sustainable Cities (EC 1996),
makes a range of practical suggestions, including an emphasis on demand side management of
traffic and resource flows, the adoption of an integrated ecosystem view of the city as an
interconnecting web of activities, resources and links, engagement of the stakeholders, with an
emphasis on equity and efficiency in resource use. The Urban Forum for Sustainable
Development is a network of information relays which the Commission has established to provide
a link between Union policies and urban policies and experience in Member States. There are also
numerous other information exchange networks.
In 1997, the Commission set out an urban agenda in its Communication Towards an urban agenda
in the European Union (EC 1997c). The problem analysis is summarised in the box below. The
Communication makes the point that:
The starting point for future urban development must be to recognise the role of the cities as
motors for regional, national and European economic progress. At the same time, it also has
to be taken into account that urban areas, especially the depressed districts of medium sized
and larger cities, have borne many of the social costs of past changes in terms of industrial
adjustment and dereliction, inadequate housing, long-term unemployment, crime, and social
exclusion.
Urban problem analysis by the European Commission
The challenges facing EuropeÕs cities:
¥
¥
¥
¥
¥
globalisation
unemployment and social exclusion
imbalance in that some cities prosper and others decline
decline in some aspects of environmental quality
fragmentation of responsibility and management.
Current actions at EU level include:
¥
¥
¥
¥
¥
the promotion of competitiveness and employment
support for investment in physical and human capital in deprived and declining areas
improvement in the degree of cohesion in the Union (including the establishment of
neighbourhood partnerships under the URBAN initiative)
the promotion of transport and transEuropean links
and the promotion of sustainable development and quality of life in cities.
Actions for the future proposed on the part of the Union include:
¥
¥
¥
¥
12
the integration of a specifically urban perspective in European Union policies, including
transport, research and technological development, telecommunications, commerce, public
health
improvements in the provision of services
better focusing of Structural Funds on priority urban challenges
the use of indicators, urban audits and information exchange between cities.
Source: Abstracted from Towards an urban agenda in the European Union, Communication
from the Commission, Brussels, 6 May, 1997.
The Policy Context
The third strand of an emerging Union urban policy is research, encapsulated in the CommissionÕs
proposals for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration activities in the 5th
Framework Programme (EC 1997d). Under the overall objective of ÔPromoting Competitive and
Sustainable Growth,Õ there is an action called Ôthe city of tomorrowÕ. The aim of this key action
is (p. 34):
The harmonious development of the citizensÕ urban environment from a global, innovative
and resource saving viewpoint, in an environmentally sound manner, using advanced models
of organisation bringing together in particular improvement of quality of life, the restoration
of social equilibria, and the protection and enhancement of the cultural heritage.
The evolution of thinking at EU level has been paralleled by developments internationally,
typified by the content and conclusions of the Second UN Conference on Human Settlements in
Istanbul in 1996, known as HABITAT II. It engaged a wide range of interests in its deliberations,
and adopted a Ôbest practiceÕ initiative, characterised by empowerment, focus on partnership, and
the compilation and dissemination of best practice experiences.
The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions has supported
an exploration of the characteristics and dynamics which shape urban performance, which
influence their potential as Ômotors for progressÕ, with specific attention to medium sized cities in
Europe. Performance has embraced notions of quality of working and living conditions, and the
underlying economic and social dynamic and associated innovations, all in the context of
achieving sustainability. This work has now been extended to address the cross-cutting issues of
governance and of infrastructure.
This report focuses on urban infrastructure. There is considerable literature and research on
individual forms of infrastructure, but little which analyses urban infrastructure per se as a cluster
of goods. The specific value added which this study aspires to make is to draw attention to this
crucially important dimension of urban well-being Ð the Ôsilent partnerÕ from the past Ð to indicate
how it may be addressed analytically, and to point the way towards policy and management
conclusions.
The core audience for this report therefore are those who are responsible for shaping the use and
extension of urban infrastructure, both generally, and in the context of European Union policies
for structural adjustment. But it is hoped that it will also be of value in identifying gaps in our
knowledge, and that this in turn will suggest priorities for research. ÔThe city of the futureÕ is
emerging as a theme and focus for research: this paper should help contribute to the shaping of
this agenda.
This is mainly a ÔdeskÕ study, derived from literature and from discussions, and from the insights
yielded by theory. It is therefore very much an exploration rather than a definitive piece of
empirically grounded research. There is a large and growing literature on the design of various
forms of infrastructure, on the financing of same, and on its utilisation. And this literature is
segmented by infrastructure type Ð transport, housing, energy, environment etc. But very little
focuses on the generic concept of urban infrastructure and its role in shaping performance. This
report aims to begin to fill this gap.
13
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
The discussion of urban scale and infrastructure does attempt to link city size, as manifest in
population of the metropolitan urban region (MUR), and the transport infrastructure, in terms of
the provision of motor ways, metro, light rail and cycle ways, for the largest 50 cities in the EU.
The disciplinary perspective is that of economics. This is not because economics is the only valid
means of analysing the issue, but it is the framework that I bring to the topic. However, I do
attempt to be ecumenical in integrating other disciplinary strands into this framework, with
particular reference to ecology.
14
Chapter 2
Why Focus on Urban Infrastructure?
The demography and economy of urban areas continue to change. The suburbanisation of
settlement is a near universal phenomenon, and there are social dynamics underway in inner cities
associated with isolation and impoverishment. The rapid growth in single parent families in most
cities poses a challenge in regard to housing and social and economic support mechanisms. The
growth in unemployment poses challenges for the traditional mechanisms for generating
employment and providing recreation-related infrastructure; the intensifying divisions of cities
along race, income and (in some cases) religious grounds also raise questions as to the
appropriateness or otherwise of the infrastructure now being provided and in prospect, and the
delivery and management mechanisms. And the penumbra overlaying all of this change is
globalisation Ð the re-emergence of the city as a nexus for world wide transfer of ideas and
enterprise Ð the re-inventing of the medieval city.
Urban infrastructure is an important factor in determining the effectiveness with which a city can
compete economically and socially with other cities around the world. It is also a very significant
determinant of the quality of life; it both shapes and reflects the ethos of the city with regard to
social exclusion and the esteem in which various quarters of the city and their residents are held.
Transport and communication infrastructure are particularly significant in this regard, but other
forms of same, such as social infrastructure (schools, universities, hospitals, prisons) and cultural
and recreational infrastructure (built and natural endowments from the past, parks and open
spaces, theatres and other centres of entertainment) are also important determinants of
performance and potential.
In this chapter, infrastructure is defined, it is discussed in the context of other forms of capital, and
sustainability is introduced in this context.
15
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
What is Infrastructure?
Infrastructure is typically taken to mean the physical constructs which have been provided by
human endeavour and which underpin the economic and social life of a community. They
comprise investments which have a relatively long life, and which are a shared endowment from
the past. Urban infrastructures are those components of this endowment which occur in urban
agglomerations. It can be highly functional, as in the case of roads and railways, it can be a means
of entertainment, as in the case of a coliseum, or it can be of religious or symbolic significance as
in the case of a church or a monument. Infrastructure can be provided by public authorities, by
private entrepreneurs, by communities, or by some combination of the foregoing. Which
infrastructure is provided, by whom, how and for what purposes, will over time significantly
shape the well-being of a society. Forms of infrastructures which are significant include:
Transport. In an urban setting, the key transport challenges are provided by congestion (too many
people trying to use limited capacity) and by pollution (the emissions associated with growth in
traffic). Infrastructures and associated management which aspire to overcome such constraints
will be a key focus for urban governance into the next century.
Communication. It is one of the mantras of our age that we are experiencing a communications
revolution, with computers, telecommunications, TV all combining to dramatically widen the
menu of information and experiences accessible to all. And some of this is hype; as has been said
of the Internet, never has so much been spent by so many to achieve so little. There are still only
24 hours in a day. The key challenge will be to provide users with access and information which
is of sufficient calibre that the time and cost it takes to access and use it are justified. But beyond
the hype, there is the reality of a collapse of time and space, most recently encapsulated by the
global involvement in the obsequies for the late Princess Diana.
Environmental services. The collection, treatment and disposal of solid, liquid and gaseous
waste are posing increasing demands on urban budgets, space and management time.
Education. Quality of education, and ease of access thereto, are universally recognised as
determinants of economic, social and environmental performance. For cities to participate
effectively in the newest waves of knowledge based industry, they need to have strong universities
and research institutes on which they can draw. This infrastructure has become a sine qua non for
success in the emerging technologies, and the pre-requisites for success can be harnessed by
providing the right infrastructure in an appropriate institutional and management setting. Silicon
Valley was created through the initiative of Fred Terman, the Vice-President of Stanford
University, which provided the initial stake for Hewlett-Packard, and established the research park
on university land on which Hewlett-Packard and others began operations; the revenues from the
research park helped Stanford become a world class centre for research in science and
engineering. Numerous similar linkings of the intellectual and the entrepreneurial have since
successfully adopted variants of the Fred Terman model.
Health. Advances in the technology and techniques of health care have made it very expensive to
support high cost facilities and associated services in a number of specialities, notably heart
surgery and some advanced cancer diagnostic and treatment. As a result, infrastructure embracing
these specialist units tends to be concentrated in a few hospitals in a small number of cities. The
16 location of such units gives the host city strong comparative advantage, in the sense that
Why Focus on Urban Infrastructure?
substantial numbers of well paid jobs are provided, out of town patients spend some of their
discretionary income in the host city, and people feel more comfortable moving to a city where an
international-class, high-technology health service is provided. As countries become more
wealthy, they spend an increasing percentage of their gross domestic product on health care, so
that this tends to be a rapidly growing sector; cities which can ÔpositionÕ themselves as the main
providers of advanced care will therefore benefit economically and socially. And it is this
recognition which also in part drives the opposition to hospital closure in the interests of achieving
economies of scale via the consolidation of infrastructure and services. Cities which lose health
care facilities as part of this process understand that simultaneously, access for their citizens is
likely to be diminished, while economic benefits are also being transferred out of their city.
Forms of Capital
We can divide the assets of our urban areas into categories of capital. Human capital represents
those skills, energies and cultural reflexes and norms which the human inhabitants bring to the
city. It is always the most important form of capital. Frequently, it is the arrival or evolution of a
particular skill which explains the existence or expansion of an urban settlement (Krugman 1991).
There is also natural capital, the endowment of minerals, water, rivers etc., which allow certain
activities to concentrate and for towns and cities to develop and prosper. The concentration of
early industry at sites where water power could be mobilised, the development of trading towns
at sheltered river mouths, are manifestations of the power and significance of this form of capital
as shapers of urban existence and well-being.
A third form of capital is environmental resource capital. This is distinguished from natural
capital on the basis that it comprises the life support systems which maintain life on the planet.
And, if they are not interfered with, these environmental assets provide their services for free. The
wetland diminishes the intensity of floods, and filters put pollutants without charge. Plants recharge the atmosphere with oxygen without charge. And it has been the threats to these life
support systems which have engendered the sustainability debate. For the first time in the history
of human existence on the planet, there is the technological capacity and wealth to inflict serious
and potentially permanent damage to our life support systems.
The fourth form of capital is made capital, that endowment which humans have created and
added to the stock of assets, of which infrastructure is a part. Examples include roads, railways,
airports, planes, cars, washing machines, power stations, parks, houses. And this made capital
depreciates over time, and must be renewed. If the rate of renewal is less than the rate of
depreciation, there will be a gradual reduction in the stock. Some also recognise social capital Ð
the values, customs, civilities and services which are not part of the ÔmarketÕ per se, but which are
vitally important for the coherence and effectiveness of communities.
Assessing Sustainability
In a study on the challenge and practice of urban sustainability undertaken for the European
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Celecia and Richard (EF
1997d) outline the experience with the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) project, designed to inject
an awareness and understanding of the imprint and implications of human actions on the
biosphere in general, and the effects in this regard on the planetÕs urban communities in particular. 17
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
This leads on to a wide ranging discussion as to how to make the city more benign in its
environmental effects, and more humane in its structures, economy and management. The intent
and scope here as regards these issues is much more modest: to speculate as to how we may assess
sustainability in an urban context, and to introduce some ideas from ecology which may enhance
our understanding in this regard.
There is great debate about sustainability, what is it and how it might be achieved. There are (at
least) two approaches, which are not mutually exclusive, for assessing sustainability. The first
proposes a set of indicators, such as energy use, water consumption, air quality judged in terms of
variables such as particulate, ozone, SOx or lead content, water quality, combined with socioeconomic indicators such as nutrition levels, income levels, health and education standards. If
indicators are available over time, they are a rich source of insight as to performance trends, but
they suffer the limitation that there is usually a mixture of trends, with some going up, and some
coming down, and we canÕt really say whether the trend is ÔsustainableÕ or not. A second approach
is to examine the stock of capital in a country, and assess whether it is increasing, remaining
constant or falling. Pearce and Atkinson (1994) have developed an interesting means of
categorising countries to indicate whether or not they are on sustainable development paths. They
make a distinction between Ôweak sustainabilityÕ Ð the constant capital rule, whereby an aggregate
capital stock no smaller than the present one is passed onto the next generation Ð and Ôstrong
sustainabilityÕ, whereby, in additional to conserving the overall capital stock, the natural capital,
or at least key features of same, are conserved.
They apply the Ôweak sustainabilityÕ rule to a number of countries, as follows. For each country
analysed, they take estimates of the rate of depreciation of natural (including environmental)
capital (sometimes called resource rent), and of made capital, and compare these with the rate of
savings. If the rate of depreciation of natural and made capital exceeds the rate of savings, then
the country is not re-investing sufficiently to ÔreplaceÕ the natural and made capital draw down,
and fails the Ôweak sustainabilityÕ test. If a country has a higher savings rate than the rate of
depreciation of natural and made capital, then it passes this test. The results for a few countries
are shown below:
Table 1. Net saving rate for selected countries
Country
Japan
Poland
Costa Rica
Netherlands
USA
Mexico
UK
Malawi
Nigeria
Ethiopia
Burkina Faso
Madagascar
Mali
18
Rate of
saving
Rate of depreciation
of made capital
Rate of depreciation
of natural capital
Net
saving rate
(i)
33
30
26
25
18
24
18
8
15
3
2
8
-4
(ii)
14
11
3
10
12
12
12
7
3
1
1
1
4
(iii)
2
3
8
1
3
12
6
4
17
9
10
16
6
(i)-[(ii)+(iii)]
17
16
15
14
3
0
0
-3
-5
-7
-9
-9
-14
Why Focus on Urban Infrastructure?
