An approach to designing sustainable urban infrastructure

For more than 10,000 years, cities have evolved continuously, often shaped by the challenges they had to face. Similarly, we can imagine that cities will have to evolve again in the future to address their current challenges. Specifically, urban infrastructure will need to adapt and use less energy and fewer resources while becoming more resilient. In this article, starting with a definition of sustainability, two urban infrastructure Sustainability Principles (SP) are introduced: (1) control the demand and (2) increase the supply within reason, that are then applied to seven infrastructure systems: water, electricity, district heating and cooling and natural gas, telecommunications, transport, solid waste, and buildings. From these principles, a four- step Urban Infrastructure Design (UID) process is compiled that can be applied to any infrastructure project: (1) control the demand to reduce the need for new infrastructure, (2) integrate a needed service within current infrastructure, (3) make new infrastructure multi-functional to provide for other infrastructure systems, and (4) design for specific interdependencies and decentralize infrastructure if possible. Overall, by first recognizing that urban infrastructure systems are inherently integrated and interdependent, this article offers several strategies and guidelines to help design sustainable urban infrastructure.