In a truly global context, the contemporary urban landscape is changing dramatically. The megaregion has emerged as the primary scale of economic development and the home of the world’s wealth, innovation and progress. Increasingly expensive and scarce land, as well as the protection and preservation of farmlands and habitats, are driving up density. A renewed emphasis on environmental sustainability means not just greener building treatments and improved fuel efficiencies, but a need to redirect infrastructural investments in far more efficient ways. If, as the Regional Plan Association asserts, megaregions have replaced metropolitan regions and cities as the geographic units of the global economy, they must be planned, structured and supplied to maximize their potential as such. This thesis proposes a regional plan for the Windsor/Quebec corridor that attempts to satisfy any qualitative aspirations of the current “Places to Grow” plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe while strategically repositioning growth in the region to be more globally competitive and sustainable. This proposal utilizes two very specific existing elements in expanded roles; the 400 series highways as an infrastructural distribution network, and the regional shopping mall as a strategic site for discreet, distributed urban cores. Together, these two elements form a conceptual city at the megaregional scale; a concentrated, sprawl-free, efficient and sustainable form of city-making that also integrates seamlessly into the existing urban morphology.

This Record of Study presents the development of infrastructure asset management software solutions for municipalities in South Africa. The study was performed within a multidisciplinary engineering consulting company in South Africa with an interest in expanding its infrastructure asset management consultancy services in the local government market. South Africa faces a large backlog in the delivery of basic services to communities; existing infrastructure is showing signs of advanced aging; and municipalities are inadequately staffed to effectively provide services with limited funding. The company identified the opportunity to support South African municipalities with the delivery of sustainable infrastructure services through the implementation of infrastructure asset management best practice. The provision of these services required the development of infrastructure asset management software that satisfies the needs of municipalities. Infrastructure asset management practice around the world and in the context of municipalities in South Africa was reviewed to gain an understanding of the specific requirements of the asset management software solution. The software functionality was conceptualized and the technical requirements were identified to aid development. Finally, a business plan was prepared to assess the commercial viability of the software and to guide its introduction into the market.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

This thesis examines the foundations of successful modern economic development in the European region of N.E Italy. The research explores the importance and role of a combination of urban and transport infrastructure, economic, social and institutional arrangements. These have been conducive for the development of a competitive entrepreneurled endogenous development model which has enabled N.E Italy to become one of the most successful, fastest growing exportoriented economies of the European Union in the 1990s. The approach adopted is interdisciplinary and examines theoretically and empirically a wide range of interrelated economic development issues across different spheres of the social sciences. These include infrastructure; entrepreneurship; culture; cooperation and competition; networking and information diffusion; E.U support to small and medium size enterprises; as well as regional economic interaction with Central and Eastern Europe. The thesis has a four part structure. Following an introduction and methodological chapter, Part I examines the geography and socio-economic development of N.E Italy ir. the fifty year post-WWII period (1945-1995). From this overview, possible key determinants of the region I s development are r..ighl ighted. These factors, which represent the main boc:;· of t~e research, are specifically examined i~ par~s II and I:I. Part II dedicates two chapters to set~lement / transport infrastructure and entrepreneurship, whilst Part III sr..ifts atten~ion to some external factors which interact witt the internal determinants of development. T, .. ·o chapters focus on European Union business facili ta~ing mechanisms and the opening up of Central and Eastern Europe respectively. They provide a different perspective on central issues of this research and a means of empirically assessing the validity of many assumptions of this thesis. Part IV synthesises and concludes the thesis. The evidence of this research indicates that some of the same factors which promoted and sustained the development trajectory of this successful economy, will, most probably, continue to provide it with comparative advantages in the future.

Landscapes are formed across space and over time by both natural processes and human artifice. Within urban landscapes, natural processes have been harnessed as the basis for infrastructural systems, which support urban life. However, the relationship between infrastructure and natural processes has become increasingly opaque. This thesis seeks to reveal the interrelationship between natural, infrastructural and human processes by integrating a wastewater treatment facility with a public park, offering recreational and cultural amenities, in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. The design entails the addition of a “new landscape,” including built facilities on three sites within the park space. The architecture of these sites engages in multiple and layered flows of nature, infrastructure and community, acknowledging the complex history, ecology and diverse programs existing within the chosen site. The concept of edges is used as a tool for relating diverse programmatic elements and the complexity of site.

No description available.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a 21st century solution to not only fund the infrastructure projects needed in the United States but also provide long-term insight and management. The large-scale infrastructure projects of the 20th century were distinctly a product of the federal government. That traditional model of government-financed infrastructure has proven to be unsustainable as mandatory entitlement spending strains additional federal dollars needed for infrastructure investment. Given the potential of PPPs to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges, ports, transit, and other infrastructure, this thesis looks at several cities in the U.S. administering PPPs to consider what is required for their successful implementation. Transparency must be expected and metrics must be incorporated so that the ultimate beneficiary of the partnership is the public.