This approach has the following merits: it talks in the language of the national income accountant,
and therefore holds out the potential of linking environmental performance with economic
performance as traditionally defined; it focuses attention on capital stocks, which in a sense
comprise societyÕs endowments for the future; and a conclusion is reached as to whether a country
Ð and the approach could be applied at the level of a city as well Ð is sustainable or not. There are
of course limitations: it takes no account of imports and exports, some heroic assumptions are
required to value the losses of natural capital, and the problem of Ôthreshold effectsÕ is not
addressed.
The analytical model applied by the Foundation in its urban sustainability studies up to this point
has been largely indicator based. The focus in this paper on made capital introduces this Ôcapital
stockÕ perspective, although no attempt is made to assess sustainability per se. Infrastructure can
be regarded as a proxy for made capital. How might it be applied in the urban context? This would
require an assessment of the capital stocks as outlined in the box below.
Applying the capital stock approach to sustainability in an urban context
Category of urban capital:
Issues in measurement:
Made capital (infrastructure)
To what extent is the stock of roads, buildings etc.
depreciating or being added to? Is the value of this
stock overall increasing or falling over time? To what
extent can financial and physical data be combined to
achieve overall aggregate values over time?
Natural and environmental capital
To what extent are natural stocks of open space,
wildlife, woodland, wetland, air quality etc. being
expanded or diminished? Can such changes be valued
using non-market valuation techniques, such as
contingent valuation (use of questionnaire approaches),
hedonic pricing (change in market valued capital
values), and change in value of physical output, e.g.
health effects on productivity?
Human capital
Is the physical well being, the stock of skills, talents,
and attributes in the city increasing or otherwise? Can
these be valued using approaches similar to those
canvassed in the case of Ônatural and environmental
capitalÕ?
Stock of savings
What is the volume and value of savings by individuals
and firms in the city? Is this stock increasing or
decreasing?
Net effects on capital stock
Is the overall capital stock increasing or decreasing? Is
the level of savings sufficient to compensate for draw
downs in capital stocks? What are the trends over time?
19
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Transferring the Pearce and Atkinson approach from nations to cities is complicated by the fact
that cities are in general much more economically and socially ÔporousÕ than nations, and the data
on capital stocks and flows is less well documented. But there are valuation techniques available
which would allow us to make some progress in this regard.
Infrastructure, Urban Function and Evolution
Voltaire: ÔWhere we do not know, we can always classify.Õ
OÕSullivan (1996) distinguishes three types of city. Those which are:
Transfer oriented
The trading city is located at transhipment points (ports, cross-roads,
railroad junctions, river junctions) because such points are convenient
points for the collection and distribution of goods.
Input oriented
Resource costs Ð e.g. energy Ð are significant, or there are specialised
inputs and/or labour requirements.
Amenity oriented
Activities where workers and entrepreneurs are sensitive to weather,
recreation, environmental and cultural endowments (especially
important for high income workers)
For all three types of cities, it is clear that infrastructure is central. For a transfer oriented city,
transport infrastructure is crucial. Such cities start out with a ÔnaturalÕ advantage, such as a
sheltered harbour, but the made infrastructure which is added, and the innovations associated
therewith, define the potential for growth. In 1812, New York and Philadelphia were the same
size. With the linking of New York City to the Great Lakes via the Erie Canal, and the introduction
of the innovation of the Ôauction saleÕ, New York thereafter became dominant.
Infrastructure defined the earliest cities, which seemed to fulfil both defensive and religious
purposes. The earliest cities of the Near East, dating from about 3000 BC Ð Eiridu and Ur in
Mesopotamia, the city of Babylon and the leading cities in the Nile valley Ð Memphis, Heliopolis
and Thebes Ð all fulfilled defensive and religious functions. Defensive fortifications and religious
temples were characteristic infrastructure. The next stage in western urbanisation took place in
Greece, where democratic impulses in city governance are first recorded, and the city as market
place Ð the Agora Ð first becomes a dominant function, with household goods and olive products
being exchanged for food and raw materials. Provision of infrastructure to serve the marketing
function is essential if this role is to be maintained. Innovation Ð in the Greek case the
development of stamped gold and silver coins in the seventh century BC as a medium of exchange
Ð greatly facilitated the evolution of the marketing function. The decline of Athens and the Greek
city states, and later on the decline of Rome, is attributed by some to the atrophying of the trading
function, and the use of conquest and tribute from the colonies, rather than the provision of
mutually beneficial goods and services, as the primary means of maintaining the city and its
population Ð the city as parasite. The medieval cities of Europe combined defensive and market
functions, and the evolution of numerous semi-autonomous cities stimulated trade and innovation,
20 and the associated defensive, religious and market oriented infrastructure. Venice, Genoa and Pisa
Why Focus on Urban Infrastructure?
grew on the basis of trade. Bruges and Ghent prosper on the basis of booming woollen and cloth
industries.
The emergence of nationalism and evolution in the technology of weapons Ð notably the siege
cannon Ð facilitated the concentration of power in large royal courts, and developments in ocean
travel led to urban development along trade routes. There were economies of scale in
administration and in defence. In 1700, four port cities Ð Naples, Palermo, Lisbon and Liverpool
Ð appear for the first time in the top 10 European cities. These are transfer oriented cities; inland
cities like Florence decline.
The industrial revolution decreased the relative cost of factory goods, leading to the centralisation
of production and employment, and the emergence of the ÔindustrialÕ city; the British cities of
Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Liverpool are creations of this era, where the essential
infrastructures are those needed to facilitate such concentration of production Ð the development
from the ÔcottageÕ to large factories; for some industries such as iron and steel, nearness to raw
materials (local inputs) becomes the key to comparative advantage. These are input oriented cities.
As always, innovation shapes city performance and prospects: the first skyscraper Ð a 10 storey
building Ð appears in Chicago in 1885. Its frame was made of (relatively light) steel rather than
heavier brick, and could therefore be taller. The development of the lift further enhanced the
attractiveness of the skyscraper. But Frank Lloyd Wright commented once, ÔThe future of the city
will depend on the race between the automobile and the elevator, and anyone who bets on the
elevator is crazy.Õ
Recent Trends
Two forces in particular have characterised most cities over the past decades. Bill Vaughn has
defined a suburb as Ôa place where a developer cuts down all the trees to build houses, and then
names the streets after the treesÕ. Suburbanisation in the post-war period, where residents moved
to the edge Ð and we call these edge aggregates ÔsuburbsÕ Ð but still commuted to work in the
centre, has gradually been subsumed in what Fishman (1987) calls ÔtechnoburbÕ: peripheral zones
which have emerged as viable socio-economic units.
Spread out along its highway growth corridors are shopping malls, industrial parks, campuslike office complexes, hospitals, schools, and a full range of housing types. Its residents look
to their immediate surroundings rather than to the city for their jobs and other needs; and its
industries find not only the employees they need, but also the specialised services.
Most trips in urban areas in the US are not suburb to city centre, but suburb to suburb.
And all of this has been facilitated and is in part a product of the automobile, whose rise has been
inexorable. As Herbert Prochnow has observed, ÔThe home is where part of the family waits until
the others are through with the car.Õ Because it is the internal combustion engine, with its trucks
and cars, which in most cities predominates as a user of transport infrastructure, and as a shaper
of the city itself.
21
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
This dynamic, which we think of as quintessentially American, is of course what we observe now
in many European cities. But what happens to their inner cities? They decline, especially where
policy reinforces the ÔnaturalÕ tendency of ÔtechnoburbsÕ to emerge. In many urban areas, there
was a systematic bias in favour of Ônew buildÕ, and therefore in favour of green field
suburbanisation. For example in Ireland, tax incentives for both industry and households all
emphatically favoured Ônew buildÕ (Dowling, 1988). And public investment can further reinforce
the movement to the edge. Providing ring motorways and bypasses which opened up a new
hinterland at public expense Ð these all in effect discriminated against the inner cities, accentuated
the ÔnaturalÕ tendencies towards the fringe, and the result was dereliction, population flight,
increasing crime, closure of inner city schools and local businesses dependent on local markets.
Thus, infrastructure and how it is financed and where it is located shapes the nature and the
geography of urban development.
Conclusions
We should pay attention to the interface between urban spaces and their performance, and the
infrastructures which shape them, because they affect our well being economically, socially, and
environmentally. In Towards an urban agenda in the European Union (EC, 1997c), the European
Commission argues as follows:
The twin challenge facing European Urban policy is therefore one of maintaining its cities
at the forefront of an increasingly globalised and competitive economy while addressing the
cumulative legacy of urban deprivation.
Infrastructure Ð how it is provided, of what character, by whom, and how it is managed Ð is pivotal
in how successfully these challenges are met. With the expansion of the Union to include
relatively deprived regions and countries, involvement in infrastructural provision is likely to be
maintained or perhaps increased. If there are insights which will help ensure that this support is
more effective, then they should be identified.
To the extent that the achievement of sustainability in an urban context can be characterised as the
maintenance of the stock of capital Ð made (infrastructural), natural and environmental, and
human Ð then understanding the infrastructural endowment in this context is an important
contribution towards understanding overall urban sustainability.
22
Chapter 3
Towards an Analytical Framework
The EconomistsÕ Paradigm
In order to move towards a way of understanding the roles and potentials of infrastructure in
shaping urban performance, it is necessary to understand some of the underlying dynamics of
cities themselves. Looked at from an economistÕs perspective, two forces are pre-eminent in
explaining why cities exist: the first is positive externalities Ð the positive effects on your wellbeing which arise as an incidental by-product of my activities, and vice versa, and the consequent
generation of agglomeration economies, where the sum of individual economic activities is
greater than the sum of their parts. For example, a beautifully restored building enhances the
quality of life of those who pass it by, who enjoy the atmosphere and sense of place engendered,
and they do not have to pay for it. Conversely, a negative externality is where activity imposes
costs on others, without compensation; a business, a household or a vehicle which generates noise
which intrudes on others is an example of a negative externality. Neilson (1997) has observed that
externalities are everything in cities.
The second force is increasing returns to scale Ð the bigger any given activity is, the more its unit
costs are reduced.
Where clusters of specialist shops occur, it is the diversity of choices which attracts the consumers
to the district Ð each shop simultaneously competes with its neighbours and reinforces their
viability. Similarly, visitors who are attracted to a quarter because of its cultural riches also
support restaurants, hotels, gift shops and the like with their expenditure. These in turn may
develop to such an extent that they become attractions in themselves, and the cultural attractions
benefit because of the additional visitors generated initially by the quality of food and
accommodation.
23
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Residents of a district simultaneously act as police and as customers of the local businesses. This
process of mutual reinforcement is also part of achieving agglomeration economies.
Cities can be regarded as both the creators and the mediators of this dynamic which is released by
agglomeration economies and positive externalities. But just as forces can be mutually
reinforcing, they can also be mutually damaging Ð the virtuous circle can become a cycle of
accelerating destruction.
The very essence of urban management is to maintain and enhance the capacities for generating
positive externalities and the achievement of agglomeration economies, and to contain the
generation of external costs. The provision and management of existing and new infrastructures
is central to the effective management of urban areas.
Economists characterise agglomeration economies in a variety of ways (OÕSullivan 1996):
¥
localisation economies, where economies of scale in the production of intermediate inputs,
labour market economies, and communication economies combine to reduce the costs in a
particular industry the larger the industry becomes. Thus, computer companies cluster to
benefit from rapid exchange of information and technology diffusion and a wide range of
labour skills, textile firms cluster to benefit from the variety and low cost of intermediate
inputs which scale provides.
¥
urbanisation economies arise because of the size of the variety of the urban area itself,
which yields a diversity of innovators, suppliers, labour skills. It is easier to attract a very
skilled person to employment in a city if the diversity of the labour market is such that that
personÕs partner is also likely to secure satisfying employment.
These are variants of the arguments presented by Marshall in 1920 for the concentration of the
same type of industry in one location: he identified three reasons Ð the development of a pooled
labour market with specialised skills, the provision of non-traded inputs specific to the industry,
and technological spillovers Ð the knowledge spillovers between firms (Marshall 1920). These are
discussed by Krugman (1991), who focuses on the key role of increasing returns to scale, transport
costs, production costs and chance1 in shaping the spatial organisation of economic activity.
There are also agglomeration economies in marketing: as economies develop, the time of the more
affluent becomes more valuable, the attraction of Ôone stop shoppingÕ increases, and so specialist
outlets such as antique shops, restaurants and food halls cluster, and the shopping mall flourishes.
This describes a situation of mutual support and continuing reinforcement, where each activity has
spin-offs which benefits others, and vice versa. But agglomeration economies can be replaced by
de-glomeration economies, where activities damage each other, and a pathology of accelerating
decline can set in. Such has been the experience of many central cities, where out-migration of
1
24
He notes that the carpet industry in the US concentrated in Dalton, Georgia because Ms Catherine Evans of that small town made a bedspread
as a gift for a friend, and developed a technique of locking the tufts into the backing. This became the basis of a series of developments such
that Dalton emerged as AmericaÕs carpet capital. The Massachusetts shoe industry developed from the work of Welsh cobbler, John Adams, who
set up shop there in 1750, while the dominance of the Providence, Rhode Island jewellery industry began when Ôfilled goldÕ was invented there
in 1794. But innovation and serendipity are not the only shapers of agglomeration; Silicon Valley was created through the initiative of Fred
Terman, the Vice-President of Stanford University, which provided the initial stake for Hewlett-Packard, and established the research park on
university land on which Hewlett-Packard and others began operations; the revenues from the research park helped Stanford become a worldclass centre for research in science and engineering.
Towards an Analytical Framework
jobs and people in one sector results in declining public services, which accelerates the migration,
compounded in some cases by rising rates of crime and drug addiction, and declines in other
economic sectors.
The externality arguments are also salient in regard to environment, which can be defined as that
part of our physical and psychological space which we somehow share in common, which belongs
to us all. And this shared endowment can either generate positive externalities: for example a vista
or monument provides a sense of place and visual enjoyment, the air we breathe can provide
visibility and good breathing, or external costs can prevail: we can be depressed and lose our sense
of identity because of characterless and ugly buildings, and we can have our visibility impaired
and our respiratory systems damaged by polluted air.
