Mega infrastructure projects entrench existing inequalities when they ignore the economic realities of vulnerable groups.
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Articles on Infrastructure projects
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Grocon as a construction business might be on its last legs, but Grocon as a property development and landlord business should be fine.
A review of all public road and rail projects worth $20 million or more and completed since 2001 reveals a 21% cost overrun. Worryingly, costs of bigger projects blew out more often and by more.
I was a federal environment official for 13 years. Streamlining approvals for big infrastructure projects is a big environmental risk, unless it’s done properly.
Smaller projects are better for delivering broad, long-term value to communities across the country, reducing inequality and cutting emissions, as well as quickly providing jobs and economic stimulus.
Big development projects can mean the loss of a community’s identity and connection to their past.
The major parties are promising projects costing tens of billions of dollars, with a surprisingly large overlap between them. Yet only two have been endorsed by infrastructure authorities.
Every major transport study since the 1970s has identified Sydney’s western rail corridor as the priority for an upgrade. The latest patronage figures confirm that’s where the need is greatest.
Research around the world shows a consistent pattern of failures in public sector policy and project implementation. Yet we continue to embark upon implementation built on bias and faulty logic.
The World Bank needs to change as part of rethinking the current world order, and giving rising powers and developing countries a meaningful voice.
Whichever party wins, Victoria’s new government will have promised the biggest transport infrastructure project in Australian history. So what are the promises and are they backed by proper assessment?
Billions of taxpayer dollars are committed before all the evidence for, and against, infrastructure projects is in. As well as missing business cases, basic rules of economic modelling are broken.
Transport infrastructure has such an impact on what kind of city we become that more democratic planning is long overdue. But public consultation is typically limited and focused on design issues.
Since 2000, 8.8 million Brazilians have been displaced by disaster, development and crime, new data shows. Now Venezuelan migrants are pouring into the country. Still, Brazil has no real refugee plan.
Since the 1990s, the supply of deeply subsidized housing has decreased as the US population and need for housing have increased. Trump’s proposed cuts to HUD won’t help.
The highly politicised nature of the NBN has led to a lack of transparency that makes it even harder to fix the mess that has been made of this vital national infrastructure.
The light rail project pushed up property values within 800 metres of the stations by over 30% from 1996 to 2016. Gains on this scale offer a potential source of finance for public transport.
The U.S. owes much of its prosperity to investment in public goods like highways, parks and schools. Trump’s budget poses a threat to these goods, which have already been on the decline.
Politicised transport projects that flout proper process lead to hostility between residents and governments, and give planners a bad name.
Consider these home truths: value capture is a tax, it would need to apply to the family home and deciding which areas it covers would be politically contentious. A broad-based land tax is simpler.
Top contributors
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Transport and Cities Program Director, Grattan Institute
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Associate Professor of Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne
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Transport Fellow, Grattan Institute
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Associate, Grattan Institute
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Professor, Cities Research Institute, Griffith University
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Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University
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Senior Research Fellow in Urbanism, University of Sydney
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Adjunct professor of architecture, University of Adelaide
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Professor of City Planning and Transport, Curtin University
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Patrick Harris is a Friend of The Conversation.
Senior Research Fellow, Acting Director, CHETRE, UNSW Sydney
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Head: Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, University of the Witwatersrand
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Ford Professor of Urban Design and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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Professor: International Business & Strategy, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand
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Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University
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Researcher, Indonesian Center for Law and Policy Studies (PSHK)