Modern computer infrastructure continues to advance at an accelerating pace. This advancement affects all aspects of computing systems such as hardware, device types, operating systems, and software. The constant change creates a problem for software vendors who must support not only the latest systems, but also previous versions. This infrastructure updating requirement limits software vendors when implementing new software features and in turn product innovation. There is a significant and increasing cost associated with adhering to application infrastructure requirement changes. To accommodate infrastructure change requirements, immediate and measurable action must be taken. First, the current industrial software development practices and tooling need to be analyzed. Current industrial release patterns and product update tooling must be understood and their shortcomings investigated. Next, key use cases ought to be identified and new methodologies and extensions to existing frameworks ought to be proposed to circumvent these difficulties. Finally, systems must be architected and developed to test the solution hypotheses and then deployed in commercial applications. This thesis focuses on these critical steps in the call to action to change software infrastructure management. In this thesis, we analyze an industrial problem including a real case study. We illustrate the currently available approaches and then describe how they are not sufficient in solving the problem. Our approach is based on an extension of a previously developed framework (i.e., the SmartContext commerce framework). In particular, we design an architecture and implementation for our industrial problem domain. / Graduate / 0984

This thesis reports on research undertaken into the effectiveness of the procurement activities undertaken by clients within projects for the construction of infrastructure. Current theory and practice is reviewed by means of a study of the available published literature, documentation and personal views of personnel within various companies. An analysis of the problems encountered by using current methods has suggested that project success is contingent upon a range of factors which are not normally considered and, furthermore, are under the control of the client. This has given rise to a wider view of construction procurement and a variety of new concepts have been identified. This has resulted in the postulation of a unifying theory of procurement and the proposal of better methods of procuring construction projects. Data has been collected from 24 projects; 12 discrete project programmes within one client and the overall project programmes of 9 client organisations. The data was collected using interviews with a wide range of personnel, interrogation of corporate financial and project management information systems and document analysis. 24 Case Studies of projects are also presented. A model has been developed that enables the comparison of the procurement activities of a wide range of companies. The model integrates the effects of client programme activities and considers income, costs and risks. This particularly enables the value added by the procurement and other functions to be determined. This has been used to analyse and test the procurement undertaken by several organisations and can be used as a tool for continuing improvement within a client's infrastructure construction programme.

On March 14, 2011 the Bloomberg Administration unveiled New York City’s 10-year comprehensive waterfront plan entitled, “Vision 2020.” Though the document follows a long line of waterfront revitalization proposals, it offers an extraordinarily profound and historically unprecedented ambition to re-establish New York as one of the world’s premiere waterfront cities by transforming its post-industrial harbour into a “Sixth Borough” capable of sustaining expanded urban development, recreation, local ecologies, and water-based economies. Underlying this extensive redevelopment scheme is a massive environmental remediation initiative that aims to improve water quality throughout the region by upgrading the city’s crumbling, century-old sewer system to prevent it from spilling millions of gallons of untreated effluent into the New York Harbor every week. With no federal funding available for these costly upgrades, the city will depend on its taxpayers to finance the new borough’s extensive list of infrastructural needs. Convincing the public to support this initiative will however prove to be immensely difficult as most New Yorkers are unaware of the critical need for infrastructure at the waterfront and would rather see their taxes spent on parks, amenities, transportation, housing or the creation of jobs. Despite this, “Vision 2020” proposes the construction of standardized, single-service, shovel-ready, infrastructure that will be buried underground where it will make no visible social, aesthetic, or economic contribution to the transformation of public waterfront. For these reasons, REvision 2020 is proposed. Rather than subscribing to the 20th century understanding of infrastructure as a service-based utility, REvision 2020 examines the potential for the renovation New York City’s sewer system to catalyze a much larger and more visible public benefit in the Sixth Borough. In doing so, the document investigates the complex social, political, economic, and environmental challenges underlying the revitalization of the post-industrial waterfront and presents strategies for addressing these matters through a renegotiation of conventional infrastructural form. These strategies are then synthesized and applied to the design of a buoyant, high-performance sanitation system deployed in Brooklyn’s notoriously toxic Gowanus Canal to transform the derelict shipping channel into a public Wastewater-To-Resource Park that converts the region’s excess sewage into fresh water, nutrients, and energy which are reused to sustain recreational activities and new water-based economies. In addition to proposing a bottom-lined approach to the development of the Sixth Borough, REvision 2020 and the Gowanus W.T.R. Park champion the exploration of infrastructure not only as an engineering endeavor, but as a robust design opportunity.