In her seminal text, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs (1961) discusses in detail
how important is an understanding of and the fostering of positive externalities, although she
doesnÕt characterise them as such. She illustrates with the example of the footpath: if there is clear
demarcation between the public and the private, if there are eyes constantly on the street, and if
there is constant movement and use of the sidewalk, then the street is likely to be safe. Mixed
retail, educational and residential uses, doors and windows opening on to the street, and a variety
of lifestyles all combine to generate these eyes, this movement Ð all mutually reinforcing positive
externalities.
The challenge of urban management then in this economic paradigm is one of ensuring that
agglomeration economies continue to be yielded, and ensuring that the activities are mutually
reinforcing, that the people who come to patronise my restaurant also look into your gift shop, and
vice versa. Or putting it in econo-speak, that the external costs which we can impose on each other
are diminished to a reasonable level, and that the external benefits continue to be generated. And
it is not easy, in part because another characteristic of cities is their dynamic, responsive nature.
The EcologistsÕ Paradigm
The word ÔecologyÕ comes from the Greek ÔoikosÕ meaning Ôhouse,Õ our immediate environment.
It is the science of understanding and explaining why natural systems work the way they do Ð the
relations of organisms to one another and to their surroundings. In recent years, the recognition of
the city as a system of physical, social and economic interdependencies has grown, and flows of
energy, water, waste and emissions are associated with impacts and sectoral development. This
perspective is typified by OECD (1996b). Rather than replicate this work, I will focus on some
concepts and ideas from the science of ecology that can energise our understanding of the city,
and where infrastructure fits in this context.
An ecosystem is an interdependent group of living organisms and their physical and chemical
environments. Ecologists speak of forest ecosystems, prairie ecosystems, estuarine ecosystems,
etc., which characterise units within which there is more exchange of energy and materials than
there is with Ôthe outsideÕ, i.e. with other ecosystems.
While there are some concepts from ecology that can inform our thinking about urban ecosystem,
a word of caution is warranted: the science of ecology derives most of its principles from
ecosystems which are relatively undisturbed by the imprint of the human species; in urban areas, 25
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
it is precisely the human imprint which is the very essence of the system. As RenŽ Dubos
observed:
The future is never an extrapolation of the past. Animals probably have no chance to escape
from the tyranny of biological evolution, but human beings are blessed with the freedom of
social evolution. For us, trend is not destiny. (New York Times, 10 November 1975, p. 35)
Trophic levels
Ecosystems can be characterised in terms of trophic levels, which describes the energy levels in
the system. At the lowest trophic level are plants, which are the primary producers. The energy of
the sun is transformed into the mass of the plant by the photosynthetic process, that most
fundamental of all life-giving processes; the light energy works on the carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere which is taken in by plants and combined with water, to yield carbohydrate (biomass)
and oxygen:
Light
6CO2 + 6H2O = C6H12O6 (carbohydrate) + 6O2
The conversion rate of the sunÕs energy is very low; less than two per cent of the energy arriving
on the Earth from the sun is converted to biomass energy.
At the second trophic level, this plant energy in turn is taken as food by vegetable eaters Ð the
herbivores Ð and again, there are huge energy losses in transformation; less than two per cent of
the energy embodied in the plant mass is converted to energy at herbivore level. At the third
trophic level, meat eaters Ð carnivores Ð eat the herbivores, and once more there is huge energy
loss in the transformation. This loss as one ascends trophic levels provides the practical impetus
behind the view that a vegetarian diet would allow the planet to sustain much larger populations
than a meat eating diet; the energy losses involved in transformation from the first to the third
trophic level are not incurred.
Of what relevance is this idea of trophic levels for cities? First, the simple photosynthetic process,
whereby carbon dioxide is taken from the atmosphere, combined with water, to produce plants,
and life sustaining oxygen, underpins the idea of parks, trees, and green spaces as ÔlungsÕ of the
city. In fact, the notion of such places as physical providers of oxygen per se is not especially
relevant; the sink of oxygen with which we have been endowed by planetary evolution is
sufficient to meet our needs without replenishment for hundreds of years. But the symmetry is of
powerful psychological import Ð we renew, we re-fresh.
The concept also provides an analogue to urban transport: the pedestrian and the cyclist are at the
first trophic level, the primary producers in energy efficiency terms. The various forms of
collective transport Ð bus, tram, light rail, metro Ð are at the second trophic level, while at the third
trophic level, equivalent to the carnivores, we find the private automobile, and the helicopter Ð
very energy consumptive and very resource demanding relative to the levels below. Under certain
26 conditions, they can be regarded as parasitic on the other trophic levels.
Towards an Analytical Framework
Succession, adaptation, diversity, stability
It has been observed that, whenever an area has been cleared of its existing vegetation, e.g. by fire,
by storm, or by human effort, if it is left Ôto natureÕ the area is colonised by a predictable
succession of plant and animal combinations, each of which prepares the way for what follows.
For example, in parts of northern Europe and the eastern US, whenever such clearance occurred,
the site would typically first be colonised by annual plants and associated insect and animal life.
These annuals would over time give way to perennials and shrubs. In time, they too would be
succeeded by pines. Oaks and other shade tolerant broadleaves would appear in the understorey
of the pines, and eventually become dominant, these broadleaves being characterised as the
climax species. And each stage in the colonisation process produced the conditions Ð in terms of
nutrients, drainage, shelter, shade and light etc. Ð which allow the succeeding stage to flourish.
There is considerable debate in ecological science as to how stable the climax is: in the example
above, once established, will the oak forest last forever, if it is undisturbed? This has proved very
difficult to answer definitively, because external shocks to every system, natural and human
(anthropogenic), keep occurring, and the time during which study of such systems has been
undertaken is too short to allow definitive conclusions to be drawn. A second debate in ecology
has to do with stability and diversity. The argument has been made that diversity of species and
systems will encourage stability, on the common sense basis that a monocultural ecosystem,
lacking diversity, will, if attacked Ð as for example in the case of the Dutch elm fungus disease
which has devastated populations of elms throughout the world Ð take much longer to recover than
an ecosystem with a wide variety of species at various ages. If this is true, then one would expect
the tropics, with the vast diversity of plant and animal species, to be more stable than the
monocultural ecosystems of the northern coniferous forest zone, where there is typically only one
or a few dominant trees species. But we know so little about the tropics that this case in favour of
diversity enhancing stability remains unproven.
There is a final hypothesis regarding the stability of indigenous or ÔnativeÕ species, versus exotics
which are imported. A plausible case can be made that indigenous species which have evolved
over hundreds of thousands of years and adapted to local pathogens and micro environments will
be less vulnerable to attack and devastation than ÔnewÕ species that have had no chance to evolve
immune and defensive reactions to predators. As in the diversity/stability case, the evidence to
support this hypothesis is weak.
Are there urban analogues to these themes? In regard to succession and climax, we observe certain
parallels. When a city is bombed, or otherwise cleared or abandoned, there is a sort of ecological
equivalent of succession. Low or zero rent activities commence Ð temporary or very low grade
housing ÔcolonisesÕ if there are no buildings left to colonise; if such do exist, very dense
occupation of existing buildings often takes place. Low level workshops and repair activities
appear, and the education level and social status of the residents is low. As the area matures, it can
go in two directions. In the first case, the original settlers and their economic activities can move
out, and have their place taken by new migrants Ð the characteristic succession pattern in many
residential neighbourhoods in the US, where English, German, Irish, Italian, African American
and Latino groups colonised particular neighbourhoods in overlapping succession. The second
succession pattern is for the area to be colonised by the relatively more affluent, who invest more,
and may redevelop an inner city area completely; this process is sometimes characterised as 27
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
ÔgentrificationÕ; rents increase, low rent paying activities get squeezed out and replaced by
activities which are willing and able to pay more. Mechanical workshop enterprises are replaced
by knowledge based activities. And many areas reach the equivalent of a Ôclimax vegetationÕ with
use combinations which maximise the potential of the site, and which endure until an external
shock, which may be the provision or elimination of infrastructure, disturbs the local ecosystem.
The diversity and stability debate in ecology has its analogue in the urban scene. Jane JacobÕs
seminal contributions can be regarded as an argument in favour of diversity, evolution and
consequent ÔdynamicÕ stability, as opposed to the garden city and other romantic interpretations
of urban life, which regarded single-use zoning and the imposition of order and a sort of
homogeneity as the way to maximise welfare.
Adaptation, niches, homeostasis, ecotones and cycles
Ecologists observe that the processes of evolution allow plants and animals to adapt to their
environments, and those which adapt ÔbestÕ are those which survive. And this process of
adaptation is continuous. This leads to each species having its own ÔnicheÕ Ð the range of
conditions and resource qualities within which an individual or species operates. And each niche
is unique for each species, and the preciseness of the fit does not allow other species to occupy
that niche. Observing a meadow, to the untutored eye, all looks relatively homogeneous. But for
an individual species of butterfly, the combination of habitat and food requirements are particular
and precise to them. If they are to survive and to thrive, the niche which meets their needs must
be maintained. Some species and individuals are more able than others to sustain external shocks
to the system; the ability of an individual to maintain internal conditions in the face of a varying
external environment is called homeostasis. The concept of ecotones describes the sharp
community boundaries we find in nature; the tree ÔlineÕ is well described as such, and we find
similarly rather sharp boundaries between forest and field, between differing types of ecosystems.
Amongst the most elegant discoveries of ecology is the fact that the worldÕs biological systems
work as cycles. The First Law of Thermodynamics tells us that matter is neither created or
destroyed; it may be transformed into solid, liquid or gaseous form, it may be transported, but it
is always with us.
Water is evaporated from the sea and other water bodies, and is transpired through plants, it forms
clouds and precipitates as rain or snow, runs off into groundwater reservoirs, rivers and lakes, and
thence to the sea. And so the hydrological cycle continues. But we always have the same amount
of freshwater. A similar continuous loop can be described for the cycles of: carbon, nitrogen,
phosphorus and sulphur.
There is an urban equivalent to the concept of adaptation: businesses, social life, buildings,
activities and individuals all adapt to change, and each activity finds its niche at a given point in
time. The corner shop, the specialist vegetable shop, the newsagent, and the fast food outlet all
find their niche mediated by the market; if their fitness is weakened through external change or
internal weakness or some combination, their niche is taken over by someone else. But in nature
there are also predator-prey adaptations called mutualism where for example, acacia trees shelter
ants and these ants in turn provide the tree with protection against insects. As noted in the
28 discussion of economic theory, it is the equivalent of this concept of mutualism coexisting with
Towards an Analytical Framework
competition which underlies agglomeration and the very existence of cities. Homeostasis, or the
ability to absorb and adapt to change, is likewise an urban characteristic, with some activities
being highly homeostatic, and able to adapt to dramatic external ÔshocksÕ, while other cultures and
businesses are not so robust.
Urban ecotones are well observed in cities. We find that a high income neighbourhood, with
expensive and exclusive houses, is located only two blocks from neighbourhoods which are
deprived and with low income housing. And economies of scale, labour pooling, knowledge
externalities all lead to clustering of like activities, and distinct boundaries between them,
although the technoburb phenomenon is blurring these edges somewhat.
The ecological footprint concept Ð whereby the total resource demands of a city are translated into
the land area Ð is interesting to apply to cities, but not especially useful from a policy point of
view. The ecological notion of cycles does not have an obvious analogue in cities. Because a
defining characteristic of cities is that they are large-scale importers and concentrators of
materials, and of people, and large-scale exporters of ideas and valued added products and
services. Without such large-scale transformations, a city ceases to have a raison dÕ•tre: if they do
not have a large footprint, they are not cities. But there is value in comparative analysis. For cities
of similar populations, climate and economic structure, it is useful to compare footprints, and to
assess how the city with the lower impact is achieving such relative parsimony.
The ecological footprint
To Canadian ecologist and planner William Rees is attributed the development of this concept
(EEA 1997, p. 72). It attempts to express in a vivid and ready-to-grasp manner the demand
which an individual, city or country places on the earthÕs ecological services. It involves adding
up all the land requirements for all categories of consumption and waste discharged by a given
population. The total area thus estimated represents the ecological footprint of this population.
On this basis, Wackernagel and Rees (1996) have estimated that the ecological footprint in
hectares for the US, Canada, India and the world are respectively 5.1, 4.3, 0.4 and 1.8. They
make the point that if India and China approach North American levels, then we would need
more than one planet to accommodate the pressures. London is estimated to have a footprint
amounting to 120 times its area (Robins 1995). There are great difficulties, both
methodological and empirical, in translating impact categories such as CO2 emissions, fossil
fuel use, paper consumption, fresh water use, fish consumption, etc. into the numeraire of land
area: estimates have very large margins of error.
Some Principles of Urban Infrastructure
1.
Stock dominates the flow.
The basic stock of urban infrastructure Ð what we have as an endowment from the past Ð is
enormous relative to the additions or deletions which can be effected in any one year or
decade.
29
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
This is why cities once established, hardly ever ÔdisappearÕ, and in fact tend to grow: the
endowment from the past always makes it cheaper to augment; this explains why the Ônew
townÕ and new city (e.g. Brasilia) concept has proved so marginal as a phenomenon of our
times; the set-up costs from a tabula rasa situation canÕt compete with the incremental cost
of expanding an existing settlement.
2.
There is mutual interdependence.
Each form of infrastructure depends for its full functioning on the character and quality of
other forms; transport, housing, retail services, supply of water and waste disposal, all
depend on each other for their vitality and viability. It is the concentration of infrastructure
and this process of mutual reinforcement which gives cities their social and economic raison
dÕ•tre.
3.
Emerging technologies shape the infrastructural stock at the margin, but rarely make
an existing infrastructural endowment ÔpermanentlyÕ redundant.
The highways along which chariots and coaches drove provide the skeletons of the modern
highways; the early mosques and Christian churches still comprise places of veneration
and/or of historic interest. The hospitals and prisons of past centuries are today utilised as
museums, galleries.
4.
But changes in technology do stimulate the evolution of forms of infrastructure.
Transport provides a good example, as the table demonstrates.
