Sustainable urban infrastructure
Citation: Ferrer ALC, Thomé AMT, Scavarda AJ. Sustainable urban infrastructure: A review. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 2016;128:360-372.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: No.
Funding sources: Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, and Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for peer-reviewed articles that described themes for sustainable urban infrastructure. They restricted their searches to publications in English. The authors found 995 papers.
What was found: Common themes included stormwater management, urban infrastructure, investments in urban areas and their environmental impacts, the effects of climate change, and the vulnerability of cities to these challenges. Themes for urban infrastructure progressed from initial concerns about housing and city segregation to a more systemic approach about facilities, vulnerabilities, and integration of communication networks.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that sustainable urban infrastructure offers power and economic growth to mitigate against disasters. Future researchers should apply a more modern definition of urban infrastructure that extends beyond physical infrastructure to include renewable resources, the interaction of people in urban spaces, and the role of electronic and communication networks.
Other considerations: The authors of the review did not discuss their findings in the context of issues relating to health equity.
This summary was prepared by Briann Mensour, checked by Jawaria Karim, and finalized by William Summerskill.