Major development banks are funding logging, mining and infrastructure projects that are having enormous impacts on nature. Here, forests are being razed along a newly constructed road in central Amazonia.
William Laurance
Big new investors such as the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank are key players in a worldwide infrastructure, and that could be bad news for the environment.
The politicisation of road funding decisions can make for wasteful spending.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
No wonder you’re always late. Drivers use a route that minimizes travel time on only a third of their trips. Here’s how real-world data can help planners fight traffic congestion.
The vehicle-based microwave system, making the streets safe again.
Zanko et al., 2016
Crews patch them, just to see these recurrent potholes come back again. New research focuses on microwaves zapping patches to make a more permanent pothole fix.
The report criticises the state’s failure to adequately integrate the planning of land use development and transport priorities, but falls into the same trap itself.
AAP/Melanie Foster
Infrastructure Australia’s latest report is substantial but, critically, it fails to incorporate the transport thinking needed to develop more compact cities that work better for everyone.
The public are increasingly keen to trespass on corporate land.
MollyBob/Flickr
Tristan R. Brown, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Obama’s proposal to add $10 tax to crude oil raises the thorny question of whether the U.S. can continue to fund its highway infrastructure with a fuel tax that hasn’t changed since 1993.
Electricity pylons from Cape Town’s Koeberg nuclear power plant. State-owned companies help to provide infrastructure for economic development.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
State-owned companies are not generally needed to provide goods. Rather, they are needed to provide the foundation for a well-functioning economy and a healthy, well-informed populace.
Here come the rains to Hollywood and Southern California.
skinnylawyer/flickr
With cheaper gas, consumers are buying fewer fuel-efficient vehicles – a step backwards on climate, energy security and upkeep of our highway and bridges.
Taking the biscuit. UK organisations need some quality control.
REUTERS/POOL New
Building more rail shouldn’t be reliant on the public purse.
Viana, near Luanda, Angola. China has played a major role in funding infrastructure projects in Africa but the deficit remains huge.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Since time immemorial, huge infrastructure projects have been financed with funds from the capital markets. Africa should not rely on development finance institutions.
‘Decarbonizing’ the energy system is above all an infrastructure problem.
m-i-k-e/flickr
Dealing with climate change will require countries to ‘decarbonize’ their energy infrastructure. The history of infrastructure suggests this could happen quickly once the transition starts.
October was a strong month for jobs gains, but the president and Congress need to stop waiting for the numbers to improve and begin to act more proactively.
Michelle Grattan and Michael de Percy discuss the week in politics, including the reforms Joe Hockey was unable to implement as treasurer and his likely new role as ambassador in the US.