Table 2. Infrastructural responses to developments in transport technology
30
Transport technology
Infrastructural response
wheeled vehicles
smooth(er) roads and tracks, coach houses
sailing ships
harbours
canal construction
locks, inland harbours
steam ships
larger harbours
steam trains
rail tracks, stations
trams
tram tracks, electric lines, stations
combustion engine
highways, fuelling and service stations
airline Ð propeller
runways (short), airports (small)
airline Ð jet engine
runways, airports
hydrofoil
larger harbours
Advances in technology are the driving force in the evolution of infrastructure, and tend to
come in bursts.
Towards an Analytical Framework
Some fundamental breakthroughs in technology are as follows, in approximate order of
occurrence:
combustion engine
electricity
telegram
radio
telephone
nuclear power
TV
jet engine
microchip computers
satellite broadcasting
worldwide web
5.
Every generation for the past 100 years has imagined that it is the subject of
unprecedented innovation and technological change.
Surprise at innovation is perhaps one of our oldest traditions. But perhaps the generation
which experienced the introduction of electricity, the combustion engine and the telegram
can claim to be the most affected by new technologies and associated infrastructures.
6.
Each technology initially provides a relatively high cost, low volume good or service.
Technologies that succeed serve a human need, achieve economies of scale and
continued innovation, leading simultaneously to increased ease of use and unit cost
reduction. This ensures that the technology becomes pervasive.
The limousine for the very rich is followed by the Model T Ford for the Ôcommon manÕ. The
very large, cumbersome and high cost computers have been superseded by computers which
combine lower costs, improved performance and increasing ease of use.
7.
The creativity and effectiveness with which infrastructure is used depends on the
character and quality of the other forms of capital, and the quality of management with
which they are combined.
Infrastructure is a form of made capital; it is only useful when combined with other forms
of capital Ð human, including social and institutional capital, natural and environmental.
Human capital refers to the skills embodied in a society. At the most fundamental level, the
ability to read, to write, to conceptualise, to compile evidence and to act on its implications,
all simultaneously influence both the character of infrastructure which a society chooses to
provide, and the manner and effectiveness with which it is used.
Social capital and institutional capital are sub-sets of human capital. The former comprises
the capacities and willingness of societies to co-operate, to foster and encourage enterprise,
to help those in physical or psychological distress, to uphold the rule of law, and in general
describes the cultural reflexes or ÔgivensÕ of a society. The latter comprises the laws, the 31
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
formal and informal institutional mechanisms for facilitating transactions and mediating
conflict.
Natural capital describes those natural endowments which can be, and typically are,
appropriated and transacted in markets - for example, land, food, minerals, energy resources.
Environmental capital comprises those facets of our natural existence which we somehow
share in common, which are not easily or typically appropriated and transacted in markets.
Examples include: the air mantle, the oceans, the upper atmosphere, that open space, forests
and water to which the citizenry as a whole have right of access, the aesthetic dimension Ð
landscapes and vistas Ð of our natural and built endowments.
8.
Infrastructure is adapted and utilised by each generation in fashions which reflect the
priorities, values and capacities of its time.
For example, Desmond Castle was built in Kinsale, Co. Cork, Ireland in 1500 to protect the
town in exchange for the grant of customs duties. This use continued to 1641, at which point
it was turned into a prison. In the Great Famine period of the mid 1800s, it was used as a
famine workhouse, and today serves as a wine museum and tourist attraction.
32
Chapter 4
Forms of Infrastructure and How They
Influence Well-being
In the Global Report on Human Settlements 1996 (UN Centre for Human Settlements Ð
HABITAT, 1996) the term Ôinfrastructure and servicesÕ is applied to environmental infrastructure
(mainly water supply, waste water treatment and disposal, solid waste management and disposal)
and transport and communications (including telecommunications). Housing and social
infrastructure are treated separately. Cultural and recreational infrastructure Ð theatres, playing
fields, parks, etc. Ð are not overtly treated. I adopt the HABITAT taxonomy, with a particular focus
on communication and transport.
Communication
The key to the information revolution is the vastly increased capacity to transmit information, and
specifically the ability to link the computer to telephone lines, and download from the former to
the latter, and to do so cheaply and efficiently. The implications of this capacity to link computing
capacities is indeed revolutionary; for an increasing range of activities, it is not the geography of
location which determines access, but the quality of the telephone and associated computer
linkages, and the availability of skills to use them. Electronic mail allows the instantaneous
transmission of text, data, graphics between those who are connected. Thus, we observe the rapid
dispersion of Ôback officeÕ service facilities in travel, insurance, financial services etc. to locations
where a combination of labour costs and skills, tax rates and high quality telecommunication
linkages exist. Any work which can be done telephonically and/or by computer is spatially
independent from consumers and producers. But to ride this communications revolution
satisfactorily requires the right infrastructure:
¥
a high quality digital telephone exchange and digital connections between telephones and
computers make connections cheaper and easier
33
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
¥
cables made of fibre optics which increase the capacity of phone lines, lower the costs of
data transmission, and allow transmission of pictures
¥
computers and modems (the interface between computers and telephone lines) that are fast,
efficient and affordable
¥
management and pricing of infrastructure services that is competitive and is based on real
costs Ð the costs of an international call (as opposed to what is typically charged for it) will
become as cheap as a local call
¥
Skills in installing and maintaining the above infrastructure, and managing it, and skills in
using the new communications media to their full potential.
The implications for cities of this new infrastructure are manifold, but we are in such early stages
of the process that the precise ÔfutureÕ implied is difficult to discern, recalling the observation by
Arthur OÕSullivan: ÔAn economic forecaster is like a cross-eyed javelin thrower; he doesnÕt win
many accuracy contests, but he keeps the crowdÕs attention.Õ
But a few reflections on what we think we know:
34
¥
Although the pervasiveness of communication capacity is potentially democratising and
spatially liberating, the information of real economic import to which there is access is still
tightly held in the so-called Ôcommand centresÕ such as London, Paris, Tokyo, and in
transnational firms.
¥
Associated with this revolution in information and data flows is the growing influence of
transnational corporations. Their capacity to use the world as their stage is enhanced by their
ability to communicate.
¥
In spite of the enhanced capacity to communicate across space, thus far it seems to be the
case that the knowledge industries benefit from the knowledge transfers associated with
physical closeness, i.e. from agglomeration.
¥
the potential for working from home Ð the telecottage Ð and home shopping is beginning to
be realised on a small scale, but is still not radically affecting number or nature of trips to
work, or general shopping patterns. However, Ôgetting out of the houseÕ is still likely to be a
social imperative, and the trip to work and the shop may be replaced by other journeys.
¥
To the extent that job and shopping are no longer tied to a specific place, it is likely that those
employed Ð especially those with scarce skills Ð will only locate in places which are
physically, socially and culturally interesting, and where crime and other pathological
behaviour is at an acceptable level.
¥
The communications sector has not yet ÔmaturedÕ; there is still a high degree of innovation,
and this implies that infrastructure needs will have to be continuously kept under review.
Forms of Infrastructure and How They Influence Well-being
Innovation in communications
Northern Telecom of Canada and United Utilities Plc of the UK claim to have developed the
technology to allow data to be sent over electricity wires. This would cut the costs for new startup telephone companies, by converting existing electricity networks into information-access
networks, allowing companies to avoid relying on the existing telecom companies to provide
access to homes. If the technology works, existing telecoms companies who have monopoly
telephonic access to homes will have to write down their assets by billions of pounds.
Source: Bloomberg News (1997), p. 17.
For cities then, the first imperative is to have the infrastructure and appropriate management in
place. ÔIf youÕre not in, you canÕt win.Õ The second imperative is to ensure that most of the
citizenry have access to it. The isolation which some deprived communities feel with regard to
access to transport, education, housing employment will be accentuated and deepened if they also
lack access to information itself. Seattle in the NW US is a wealthy and progressive city1. It made
a strategic decision to ensure that the city was fully invested with fibre optic cable, both to ensure
the cityÕs continuing competitiveness, and also to ensure that home shopping and the use of
telecommunications generally would be widely used, so as to reduce the number of car trips and
the associated traffic congestion and pollution.
Transport
In an earlier chapter, the origins of cities as points of transfer, located at key transport
interconnections and nodes, was touched upon. This role of the city as a concentrator of talent, of
goods and services, depends for its essence on an ability to connect readily with the hinterland and
the ÔouterÕ world, and on the ability to move people, goods and services within the urban area.
Thus transport infrastructure is fundamental. Cities wishing to maintain and enhance their place
in the world must keep investing in such infrastructure. A coastal city without the capacity to
accommodate roll-on roll-off cargo at competitive rates, with the associated road infrastructure,
will forego economic activity in freight sensitive sectors. A large city without a modern airport
with sufficient capacity to handle traffic efficiently and safely, at competitive cost, will not easily
compete for international tourists, and for very high value transnational trade. A city without a
good internal transport system, which allows people to move relatively easily and safely across
the city, will experience diminished quality of life, and the economy will suffer as people waste
potentially productive time travelling, and as the potential for any employer to draw on the cityÕs
entire labour pool is thwarted by congestion.
Where provision of ports, airports and intercity road linkages is concerned, until recently most
European cities have succeeded in maintaining and enhancing performance. This has been
achieved in part because these facilities generate funds, which can be used to finance investment,
and they tend to be governed with a degree of autonomy which allows decisions to be taken and
acted upon with reasonable efficiency and expedition. This situation may be changing: the most
recent proposals to expand airports in a number of cities Ð Athens, Manchester, Tokyo Ð have
generated a degree of opposition and controversy, mainly on the narrow environmental grounds
1
It is the headquarters of the Microsoft, Boeing Aircraft and Musak corporations.
35
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
of loss of amenity and environmental endowments, but also on the wider strategic consideration
that infinite growth Ð such as seems to be symbolised by continuous airport expansions Ð cannot
be sustainable. Port expansions are encountering some opposition, on the basis of further infill of
diminishing wetlands, but so far such opposition has proved to be less vocal.
Within the city, intra-urban challenges are much more contentious, as a result of the challenge
posed by the automobile. This provides unparalleled mobility to the individual driver so long as
roads are not congested. But when car numbers exceed a certain threshold, congestion increases,
and eventually can approach gridlock conditions.
The gasoline use per inhabitant is one indicator of degree of car dependence. The well-known data
from Newman and Kenworthy (1989) illustrates the enormous disparities in gasoline consumption
per person for cities at approximately the same stage in economic development. Australian city
consumption per person is half that of US cities, while European cities are half the Australian
levels, and one-quarter the levels of the US. Consumption in Asian cities in turn is about one-half
that of Europe, or one-eighth that of the US.
Table 3. Gasoline use per person, by city
City
North America
Houston
Phoenix
Detroit
Denver
Los Angeles
Australia
Perth
Brisbane
Melbourne
Gasoline use
(000s MJ per person)
75
70
66
63
58
33
31
29
City
Europe
Hamburg
Stockholm
London
Copenhagen
Amsterdam
Asia
Tokyo
Singapore
Hong Kong
Gasoline use
(000s MJ per person)
17
16
12
11
9
8
6
2
Source: Newman and Kenworthy (1989) cited in EF (1995c) p. 105.
There are two broad approaches to the emergence of the automobile as the primary shaper of
urban space: the first is to accommodate the car by facilitating urban sprawl, and the associated
service infrastructure Ð the ÔtechnoburbsÕ become the city. This is the Houston/Los Angeles
model; it is highly consumptive of land and energy per person, and generates relatively high levels
of auto-related pollution. But it does ÔworkÕ economically Ð Houston is reported to have over
71,000 millionaires in 1996, and the economy continues to prosper. But if every city in the world
were to attempt to emulate this model, the implications for planetary well being in regard to
elevated greenhouse gasses and higher energy prices would impose large costs, and could prove
to be catastrophic; with regard to the cities themselves, the costs for congestion and for air quality
would also be very high. The suburbanising model also depends on availability of land.
The second model is to design for alternatives to the automobile, such that car travel within the
city is minimised. Amongst the larger European cities, Copenhagen provides an interesting model
36
Forms of Infrastructure and How They Influence Well-being
in this regard. Over a 20-year period, car ingress into the city has gradually been reduced, and a
range of attractive alternatives have taken their place, including cycle lanes, pedestrianisation,
efficient and cheap collective transport, and musicians and other forms of street entertainment
have been encouraged to avail of the car free streets. At the same time, the use of the car has
become more expensive and more difficult; demand management in the form of escalating
parking fees has reduced the attractiveness of driving to the city and parking all day. Land-use
planning and infrastructure decisions have reinforced and supported the transport policy.
Numerous other cities in Europe have introduced other forms of car restraint including the
absolute banning of cars in some districts, and allowing only ÔoddÕ and ÔevenÕ car registrations into
specified zones on alternate days. Cities which have a historic core the conservation of which is
an important policy imperative, and which lack a large hinterland to expand onto, donÕt seem to
have a choice: either they adopt some version of the Copenhagen model, or they face gridlock,
rising congestion and pollution costs, and diminishing economic prospects as tourism,
knowledge-led industry and other amenity-led economic activity are impaired by external costs,
and deglomeration.
Managing congestion
It is likely that a Ôtechnical fixÕ will emerge which allows the physical pollution problems to be
addressed. The (almost) Ôpollution-freeÕ car is likely to become a reality, and regulation can insist
that over time it be used. What is not amenable to such a technical fix is the problem of congestion
Ð too many cars in too few spaces. In most cases, the provision of more road space is only a
temporary solution, as the number of cars grows to fill the available road space. Indirect pricing
Ð in the form of very expensive car parking Ð can be used to control car numbers as in
Copenhagen. But economists have long argued for a more direct use of prices to ration the
available space. Singapore has pioneered the use of zoned pricing, where very high charges are
assessed to enter particular zones at peak times. The future in this regard seems likely to lie in
laser systems, where cars are electronically tagged when they enter high congestion-prone areas
at peak times, and the motorist is charged accordingly. Trondheim is experimenting with such a
system at present. It seems likely that the cities which most effectively manage congestion are
most likely to maintain a robust economy, including the quality of life aspects which are most
important to maintaining competitiveness in growth sectors of the economy. The key prerequisites
for managing congestion include provision of attractive alternatives to the automobile; integration
of all of the relevant policy instruments Ð land-use planning and zoning, public investment
decisions, tax and regulatory policies Ð and the hypothecation of any revenues arising from
congestion charges to support related investment and services such as collective transport.
The issue of scale in regard to transport infrastructure is addressed in a subsequent chapter.
