How to Best Facilitate a Successful Urban Environment | The Urban Lens Newsletter

Robert Puentes best said it in his article in January 2015, originally published in the Washington Examiner and subsequently published in Brookings (2023) Rotten Roads, Bum Economy:

The secret to a successful urban environment is to create a forward-thinking infrastructure that will support both businesses and residents in large and concentrated numbers. While we know that it is human nature for us to gather for social and emotional reasons, it would be impossible to gather in any large quantity without a strong infrastructure to support the gathering long term.

Humans have been doing a pretty good job at creating successful urban infrastructure, especially in the United States, and we can be proud of what we have done so far. However, the next 100 years will be more of a challenge than ever before to create and maintain such infrastructure. Modes of travel will be morphing, modes of communications will be expanding, harnessing of clean power and delivery of utilities will be changing, and existing infrastructure will be aging beyond usefulness.

To be clear that we are discussing the same topic, let me provide a definition of “infrastructure” that will aid in the discussion. The definition I will use here would be: “Urban infrastructure refers to the physical and organizational structures and facilities that support the functioning of a city or urban area. This includes essential elements such as transportation systems (roads, bridges, public transit), utilities (water supply, sewage, electricity), communication networks, public spaces, and public services like schools, hospitals, and police stations. Essentially, it's the backbone that enables a city to operate efficiently and provides a quality living environment for its residents.”

For example, there is substantial written evidence of the danger in not properly disposing of sewage. London is often referred to regarding this topic. In 1853, London was dumping its sewage into the Thames River on the theory that it would be carried out to the ocean. Unfortunately, the theory did not work, and the Thames became a cesspool. The Cholera epidemic of that year killed 15,000 Londoners. Finally, London completed the construction of a proper sewer plant in 1875.

Water pollution does not just come from improper sewage handling. In June 1963, industrial debris and oil was trapped floating on the Cuyahoga River (considered by most to be part of the industrial infrastructure) in Cleveland, Ohio by the railroad bridges and was accidentally set on fire, probably from a flare thrown from a passing train. This burning had happened numerous times in the past, but Mayor Carl Stokes made sure that this incident received substantial press coverage and the incident has been cited as the beginning of a new era of environmental activism.

The first water purification system was created in Paisley, Scotland in 1804, but required horse drawn carts for delivery. Three years later, the first water delivery pipes were laid in that same Scotland town.

Indoor plumbing can be traced back to the early 1800s in the United States and in 1826 Isaiah Rogers designed the indoor plumbing system installed at the Tremont Hotel in Boston. However, most homes in US cities did not have indoor plumbing until the mid-1800s, and only after cities developed ways of delivering clean water to the homes.

In the 1800s, most cities could not exist without a train station and tracks coming and going. After the horse and wagon, the trains were the main method of delivering people. Cities were often located on a river, as often, the train tracks followed the rivers. Canal systems were built to connect cities for the purposes of delivery of goods and people via the canals and rivers. Nowadays, most canals and rivers used for delivery of goods have been replaced by freight rails and trucking on the roadways, both of which are extremely important to our current economy. In the meantime, the movement of people along our waterways has been replaced with movement by roadways and airplanes.

Electricity was brought about by Thomas Edison, but it was the DC version, installed first in parts of New York City streets. The City of Cleveland became the “City of Light” in 1879. Cleveland's Public Square, then known as Monumental Park, was lit up with the invention of the arc lamp — as Cleveland inventor Charles Brush held the first public demonstration of street lighting. But bringing electricity into homes was slow to evolve and it was not until 1925 that more than half the homes in the US had electricity.

Law enforcement and Fire departments were in cities early on providing safety for residents and businesses. But safety forces have continued to expand in both size and capabilities. The equipment needed for safety forces has continued to get better, and more expensive.

Intricate roadways were urban requirements early on. However, not all roads were equal and not all city management had enough vision to prepare for the future of the automobile and the truck.

Compare the narrow roads of Philadelphia to the Salt Lake City, Utah wide streets allowing for 4 wagons to travel abreast. Philadelphia cannot change its street issues without tearing down historic buildings and destroying the charm of the City and its large tourist industry. Meanwhile, the streets of Salt Lake City were envisioned in the mid-1800s with a very utilitarian view towards the future.

The roadways of cities are very eclectic, varying from a New York City quad structure to the Washington DC streets that go in all 4 directions during a single mile, but are still called East this or West that. In many cases, cities try to overcome their street layout deficiencies by creating “one-way” streets. Streets started out as just dirt, then graduated to cobblestone and then to brick, before finally becoming cement or pavement. But if we look forward more into the future, we come to realize that few, if any, of these city street systems are prepared to handle the Commuter Drones of the future.

With roadways, came public transportation. Carts drawn by horses, then electric trams and cars, to subways, and on to buses. Complementing the roads came sidewalks. Under and alongside the roadways came the water, sewer and communications systems. Then came air travel and airports, providing quick connectivity among cities throughout the US, but requiring roadways and public transportation to access the airports.

More recently, the roadways and sidewalks are being modified to accommodate bicycles and electric scooters. Fiber optic cable is being laid under the streets to provide fast internet services to businesses and residents, while entertainment cable and telephone systems and electricity are strung above, but alongside, the roadways.

Creating green spaces such as parks and recreational areas enhance the infrastructure by providing enjoyment to the residents, which tends to attract more residents because of their availability. In 1857, New York City created Central Park as part of its recreational infrastructure. How the City accomplished this has been considered suspect, as they used eminent domain to remove an entire African American community called Seneca Village. However, the negative history has been mostly ignored and forgotten, and the Park provides recreational enjoyment to the current residents.

These infrastructure items, allowing for a concentration of people, lead to different, more concentrated housing requirements. They also allow for better medical services, better work experiences, easier job migration, more consumer services, all more easily accessible to residents and businesses.

Cities with strong infrastructure can also attract suburbs and suburbanites to expand the City’s influence over more people, especially if the City’s infrastructure is strong enough to expand outwardly.

Often, problems with City infrastructure are not in the building of them, but rather the maintaining of them.

In any event, designing, constructing, and maintaining urban infrastructure requires varied methods of financing. There is plenty of controversy over this topic. Some of those controversies revolve around setting priorities between multiple creative endeavors, deciding what endeavors matter to the most people, and whether to consider a profit analysis as a net financial benefit to the City and its people/businesses.

 We elect leaders, who in turn often hire professionals, who are tasked with figuring out how to create and maintain this infrastructure. Some financing occurs through government and private group partnerships. Some are funded through Federal funding. Some are funded through State, or even Local, government through their own tax base. But no matter how it is financed, there is never enough money to do all the things that need doing.

We, as citizens of these cities and suburbs, should personally stay involved in this important task of creating, maintaining, and upgrading urban infrastructures. We need to stay abreast of tax levies for such purposes. We need to encourage our leaders to focus on this important, and never-ending, task. We need to help our leaders prioritize what is important to the citizens. We cannot allow them to “assume” or even “guess” what should be done. We need to provide input from the people most affected by a lack of quality infrastructure.

Joel Rathbone

Editor's Note:  Our guest author today, Joel Rathbone, J.D., retired from the Rathbone Group in December of 2019.