Environmental services
These include water supply and waste water treatment, and collection, disposal and treatment of
solid waste.
Cities have one great advantage regarding such infrastructure Ð economies of scale. Density of
population is a key variable reducing unit costs. Once the infrastructure is in place, the marginal
cost of providing additional water, additional waste treatment, additional solid waste collection 37
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
and disposal is lower than in one-off houses in the countryside, or in smaller communities
generally. These economies of scale operate at the level of both infrastructure provision and
management.
The costs of meeting modern waste water standards are considerable: In the EU, funding via the
Cohesion Fund has been made available to help the ÔCohesionÕ countries Ð Greece, Ireland,
Portugal and Spain Ð to meet high treatment standards for waste water (mainly sewage) and the
costs of compliance have been estimated as follows.
Table 4. Estimated total capital and per capita costs of meeting EU waste water requirements,
over 10 years
Population
(millions)
ECU per capita
Total capital costs
(ECU million)
Greece
10.370
231
2,400
Ireland
3.560
267
950
Portugal
9.887
114
1,130
Spain
39.080
117
4,580
Total
62.897
144
9,060
Source: Derived from Amber (1993).
Comparable costs will have to be met by Central and Eastern European states to meet EU
standards.
Table 5. Additional costs to achieve harmonisation with the EC Urban Waste Water Directive
Country
Amount per capita (ECU)
Hungary
319
Bulgaria
328
Romania
314
Slovakia
231
Source: WRC (1993, pp. 102, 103, 104).
The marginal costs of treatment rise sharply with increasing degree of treatment, so that as cities
demand higher and higher standards, there is a disproportionate increase in costs in order to meet
such standards:
38
Forms of Infrastructure and How They Influence Well-being
Table 6. Marginal costs of waste water treatment ($ per kg, BOD removed)
Treatment
Total cost
Marginal cost
Primary treatment
0.55
0.04
Chemically enhanced primary treatment
0.59
0.14
Primary precipitation plant
0.73
0.27
Primary and biological treatment (low load)
1.00
0.00
Biological and chemical treatment
1.00
0.00
Biological/chemical treatment with de-nitratisation
1.45
0.45
Source: Somlyody (1995), p.46.
Schematically, the marginal cost curve is as follows:
0.5
0.4
$/kg
0.3
0.2
0.1
Primary Treatment
Biological/Chemical &
de-nitratisation
Water supply and sewage disposal
Perhaps the defining means of dividing cities into ÔdevelopedÕ and ÔdevelopingÕ is the availability
of infrastructure to provide water supply and sewage collection, disposal and treatment, and the
resources to operate it effectively. In the European Union, this infrastructure is generally in place
for provision of safe water supply, and sewage collection. Investment is required in some cities to
improve water quality, and to reduce the extent of losses in the distribution systems Ð which in
some cases is of the order of 50 per cent Ð but supplies generally are adequate and safe to use.
Water consumption is an income-elastic good, which is to say, as incomes grow, people tend to
consume more, as dishwashers, showers, baths, swimming pools, lawn sprinklers, jacuzzis and the
like become financially feasible. Without effective rationing, the increased demand can put
pressure on supplies, leading to requirements for some combination of more dams, reservoirs and
disturbance of natural water systems, or over-exploitation of groundwater systems, thereby
extending the cityÕs environmental ÔfootprintÕ to exploit assets outside its jurisdiction.
Charging for water which reflects the long run marginal costs of supply is a key pre-requisite for
effective management, and for stabilising or even reducing per capita consumption. Most cities in
the EU apply charges, but for many the levels are too low to reflect costs fully, and to induce
consumers to conserve. Irish cities are the limiting case of this phenomenon, where households
are entirely exempt from water charges Ð it is free. Some years ago, a long period of drought
resulted in Athens approaching a crisis in water supply. A rapidly ascending scale of water charges
was introduced, which allowed essential needs to be met at relatively low charges, but which 39
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
imposed draconian charges for water use above this minimum; this reduced consumption to the
point sufficiently that the crisis was averted.
Waste water disposal and treatment sometimes impose amenity losses Ð as when sewage is
pumped into the sea without treatment Ð but there is no substantive evidence of negative health
effects. The investments now being undertaken to comply with the Urban Wastewater Directive
will improve the situation in this regard. The infrastructure consists of reservoirs (surface waters)
or groundwater supplies, piping, treatment plants, and disposal systems. A key challenge facing
some coastal cities in the EU after 1998 will be the disposal of sewage sludge, which heretofore
has been dumped at sea, but which now must be disposed of on land. Finding suitable locations
for such disposal will pose challenges equivalent to that faced in the Netherlands by the Ômanure
mountainÕ.
In most cities in developing countries, supply of basic infrastructure and treatment fall further and
further behind the demand of a burgeoning population, and health problems related to water
contamination are widespread. A variety of approaches are being developed to address this
widening gap, including the development of less expensive approaches to collection and
treatment. There is clearly potential to make progress, because the Ôwillingness to payÕ for quality
water is very high relative to incomes, which implies that financing of supply should be feasible
with the proper institutional and financing mechanisms.
In regard to domestic solid waste, the distinction between ÔdevelopedÕ and ÔdevelopingÕ is less
stark. There are a number of examples of cities in developing countries which have high collection
and recycling rates, the success based in part on the fact that lower incomes make scavenging and
re-use more feasible financially. The main infrastructure comprises recycling facilities, sorting
centres, and disposal facilities: the options in regard to the latter are land fill sites, and incineration
facilities. In both cases, they comprise activities which are regarded by those living nearby as very
undesirable neighbours; proposals to locate a land fill or an incineration facility always generate
opposition of the NIMBY (not in my back yard) type.
Cultural and Recreational Infrastructure
The Agora or market place was the place where transactions and social interactions took place,
where the transfers of knowledge, culture, where the energy and agglomeration which justified the
city and earned its keep were manifest. This notion of a physical space generating economic,
social and cultural synergy still informs our view of urban open and recreational space, even
where the electronic market has taken over some of the traditional trading functions. And the
temple, church, mosque and synagogue are places where worshippers come together, and many
have also been built to transcend human scale and to literally climb to the sky.
Most of the capital cities of Europe were at one time capitals of empire, and the monumental
accretions of empire Ð palaces, artefacts in great museums, commemorative statuary Ð are an
important endowment from the past, which in general add character and dignity; cities without
such enrichments are at a competitive disadvantage with regard to creating a sense of identity and
of place, and in attracting tourists and amenity-sensitive economic activity. The smaller cities of
empire also benefited from the wealth and diversity of cultural exposure and experience which
40 colonial experience conferred.
Forms of Infrastructure and How They Influence Well-being
We observe that newer cities of wealth which lack such adornments from the past create them in
the present; the opera house in Sydney, the Getty gallery outside Los Angeles, and the
Guggenheim in Bilbao are contemporary examples.
For poorer cities in developing countries, generating sufficient wealth to conserve and manage
existing assets is a challenge. Even where, as for example in Cairo, the endowment is an essential
prerequisite of sustainable tourism, the pressing needs of providing clean water, minimum food
and health requirements, etc., make it difficult to maintain a rich inheritance from the past. Even
relatively rich cities and countries which are particularly rich in assets, but which are very
expensive to maintain, such as Venice and Athens, can find providing minimum maintenance a
struggle. But the greatest problem lies with poor cities which never had a distinguished
endowment from the past. They have nothing to protect, and they donÕt have the resources to
create cultural drama anew.
Educational Infrastructure
Cities are home to universities; these provide the skills needed to allow enterprise to expand, they
provide a culture of innovation, they supply an ÔatmosphereÕ which helps attract mobile capital.
And, as the European Commission says in Towards an urban agenda in the European Union,
(EC 1997c):
The capacity of cities to innovate tends to lie at the heart of a regionÕs success. Some of the
most successful regions are dominated by urban areas with clusters of top quality research
and technological development facilities Ð both public and private Ð interlinked to an
enterprise culture wedded to innovation. (p. 9)
Universities are an essential concomitant to the evolution of what are characterised as
ÔtechnopolesÕ by Castells and Hall (1994). These are areas which are somehow Ôcutting edgeÕ in
their growth and character Ð such as Silicon Valley in Northern California, Cambridge in England,
Route 128 outside Boston, C™te dÕAzur and Montpellier, Tsukuba, Japan. These technopoles are
shaped and facilitated by the technological revolution in information technologies, by the
globalisation of economic processes, and by the emergence of knowledge, innovation-led growth,
which is characterised by new organisational forms, including horizontal networks, flexible
specialisation rather than standardised mass production, and where there is Ôlearning by doingÕ
rather than learning Ôfrom the manual,Õ all nourished by the university. It is also notable that they
emerge for the most part in congenial physical and cultural environments. Your average computer
nerd and information age geek may not want to get out much, but he tends to like Ôgreen and
cleanÕ; Seattle, the home of Bill Gates and Microsoft (as well as of Boeing and the Musak
Corporations....), markets its high quality physical and natural environment as its leading asset in
the global market place.
41
Chapter 5
The Importance of Scale
As the population and economies of cities grow, new forms of infrastructure become viable, and
in some cases essential, if the city is to function and to prosper. In addition to generating the
potential for agglomeration economies which was noted earlier as the core economic explanation
and rationale for cities, the concentration of people and activity in one place also provide scope
for capturing great economies of scale in the provision and use of infrastructure.
The capital and operating costs per person of provision of collective transport and provision of
road infrastructure, domestic sewage and solid waste collection and treatment, and
communications infrastructure such as fibre optics cabling and digital telephone networks all
decline as urban populations and economies grow. As infrastructure is installed to take advantage
of these economies of scale, this in turn reinforces the comparative advantage of the city as a locus
of economic activity. And it is not simply capital cost or capital reductions. Maintenance and
management costs are also lower, and this can translate into better quality of service.
I conducted a short survey of urban experts in the 15 Member States of the European Union to
assess the extent of infrastructure provision in the top 50 cities with regard to transport
infrastructure, and specifically the following: motorway fully or partially circling the city; full or
partial metro; full or partial light rail; many or few cycle lanes. The responses are summarised in
Table 7. The following comments can be made.
Only 10 of the 50 cities (population in millions in the functional urban region in parentheses) Ð
Birmingham (3.0), Bari (1.7), Seville (1.4), Palermo (1.4), Dublin (1.4), Bordeaux (1.1 Ð but it is
under construction), Florence (0.9), Edinburgh (0.8), Nice (0.6), Cardiff (0.6) Ð have neither a
metro (full or partial) or light rail (full or partial). Of course other issues, notably density and per
capita income, are also explanatory variables in this regard.
43
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Motorways
Every city except Edinburgh and Nice (47th and 49th respectively in population ranking) has a
full or partial motorway circling the city. It appears that a functional urban area of about 0.5
million and above is associated in the EU with a full or partial motorway.
But only 16 of the EUÕs top 50 cities have a motorway fully circling the city, and there is a scale
effect. Of the bottom 25 cities (beginning with Bari (1.7 million)), only four cities Ð Seville (1. 4
million), Nantes (1.4 million), Malaga (1.0 million) and Saragossa (the smallest at 0.9 million) Ð
have full motorways, while six of the top 10 cities Ð Paris (10.1 million), London (9.0 million),
Madrid (4.8 million), Barcelona (4.6 million), Rome (3.9 million) and Milan (3.9 million) Ð do
so.
Metro
There is a very strong scale effect regarding provision of metro, with only Naples in the top 10
cities not having a full or partial metro system. Of the bottom 25 cities, only five cities have a full
or partial metro system: Vienna (full), Marseille (full), Lille (full), Stockholm (full), and Helsinki
(partial). Helsinki (0.8 million) is the smallest city with a metro system (though this population is
probably understated as it does not embrace the full functional urban region (FUR).
Light rail
There is potential for some confusion as to distinctions, if any, between light rail, trams and
regular trains. In some German cities for example, there is a dense network of regular lines in
place, which partially fulfils the functions of a ÔmodernÕ light rail system. There are also city trams
that also function in part as a light rail system, as in the case of Helsinki. The scope for confusion
and ambiguities is such that caution is required in interpreting the data in this section.
The scale effect is less pronounced in the case of light rail than it is in the case of metro. While
most of the large cities do have a light rail, smaller cities also have invested.
Of the top 10 cities, only Paris and London have not invested in light rail; the eight which have
are Madrid (full), Barcelona (full), Brussels (partial), Rome (partial), Milan (full), Lisbon (full),
Naples (partial) and Athens (full).
Of the bottom 25 cities, 10 have invested in light rail. These are Vienna (full), Seville (partial),
Nantes (partial), Marseilles (partial), Essen (partial), Malaga (partial), Saragossa (partial), Genoa
(partial), Strasbourg (full), and Helsinki (full). Light rail is under construction in Bordeaux.
Cycle lanes
The largest and the smallest cities tend not to invest at all in cycle lanes. Only six cities Ð
Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Vienna, Stockholm and Strasbourg Ð have invested in many
cycle lanes. Most others have partial networks, but a significant number (18) have not invested to
any significant extent. These are: Paris, London, Rome, Lisbon, Naples, Turin, Valencia, Lyon,
44 Bari, Seville, Palermo, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille, Saragossa, Genoa, Toulouse, and Nice.
The Importance of Scale
Table 7. Population and transport infrastructure, 50 major cities in Europe
City
Population Motorway Motorway
(millions) circling
partially
(1981)
city
circling city
Full
metro
Partial
metro
Full
light
rail
Partial
light
rail
Many
cycle
lanes
Few
cycle
lanes
1
Paris
10.1
✓
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
✗
✓
2
London
9.0
✓
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
3
Madrid
4.8
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
4
Barcelona
4.6
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
5
Brussels
4.1
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
6
Rome
3.9
✓
✗
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
7
Milan
3.9
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
8
Lisbon
3.8
✗
✓
✓
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
9
Naples
3.6
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✓
10
Athens
3.5
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
11
Berlin
3.4
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
12
Birmingham
3.0
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
13
Hamburg
2.8
✗
✓
✗
✓
✓
✗
✗
✓
14
Munich
2.7
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
15
Amsterdam
2.5
✓
✗
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
16
Stuttgart
2.4
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
17 Frankfurt
2.3
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
18
2.1
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✓
19 Valencia
2.1
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
20
Manchester
2.0
✓
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
21
Cologne
2.0
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
22
Oporto
2.0
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✓
23
Lyon
1.9
✗
✓
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
24
Copenhagen
1.9
✓
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
25
Rotterdam
1.8
✓
✗
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
26
Bari
1.7
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
27
Vienna
1.5
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
28
Antwerp
1.5
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✓
Turin
continued on next page 45
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
City
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Glasgow
Liverpool
Leeds
Seville
Palermo
Dublin
Nantes
Marseilles
Essen
Bordeaux
Lille
Stockholm
Malaga
Saragossa
Florence
Genoa
Strasbourg
Helsinki
Edinburgh
Toulouse
Nice
Cardiff
Population Motorway Motorway
(millions) circling
partially
(1981)
city
circling city
Full
metro
Partial
metro
Full
light
rail
Partial
light
rail
Many
cycle
lanes
Few
cycle
lanes
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✓
✓
✓
✗
✗
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✗
✗
✗
✗
✓
✓
✓
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✓
✗
✗
✗
✓
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✓
✗
✗
✓
1.5
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.3
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.6
✓
✓
✓
✗
✓
✓
✗
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✗
✗
✓
✓
✓
✓
✗
✓
✗
✓
Note: The population data for all cities except Helsinki, Stockholm and Vienna comprise the functional urban
region, and are included in Cheshire and Hay (1988). For Helsinki, Stockholm and Vienna, the data are
taken from the information provided in the call for tender re Urban Audit by the European Commission;
the data include the Ôwider territorial units, including adjoining local authorities areas (NUTS 5 level) with
more than 500 people per square kilometreÕ. The information on transport infrastructure is drawn from a
survey by the author. I am grateful to the following for providing the information for their respective
countries: David Ludlow, Faculty of the Built Environment, UWE (UK); Adriana Dai Cin, Plan and Design
S.A.L. (Spain); George Tsekouras, Enviplan (Greece); Maria Berrini, Ambiente Italia srl. (Italy); Wolf
Werdigier, BŸro fŸr Urbanistik (Austria); Etienne Christiaens, iris consulting (Belgium); Kari Rauhala,
VTT (Finland); Armand Dutz, B & S.U. (Germany); Claude Chaline, University of Paris XII (France);
Manuel da Costo Lobo, CESUR (Portugal); Ulf Troedson, Boverket (Sweden); Jan Vogelij, Zandvoort
Ordening & Advies, BV (Netherlands). Errors of interpretation or of fact are mine alone.
46
The Importance of Scale
Table 8. Motorways infrastructure by city and country
Country
Motorway circling city
Motorway partially circling city
Austria
Ð
Graz, Vienna
Belgium
Ð
Brussels, Antwerp
Denmark
Copenhagen
Ð
Finland
none
Helsinki
France
Paris, Nantes
Marseilles, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice,
Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Lille
Ireland
Ð
Dublin
Germany
Ð
Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne,
Frankfurt, Essen, Leipzig, Dresden
Greece
Ð
Athens, Thessalonika, Patras
Italy
Rome, Milan
Naples, Turin, Palermo, Genoa,
Florence, Bari
Netherlands
Amsterdam, Rotterdam
Ð
Portugal
Ð
Lisbon, Oporto, Braga
Spain
Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia,
Seville, Saragossa, Malaga
Ð
Sweden
Ð
Stockholm, Goteborg
UK
London, Birmingham,
Manchester
Leeds, Glasgow, Bradford,
Liverpool, Cardiff
Table 9. Metro systems infrastructure by city and country
Country
Full metro
Partial metro
Austria
Vienna
Ð
Belgium
Ð
Brussels
Denmark
Ð
Ð
Finland
Ð
Helsinki
France
Paris, Marseilles, Lyon,
Toulouse, Lille
Ð
Germany
Berlin, Munich
Hamburg, Cologne
Greece
Athens
Thessalonika
Ireland
Ð
Ð
Italy
Milan
Rome
Netherlands
Ð
Amsterdam, Rotterdam
Portugal
Lisbon
Ð
Spain
Madrid, Barcelona
Ð
Sweden
Stockholm
Ð
UK
London
Glasgow
47
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Table 10. Light Rail infrastructure by city and country
Country
Full light rail or tram
Partial light rail
Austria
Vienna, Graz
Ð
Belgium
Ð
Brussels (tram)
Denmark
Copenhagen
Ð
Finland
Helsinki (tram system)
Ð
France
Strasbourg
Marseilles, Nantes, Bordeaux
(under construction)
Germany
Berlin, Hamburg, Munich,
Frankfurt, Stuttgart
Cologne, Essen, Leipzig, Dresden
Greece
Athens
Ð
Ireland
Ð
Ð
Italy
Milan
Rome, Naples, Turin, Genoa
Netherlands
Amsterdam, Rotterdam
Ð
Portugal
Ð
Lisbon, Oporto
Spain
Madrid, Barcelona
Valencia, Seville, Saragossa, Malaga
Sweden
Goteborg
Ð
UK
Manchester
Ð
Table 11. Cycle lanes infrastructure by city and country
48
Country
Many cycle lanes
Few cycle lanes
Austria
Vienna, Graz
Ð
Belgium
Ð
Antwerp, Brussels
Denmark
Copenhagen
Ð
Finland
Ð
Helsinki
France
Strasbourg
Marseilles, Toulouse
Germany
Stuttgart, Cologne, Essen,
Leipzig
Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt,
Dresden
Greece
Ð
Athens, Thessalonika, Patras
Ireland
Ð
Dublin
Italy
Ð
Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo,
Genoa, Florence
Netherlands
Amsterdam, Rotterdam
Ð
Portugal
Ð
Oporto
Spain
Ð
Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga
Sweden
Stockholm, Goteborg
Ð
UK
Ð
Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow,
Liverpool, Edinburgh, Manchester,
Cardiff
The Importance of Scale
Conclusions
There are pronounced scale effects influencing the provision of transport infrastructure, with a
tendency for the largest cities to be most fully provided with motorways and metro. The pattern
holds also in regard to light rail, but is less pronounced. And there are very striking variations
within this broad pattern. In addition to scale, as reflected in demography, this will reflect income
levels, geography Ð defined to mean the extent to which lateral expansion is feasible Ð and cultural
preferences and norms. To the extent that the latter can be associated with nationality, it can be
noted that:
¥
UK and Irish cities invest very sparingly in metro and light rail. Birmingham (3.0 million),
Liverpool (1.4 million), Leeds (1.4 million), Dublin (1.4 million) and Edinburgh (0.7
million) have neither.
¥
Spanish cities invest heavily in motorways circling the city, even when the cities seem quite
small in an EU context. Saragossa (0.9 million), Malaga (0.9 million), and Seville (1.4
million) are outliers in an EU context.
¥
Italian cities do not invest significantly in cycle lanes, but there are beginnings in this regard.
¥
There is a pronounced enthusiasm for investment to support cyclists in nordic, Austrian and
Dutch cities.
¥
Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Vienna have invested in many cycle
lanes, as has Strasbourg.
49
Chapter 6
Creating and Managing Urban
Infrastructure
The role of infrastructure in creating comparative advantage is well known. Without good access
transport, without good internal networks, without modern communications, waste collection and
treatment, a city will lose enterprise. In the global market place, financial and human capital
moves to those locations where the combination of factors of production, including in particular
those which provide access, production cost, human skill and quality of life benefits, are most
competitive. In this context, infrastructure has been a continuing central preoccupation for
EuropeÕs leading cities, and innovation is a constant stimulus to performance, as illustrated in
Table 12 overleaf.
The phenomenon of inter-city rivalry can be observed most tellingly in regard to Rotterdam and
Antwerp. They compete for the lead as EuropeÕs main entry point. An innovation by one is
followed quickly by a Ôcatch upÕ by the other. If they donÕt compete and innovate, they will
decline. Up to 10 years ago, British ports, which traditionally had very inflexible labour, provided
little or no competition. However, privatisation, and the associated dramatic improvement in
labour flexibility, quality of management, and innovation in handling, has resulted in
Southampton and Felixstowe in the UK becoming serious competition, being the first port of call
for much deep-sea shipping from North America; UK ports are also adding value, arranging
through-transportation to the final destination (Ostrovsky 1997, p. 14). There is a linkage here
between infrastructure and governance Ð how infrastructure is managed shapes the infrastructure
which is provided.
In adding to infrastructure, the following steps are relevant: decision as to what infrastructure to
provide, and where and when to do so; how it is to be financed regarding capital and operation,
and who is to manage it.
51
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Table 12. Recent (and in prospect) economic infrastructure in selected European cities
City
Recent infrastructural developments
Berlin
Renewal of water supply; digital telephone system; electricity and
gas supply upgrading; road, rail and canal connections to rest of
country
Rotterdam and Amsterdam
New tunnels to strengthen congested ring road systems; western
peripheral link between Schiphol and the port of Amsterdam;
orbital light rail system to link with existing metro; link to TGV
network; development of teleport, and large-scale office, industry
and housing at Kop van Zuid
Brussels
Updating of international airport; introduction of TGV rail;
intersection of LilleÐLondon Channel Tunnel route
Birmingham
International convention centre; national exhibition centre;
national indoor arena; downgrading ring road, diverting traffic to
inner ring; science park (Aston University)
Frankfurt
Linked to Vienna, Belgrade, Budapest by newly built
RhineÐDanube canal; as freight terminal, airport is first in Europe,
and linked directly to national rail system
Lyon
Development of the metro system; TGV; new exhibition centre;
opera house; new private road tunnel; international business
centre
Milan
Development of science park (Bicocca area); high speed rail links
with Turin and Venice (prospective); expansion of international
fair
Montpellier
Largest pedestrian precinct in Europe; doubling of public
transport routes; Technopole (EuromedŽcine Ð Computer Ð
Agropolis Ð Communication Ð hŽliopolis)
Dublin
Digital telephone network; development of ÔC-ringÕ motorway;
international financial services centre; cultural quarter (Temple
Bar)
Seville
Digital telephone network and complementary fibre-optic cable
routes; motorway links to Madrid and Barcelona; outer ring road;
modern and efficient rail system, including high speed rail link to
Madrid; development of EXPO Ô92 site
Source: Summarised from Harding et al. (1994), except for data on Berlin, which is from Cowell
(1997).
In regard to the decisions as to the analysis of choices, there is a well-developed literature
addressing the technical and financial aspects, but three themes have emerged over the past
decade which are relatively new and deserve some discussion: public involvement and partnership
in making decisions, privatisation as a means of financing, and applying use charges to reflect
52 social costs.
Creating and Managing Urban Infrastructure
Public Engagement in Decision-making
ÔIt has been the misfortune of this age, that everything must be discussed.Õ So wrote Edmund
Burke over two centuries ago, and Ð as least as regards urban infrastructure Ð life has not changed
in this respect. The centrality of infrastructure for urban and national well-being has been such
that it was often the case that the requirements for consultation and deliberation to which ÔnormalÕ
projects were routinely subjected were limited or eliminated in the case of public infrastructure.
Powers of compulsory purchase, eminent domain, Ôfast trackingÕ, large contracts let with no
public scrutiny all came to characterise decision-making in many jurisdictions. This lack of
engagement and scrutiny derived from two opposite impulses:
¥
the first was the view that, in large-scale projects, time is money, and delay is therefore
expensive, and damaging to competitiveness. In addition to unwarranted delay, involving the
public ran the risk of capture of the decision-making processes by special interests or clients;
¥
the second was less altruistic than the first, where secrecy and lack of public accountability
was indulged precisely because there were interests being paid off, landowners, contractors
and financiers benefiting who with transparency would probably not do so to the same
degree. And this is not a new phenomenon. As Rudyard Kipling observed:
Who will doubt the secret hid
Under CheopÕs pyramid
Was that the contractor did
Cheops out of several millions. (Departmental Ditties, p.4)
The Agenda 21 principles emerging from the Environment and Development conference in Rio in
1991 emphatically sided with transparency and engagement, with involving those most affected
by resource development in decisions Ð the stakeholders Ð concerning their future.
In Europe, there is a statutory obligation to provide information to the public on a range of
environmental effects of proposed projects, under the provisions of the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) Directive, which covers most forms of large-scale urban infrastructure.
The Commission submitted a proposal on 25 March 1997 for a Council Directive on the
assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment. This confines its
scope to town and country plans and programmes, in areas such as transport, energy, waste
management, water resource management, industry, telecommunications and tourism. For
activities subject to sectoral environmental assessment (SEA), the proposer of the programme is
required to provide information on its content and objectives, the environmental characteristics of
the area likely to be affected, the existing environmental problems, the relevant environmental
protection objectives, the likely significant effects of implementation, any alternatives, mitigation
measures, and problems in implementation. Thus there is a statutory basis for information transfer.
But the Agenda 21 aspiration is much more ambitious and radical. It requires that the stakeholders
be participants in the decision-making process. In terms of the public involvement pyramid below,
the challenge in the Union is to move down from the ÔinformationÕ slice, to the bottom, i.e.
Ôparticipation in decisionsÕ.
53
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Public involvement pyramid
No involvement
Information
Feedback on options
Participation in decisions
How to achieve this degree of stakeholder ownership is only now being explored, with varying
degrees of interest and success. The achievement of this objective is made more complex, but also
more worthwhile, by the diversity of stakeholders which are potentially impacted and involved.
The business community will typically, but not always, ensure that it is informed and engaged. It
has the resources and the contacts to do so: much infrastructural investment is undertaken
primarily at the request of, or on behalf of, commercial interests. But others, and in particular
stakeholders who are not well organised and resourced, have often not been part of the dialogue
and decision. The insights and interests of women have only recently been taken seriously.
Decisions were male-centred, and the insights and needs of women, especially women as
homemakers, were not taken into account. Likewise, the needs of children and groups generally
who traditionally cannot or have not been allowed to inject their values into the process were not
understood or addressed. In general, the living and working needs of communities, especially poor
communities, have not been part of the process. This asymmetry in the basis whereby decisions
were made and in the interests of whom infrastructure is provided has become a source of tension
between ÔlocalsÕ and wider agendas. For example, Evans (1994) recounts the tensions in this
regard between the aspirations Ð and associated infrastructural requirements Ð of Brussels as the
Ôcapital of EuropeÕ, and the less ambitious but sometimes conflicting needs of the local residents.
Simple but powerful issues which relate to day-to-day well-being, such as not dividing
communities from their schools and social infrastructure, not eliminating some key recreation
spaces, not losing features which are of symbolic and Ôsense of placeÕ significance, can easily
happen if local values and perspectives are not involved.
It is still early on the Ôlearning curveÕ as to how to move effectively from receipt of information
to participation in decisions, but Boston and Wolverhampton provide interesting insights.
Stephen Coyle, former director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, a public agency that
manages development in Boston, outlined the concept of linkage as applied in Boston to manage
growth and ensure that communities were not antagonistic to development (Coyle 1988). These
are all strategies for allowing the deprived to have some share in the economic rent generated by
development and the public facilitation thereof. There were three strands to achieve linkage. The
first is housing linkage: a developer pays 5 dollars per square foot for every square foot of
development over 100,000 square feet into a housing trust fund; the fund receives applications
from non-profit corporations to develop housing in the city. The second is employment and
training: 50 per cent of construction jobs must go to residents, 25 per cent to minorities, and 10
per cent to women. The third is equity: in exchange for development in a prime area, developers
must undertake development in run-down areas, and some portion of the proceeds must be into a
venture capital fund so that local entrepreneurs can participate. This combines with the
54 widespread use of competitions to maximise the quality of design, a commitment to conservation
Creating and Managing Urban Infrastructure
using a rating system (1= excellent, 6 = horrible) and a strong network of 20 neighbourhood
councils which draft local plans and are involved in decision-making at all stages. Another way
to participate in the Ôeconomic rent waveÕ is to give the local community some property, so that
they can share in the rising tide of appreciation.
The Wolverhampton approach is summarised in the box below.
Partnership and successful urban regeneration Ð The City Challenge
Partnerships in Wolverhampton
ÔThe importance of partnership is being increasingly recognised as a critical ingredient of
successful urban regeneration.Õ The following are the lessons learnt from experience in
Wolverhampton, operated through area-based City Challenge Partnerships. The
Wolverhampton City Challenge covering a (mainly) deprived part of the city has involved the
community at four levels: four community representatives are elected onto the board, the same
number (four each) coming from government and business; Community Forums have been
created which elect the four board representatives, advise on strategies and projects sponsored
by WCC and organise many projects themselves; initiatives at the estate/neighbourhood level,
such as housing and environmental projects, involve in-depth consultation; individual projects
have been established with the community strongly represented on their management boards.
Eight features are critical to success:
1. Partnership is about power: partnership means sharing power, and therefore some partners
giving up some power Ð all partners can influence the direction of partnership.
2. Partnership is about trust: it takes time, and is encouraged by conducting affairs as openly
as possible.
3. Partnership is about ownership: a consequence of genuine power sharing and building of
trust.
4. Partnership is about communication: good communication involves listening and
communicating oneÕs views in a language that other partners can understand. One can
never spend too much time on communication.
5. Partnership is about recognising diversity: if community participation is to involve all the
community, differences and diversity must be recognised. Room needs to be given for
conflict to be resolved.
6. Partnership is about taking responsibility: a partnership is really beginning to work when
the different partners accept responsibility for partnership decisions on the implementation
of projects.
7. Partnership is about a process which needs managing: on Community Forums, the role of
officers (of the local authority) has been to put forward alternative frameworks and options.
Community participants make the final decisions on which direction to go, requesting
additional information where necessary.
8. Partnership is about making things happen: partnerships develop through activity. The
difficult task is to deliver results without leaving too many people behind.
Chris Khamis, ÔProfessional Briefing,Õ BURA Newsletter, June/July 1995, British Urban
Regeneration Association.
55
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Financing Infrastructure Supply
Given the centrality of infrastructure for economic and social well-being, it is not surprising that
its provision is a core preoccupation of cities. But its financing provides a challenge, even for
relatively affluent societies. In the 19th century, it was common for particular forms of
infrastructure, such as canals, railways, water supply, the telegraph, to be financed by private
capital. Such investment inevitably required a partnership with the public sector since provision
of land, or compulsory purchase of same, protection in some cases of monopoly powers, provision
of security, provision of development permits and the like required public engagement. Where
monopoly was conferred, government got involved in regulation of price and sometimes quality
of service. The monopoly powers frequently conferred provided a basis for enormous wealth
creation, and this, combined with the large scale of projects and ideological shifts in favour of
government intervention generally, stimulated the shift towards infrastructural financing by
government.
The logic for such a switch derived in some cases from the view that the state should own the
factors of production, which reached its apogee under communism, and in others from the more
pragmatic view that with government involvement market failure could be overcome: government
could finance such projects more cheaply than the private sector, state ownership would ensure
that the monopoly profits accrued to the public, and the external costs associated with private
development would be internalised.
But this wheel has now turned: the UK pioneered the privatisation revolution, which returned
many state monopolies in telecommunications, water supply and treatment, rail transport, ports
and airports, to private hands. This reversal was justified on two grounds: with government
ownership came what economists call Ôgovernment failureÕ, where politics rather than merit
characterised promotion and management decisions, where government required that loss making
activities be sustained indefinitely, and where any economic rent generated was dissipated in
uncommercial activities or captured by management and employees, and external costs were not
internalised. The second reason was financial Ð the government could raise large sums of money
by selling state assets, and these funds could be used to reduce taxes, or engage in other politically
popular expenditures.
But these two rationales for privatisation are in conflict: an important reason for government
failure is the monopoly power of the state enterprises. But private investors are willing to pay
much more for a monopoly than for a company which must compete in a competitive market.
Governments then have a choice: they can privatise, but ensure that there is competition. This will
probably result in an Ôefficiency dividendÕ but the revenue from the sale will be much reduced
from that which would be raised by selling the business as a monopoly. Alternatively, the
enterprise can be sold as a monopoly: the gain in efficiency will be modest, and may disappear
completely over time, as managers and investors concentrate on economic rent capture. But there
will be a large financial gain from the sale.
In some cases, as for example in the case of the British Telecom privatisation, after privatisation
the monopoly power was left largely intact, in part in order to allow BT to become a strategic
force in the global telecoms economy. And the UK has generally captured a Ôfirst moverÕ
56 advantage in this area. By privatising monopolies more or less intact, such as in the case of gas,
Creating and Managing Urban Infrastructure
electricity, water, airports, airlines, telecoms and ports, cash-rich organisations have been created
which, as other countries have privatised their state enterprises, have been in a position to become
global players. By installing relatively powerful regulators, it is hoped that, at least at the domestic
level, the re-run of the Ôrobber baronÕ accusations levelled at the first private infrastructure can be
avoided, triggering a return to state ownership.
A key question to ask in regard to the financing of infrastructure is this: who bears the risk? In a
commercial transaction, every party will try to maximise their participation in any benefits, and
minimise their exposure to downside risk. Thus, an investor will attempt to move all of the risk to
the banks Ð by providing the minimum of collateral Ð and to the government, by having them do
some combination of absorbing any losses, take over the project at cost in the event of commercial
failure, or guarantee monopoly trading conditions. The worst of worlds, from the public and a city
governmentÕs point of view, is to bear the downside risk (get stuck with prospective losses) but
not participate in any upside benefits. And this is the configuration which any rational private
investor will aspire to achieve. The Channel Tunnel is an interesting example where it seems the
banks bore most of the risk. Little if any of what have turned out to be substantial losses were
borne by the governments.
Pricing and Management
It was noted in an earlier chapter that efficient management of scarce resources requires that users
be charged prices which reflect the costs at the margin of supplying the good or service; it is also
the essence of the Ôpolluter paysÕ principle. And this concept is gradually being applied in many
Member States in regard to infrastructure such as water and sewage collection, disposal and
treatment, and the provision of telecoms services. In regard to transport, charges are assessed for
the use of some infrastructure, typically in the form of tolls on bridges and some motorways.
Ironically, unless these facilities are congested, charging may not be justified on economic
efficiency grounds, because the marginal costs of additional traffic is low. However, in the case
of urban traffic, the reverse is the case. The costs of additional traffic, in terms of additional
congestion costs and pollution Ð but especially the former Ð which an additional truck or car adds
are substantial, but the charge paid (typically zero) does not reflect such costs. Pricing does not
pay its accustomed role of bringing supply and demand into equilibrium; the inevitable result is
congestion and the associated costs imposed on everyone.
If congestion could be managed by charging for access, such that, for example, it might cost 10
ECU ÔadmissionÕ to enter an inner city cordon at rush hour, and much less Ð or zero Ð at other
times, depending on demand and supply, then those who had to enter at rush hour would do so,
and drive relatively freely. Others would explore other transport options, including working at
home, driving earlier or later, walking, cycling, using bus, train, light rail, tram, or some
combination.
Such charging can be done by:
¥
entry tolls Ð but this involves major congestion at the toll booths;
¥
zones, where stickers for using certain zones at certain times must be purchased and
displayed; this approach (applied in Singapore) avoids congestion, but requires strong
enforcement. Certain vehicles, (public transport, taxis) are exempt;
57
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
¥
using laser systems, where entry to particular zones would automatically be recorded. This
system is being tested in Trondheim, and Norwegian cities generally have an electronic
monitoring system in place which could readily be adapted for use in road pricing.
The equity issues can be ameliorated by providing special concessions for the disabled, and by
using some of the proceeds of the charge to ensure that alternatives both individual (walking,
cycling) and collective (bus, light rail, etc.) are efficient, affordable and available.
Traffic management needs to be part of a wider strategy that integrates land use, the provision of
collective and individual non-car choices, management and pricing to achieve an overall
objective.
The Copenhagen case
About 20 years ago, Copenhagen, a city with a metropolitan urban region population of 1.9
million, which was then Ôcar dominatedÕ, decided to opt instead to be a city that was pedestrian
friendly, that encouraged and facilitated alternatives to the private automobile, and that was a
living city. To achieve this objective, a strategy was conceived and implemented with a number
of interdependent elements:
¥
a high level of public debate on options and their implications
¥
a high quality public transport system was put in place, comprising an integrated system of
buses and electric S-trains, covering Copenhagen and the surrounding areas
¥
a successive series of streets were pedestrianised, and street entertainment activities were
encouraged to ensure that the streets were enjoyable to use
¥
cycling and pedestrian ways were developed to make access by bicycle and foot as easy
and congenial as possible
¥
land use regulations and zoning encouraged development along the public transport
arteries, and discouraged it elsewhere
¥
it was made very expensive to bring a car into the city; city wide, parking is very expensive,
and increases per unit of time with duration of stay.
This experience shows that a careful strategy implemented over a 20-year period with mutually
reinforcing elements can succeed. A combination of Ôcarrot and stickÕ has shifted the modal
split significantly away from the car and towards the other transport modes. Congestion has
been sharply reduced, and liveability has been enhanced, as has the commercial viability of the
city centre.
The Copenhagen experience illustrates that radical change in performance, which improves both
environment and economy, is possible if there is a wide degree of public consultation, if the
relevant infrastructure is put in place to provide attractive options, if the infrastructure decisions
are reinforced by land use planning and zoning decisions and if negative incentives are provided
for car use in the city, and if all of this is implemented incrementally over a period, to allow for
58 learning and adjustment.
Creating and Managing Urban Infrastructure
Conclusions
Cities maintain and add to their infrastructure. But new imperatives as to how they do so are now
emerging. Those most affected need to be involved in the decisions such that they are
beneficiaries, or at least do not lose. A number of approaches are emerging to achieve this
integration. These include linkage, the automatic participation of local communities in the
benefits of developments, as in Boston. Or participation can follow the Wolverhampton model,
where sharing of power, ownership and responsibility is characteristic.
Financing raises the challenge of protecting the public interest: where the development is financed
directly by public funds, it is necessary to avoid government failure Ð corruption, monopoly, rent
capture. When privatisation is used, ensure that the risk is shared between the promoters and the
state, and that monopoly is avoided.
With regard to pricing, prices for use of infrastructure should reflect the costs at the margin of
using same. The benefits of applying such a pricing regime in the case of traffic congestion would
be considerable.
59
Chapter 7
Policy Implications and Conclusions
We can recognise four forms of capital in our cities: human capital, comprising the skills and
cultural attributes of the human population; natural capital, comprising the non-renewable and
renewable resources Ð water supply, forests, minerals etc.; environmental capital, comprising
those dimensions of our lives we share in common Ð the air we breathe, the water we like to
recreate in, the aesthetic dimensions of our buildings, parks and streetscapes; made capital,
comprising the buildings, pipelines, dams and infrastructures generally which are long lasting and
provide goods and services to the public at large.
The well-being of a city Ð its economic vitality and social cohesion Ð are shaped by (a) how much
of the various forms of capital stock it has, and (b) how effectively they are combined. A great
store of made and natural capital combined with a poorly educated, indolent and fractious human
population will yield much less well-being and social cohesion than a situation where the human
capital stock is well educated, energetic and inclined to cooperate.
In this study, infrastructure Ð part made capital Ð is the focus of attention, and within this broad
category, transport and communications are a particular focus, but other forms of infrastructure
are touched on.
In regard to integrating a consideration of infrastructure into the future of European cities, the
following conclusions and implications can be drawn.
1.
Modern urban infrastructure is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for
prosperity.
Cities which do not have good air, road and, where relevant, sea links with the global
hinterland canÕt participate effectively in a global economy. In particular, cities which do not
have modern communications infrastructure Ð notably digital telephone and fibre optic
cabling Ð will be at an increasing disadvantage.
61
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
2.
Effective internal transport networks are likewise essential for both prosperity and
social cohesion.
Ciuffini (EF 1995c) has focused on the benefits of a Ôpedestrian friendly cityÕ and how some
cities have achieved this. From an economic perspective, the ability of employers to draw on
the talents of the entire urban catchment is important for competitiveness. For the deprived,
it is vital that they not be precluded by a hidden Ôcordon sanitaireÕ of transport inadequacies
from maximising their potential for employment and social engagement generally.
3.
In addition to multi-indicator measures, sustainability can also be assessed in terms of
what is happening to the capital stocks Ð natural, man-made etc.
If the rate of depreciation in the value of the stock of urban ÔmadeÕ capital and of natural and
environmental capital is less than the savings rate, then it can be argued that a city passes a
ÔweakÕ sustainability test; its overall capital stock is growing.
However, this assumes substitutability; some forms of natural capital will be so essential for
human well-being that they cannot be substituted for by made capital.
But the capital stock approach to assessing sustainability in cities does provide a starting
point, a means of integrating sustainability in a quasi-comparative fashion with national
income accounts.
4.
The urban infrastructural endowment evolves over time.
For the early cities of Mesopotamia, Babylon and the Nile valley, infrastructures for defence,
religion and storage were pre-eminent. For Greek and later medieval cities, market functions
and access also became important. For capital cities of empires, the cultural infrastructures
and monuments emerge as dominant infrastructural forms, while for the port cities which
emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries port infrastructure was central to prosperity. For all
cities, today, the infrastructures of access and communications are central.
5.
A key criterion in assessing urban infrastructure is the following: will it help achieve
agglomeration economies and economies of scale?
Cities expand as economic entities to the extent that they achieve agglomeration economies
Ð the mutual reinforcement that comes when activities cluster together Ð and they offer
economies of scale Ð each additional unit of production costs less than the one before.
6.
62
Innovation and chance are important ingredients in shaping urban form, and the
infrastructural endowments that are a part of it. But the chances of innovation can be
ÔartificiallyÕ increased by policy.
Where humans of particular talent and innovation chose to locate plays a defining role in
some cases in stimulating urban agglomerations, and the associated infrastructure. But this
serendipity can be ÔprogrammedÕ; the innovation of the StanfordÐHewlett Packard science
park alliance demonstrated the fact that computer- and information-led urban growth is
knowledge-based, and horizontal learning linkages are crucial. The infrastructure needs to
facilitate same.
Policy Implications and Conclusions
7.
In particular, the presence of universities and intellectual infrastructure generally is
essential if innovation and knowledge-based activity is to flourish.
Just as Ôinspiration favours the well-prepared mindÕ, according to Einstein, so also does
innovation favour the well-prepared city.
8.
Some concepts and ideas from ecological science have insights for urban management
and infrastructure provision.
The ecological idea of trophic levels Ð energy losses increase as one moves up the food chain
from plants to vegetarians to carnivores Ð has a useful analogue in urban use of transport
forms and buildings: the desirability for concentrating on low energy systems.
The concept of succession is a useful means of examining the succession of activities which
follow a disruption, where one use in effect prepares the ground for the use which is to
follow it. The ecological niche Ð the unique habitat for the unique species Ð also has its
analogue in market mediated specialisation.
9.
Some principles of urban infrastructure can be identified.
Ð Stock dominates the flow.
The basic stock of urban infrastructure Ð what we have as an endowment from the past Ð
is enormous relative to the additions or deletions which can be effected in any one year
or decade. This explains why ÔnewÕ cities will always be a marginal phenomenon in terms
of the overall urban endowment.
Ð There is mutual interdependence.
Each form of infrastructure depends for its full functioning on the character and quality
of other forms; transport, housing, retail services, supply of water and waste disposal, all
depend on each other for their vitality and viability.
Ð Emerging technologies shape the infrastructural stock at the margin, but rarely make an
existing infrastructural endowment ÔpermanentlyÕ redundant.
The highways along which chariots and coaches drove provide the skeletons of the
modern highways; the early mosques and Christian churches still comprise places of
veneration and/or of historic interest.
Ð But changes in technology do stimulate the evolution of forms of infrastructure.
The creation of wheeled vehicles stimulated the provision of roads and coach houses. The
development of the jet engine led to large airports and runways.
Advances in technology are the driving force in the evolution of infrastructure, and tend
to come in ÔburstsÕ; e.g. one phase Ð combustion engine, electricity, telegram, radio;
another Ð microchip computers, satellite broadcasting, Internet and the world wide web.
Ð Every generation for the past 100 years has imagined that it is the subject of
unprecedented innovation and technological change.
Surprise at innovation is perhaps one of our oldest traditions.
63
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Ð Each technology initially provides a relatively high-cost, low-volume good or service.
But technologies that succeed serve a human need, achieve economies of scale, and
continued innovation leads simultaneously to increased ease of use and unit cost
reduction. This ensures that the technology becomes pervasive.
Cars and computers epitomise this cycle.
Ð The creativity and effectiveness with which infrastructure is used depends on the
character and quality of the other forms of capital, and the quality of management with
which they are combined.
Infrastructure is a form of made capital; it is only useful when combined with other forms
of capital Ð (human, including social and institutional capital), natural and
environmental. And human ingenuity is often the defining ÔXÕ factor.
Ð Infrastructure is adapted and utilised by each generation in fashions that reflect the
priorities, values and capacities of its time.
10. The communications revolution promises to disassociate work from a particular place.
To the extent that this is true, environmental and social quality will become crucial for
cities if they are to attract scarce skills.
To the extent that job and shopping are no longer tied to a specific place, it is likely that those
employed, especially those with scarce skills, will only locate in places which are physically,
socially and culturally interesting, and where crime and other pathological behaviour is at an
acceptable level.
11. But history is always a surprise.
We are in very early days in the communications revolution.
12. For transport, management of congestion is the heart of the challenge.
Cities have two broad choices: the suburban sprawl, car-dominated model of Los Angeles
and Houston, and to a lesser but growing extent Birmingham and Dublin, or a collective
transport, pedestrian and cycle friendly city.
A proxy for these poles is provided by gasoline consumption Ð 000s MJ per capita:
Houston
Melbourne
Copenhagen
Hong Kong
64
75
29
11
2
Both Houston and Copenhagen can Ð and do Ð prosper. But it is difficult to see the planet
surviving the pressures of greenhouse gas and other pollutants if Beijing and Calcutta are to
opt for the Houston over the Copenhagen model.
Policy Implications and Conclusions
13. In the case of environmental services Ð water supply, waste water treatment, solid waste
collection and disposal Ð the infrastructural and operating costs of advanced treatment,
especially in the case of waste water, push the costs way beyond the reach of developing
country cities.
As waste water treatment goes from primary to biological and chemical (secondary and
tertiary) the marginal costs escalate as follows:
0.5
0.4
$/kg
0.3
0.2
0.1
Primary treatment
Biological/Chemical &
de-nitratisation
14. Urban monumental infrastructure is a unique endowment typically associated with
great wealth in the past, often a product in part of a colonial role.
Cities which have such endowments have an important comparative advantage (in terms of
tourism, symbols of identity, and aesthetic quality of life) over those that do not. If they are
sufficiently rich, they can Ð where they do not already exist Ð attempt to create such symbols,
e.g. the Opera House in Sydney, the Getty Museum outside Los Angeles, the Guggenheim
in Bilbao.
15. There are pronounced scale effects regarding forms of urban transport infrastructure.
From a survey of urban infrastructure associated with population (metropolitan urban
region) in the 50 largest cities in the European Union, the following patterns are discernible.
Ð Only 10 of the 50 cities (population in millions in the functional urban region in
parentheses) Ð Birmingham (3.0), Bari (1.7), Seville (1.4), Palermo (1.4), Dublin (1.4),
Bordeaux (1.1), Florence (0.9), Edinburgh (0.8), Nice (0.6), Cardiff (0.6) Ð have neither
a metro (full or partial) or light rail (full or partial).
Ð Every city except Edinburgh and Nice (47th and 49th respectively in population ranking)
has a full or partial motorway circling the city. It appears that a functional urban area of
about 0.5 million and above is associated in the EU with a full or partial motorway.
Ð But only 16 of the EUÕs top 50 cities have a motorway fully circling the city, and there
is a scale effect. Of the bottom 25 cities (beginning with Bari (1.7 million)), only four
cities Ð Seville (1. 4 million), Nantes (1.4 million), Malaga (1.0 million) and Saragossa
(the smallest at 0.9 million) Ð have full motorways, while six of the top 10 cities Ð Paris
65
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
(10.1 million), London (9.0 million), Madrid (4.8 million), Barcelona (4.6 million),
Rome (3.9 million) and Milan (3.9 million) Ð do so.
Ð There is a very strong scale effect regarding provision of metro, with only Naples in the
top 10 cities not having a full or partial metro system. Of the bottom 25 cities, only five
cities have a full or partial metro system: Vienna (full), Marseilles (full), Lille (full),
Stockholm (full), and Helsinki (partial). Helsinki (0.8 million) is the smallest city with a
metro system.
Ð The scale effect is less pronounced in the case of light rail than it is in the case of metro.
While most of the large cities do have a light rail, smaller cities also have invested.
Ð Of the top 10 cities, only Paris and London have not invested in light rail; the eight which
have are Madrid (full), Barcelona (full), Brussels (partial), Rome (partial), Milan (full),
Lisbon (full), Naples (partial) and Athens (full).
Ð Of the bottom 25 cities, 10 have invested in light rail. These are Vienna (full), Seville
(partial), Nantes (full), Marseilles (partial), Essen (partial), Malaga (partial), Saragossa
(partial), Genoa (partial), Strasbourg (full), and Helsinki (full). Helsinki is the smallest
city to do so.
Ð The largest and the smallest cities tend not to invest at all in cycle lanes. Only six cities
Ð Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Vienna, Stockholm and Strasbourg Ð have
invested in many cycle lanes. Most others have partial networks, but a significant number
(18) have not invested to any significant extent (but some of these are beginning to do
so). These are: Paris, London, Rome, Lisbon, Naples, Turin, Valencia, Lyon, Bari,
Seville, Palermo, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille, Saragossa, Genoa, Toulouse, and Nice.
16. To the extent that culture can be associated with nationality, it can be noted that:
Ð UK and Irish cities invest very sparingly in metro and light rail
Ð Spanish cities invest heavily in motorways circling the city, even when the cities seem
quite small in an EU context
Ð Italian cities do not invest significantly in cycle lanes
Ð There is a pronounced enthusiasm for investment to support cyclists in nordic, Austrian
and Dutch cities.
17. Engagement of the stakeholders has become essential in order both to improve the
design and impact of infrastructure, and also to ensure the necessary minimum level of
public and community support.
66
Engendering this sense of ownership and partnership is at the heart of the Agenda 21
portfolio, and the associated HABITAT II frameworks. There is a pyramid of engagement.
Most cities started out at the apex Ð no involvement Ð and are now working their way down,
in fits and starts, to the bottom level of partnership:
Policy Implications and Conclusions
Public involvement pyramid
No involvement
Information
Feedback on options
Participation in decisions
A number of approaches are emerging to achieve this integration. These include linkage, the
automatic participation of local communities in the benefits of developments, as in Boston.
Or participation can follow the Wolverhampton model, where sharing of power, ownership
and responsibility is characteristic.
18. Financing raises the challenge of protecting the public interest: where the development
is financed directly by public funds, it is necessary to avoid government failure Ð
corruption, monopoly, rent capture. When privatisation is used, ensure that the risk is
shared between the promoters and the State, and that monopoly is avoided.
Financing of urban infrastructure has come full circle, from past centuries where the funding
base was provided mainly by private enterprise and capital, to more recent times, when
municipal and national governments played a predominant role, to the most recent wave,
where private initiative and capital Ð called generically ÔprivatisationÕ Ð is once more in
vogue.
19. Efficient use of infrastructure can only be achieved if a charge for use is made that
reflects the marginal cost of supply.
This is difficult to achieve in cases of great ÔlumpinessÕ in supply, which is characteristic of
much infrastructure, e.g. most transport infrastructure, some energy supply, and where there
are very large economies of scale.
The benefits of applying such a pricing regime in the case of traffic congestion would be
considerable, and is likely to emerge as the ultimate solution to what is the quintessential
urban challenge at present Ð too many cars on the urban roads. Of the larger European cities,
Copenhagen and Amsterdam are closest to successfully addressing this challenge. Both use
economic incentives Ð the costs of parking Ð as a central incentive to keep cars from using
the city as a parking lot. But they also provide the crucial ÔcarrotsÕ Ð easy pedestrian and
cycle access, and good collective transport connections.
67
European Urban Infrastructure
Questionnaire
Appendix
(Spain as example)
Please tick whichever is appropriate. If there is no infrastructure, write in Ônone.Õ
Infrastructure
Madrid
Barcelona Valencia Seville
Saragossa
Malaga
Motorway circles city
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
Partial light rail system
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
Waste disposal mainly
by land fill
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
❑
Motorway partially
circles city
Full metro system
Partial metro system
Full light rail system
Waste disposed of
mainly by incineration
Many cycle lanes
Few cycle lanes
International airport
69
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Notes:
(i)
Motorway is a limited access multi-lane highway. In some cities the motorway circles the
city Ð it is possible to drive around it without ever leaving the motorway; in other cases,
the motorway is a ÔC ringÕ (partial).
(ii) Some cities have a full metro system where it is possible to access most areas by metro;
others have a partial system where two or three lines provide service to selected areas, but
over half of the city is unserved.
(iii) Some cities have a complete light rail system, with several lines providing coverage for
most of the city. Others have partial coverage Ð a few lines serve selected areas, but most
of the population donÕt have ready access to the system.
(iv) Some cities have an international airport, with scheduled flights to at least eight foreign
cities, others have mainly local, or no connections.
(v) Some cities have invested heavily in cycle lanes, such that it is possible to access most
parts of the city by bicycle. Others have only partial, or no coverage.
Please return to:
Frank J. Convery, Environmental Institute,
University College, Dublin, Ireland
FAX: +353-1-283-7009
Thank you.
70
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European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
1998 – 88pp. – 21 x 29.7 cm
ISBN 92-828-3673-8
Price (excluding VAT) in Luxembourg: ECU 15
EF/98/22/EN
5
14
on the capacity to build a sustainable future. Following its project on Urban Innovations
(1993-96) the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
implemented in 1997 a project on Urban Governance and Infrastructures of the Future.
This study explores the challenges for urban infrastructures in the European Union. Cities strive
to gain from globalisation, achieve social cohesion and progress towards sustainability.
Infrastructures are part of their man-made capital, the endowment which humans have created
over time and added to the stock of urban assets. They have to be intelligently reinvented and
socially regenerated in order to open up the horizon of opportunities. As ever, policy makers
must maximise benefits and minimise costs.
Price (excluding VAT) in Luxembourg: ECU 15
Challenges for Urban
Infrastructure in the
European Union
ISBN 92-828-3673-8
OFFICE FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS
OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
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Challenges for Urban Infrastructure in the European Union
Urban infrastructures and governance are cornerstones of a city’s productivity and impact greatly
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Challenges for Urban
Infrastructure in the
European Union
9 789282 836736
EUROPEAN FOUNDATION
for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions