Francisco Pineda, Lecturer in the Discipline of Construction Administration; Academic Director, M.S. Construction Administration
Ike Umunnah, Director Office of Public Affairs at U.S. Economic Development Administration
In the US, infrastructure has always been mired in dysfunctional politics, with often unclear allocation of responsibilities between federal, state and local government. On top of that, it hasn’t been clear what ‘infrastructure’ is, nor has there been an ambitious reimagining of what it could be.
Ultimately, the problems underlying our nation’s infrastructure mess are not just structural. They are also philosophical. It is not just our infrastructure that needs updating, but our concept of infrastructure.
As Joe Biden is inaugurated as president of the United States, we have the political and economic conditions to change that. Biden’s Infrastructure Plan is prepared to offer a long-run vision of how infrastructure can better enable our economy and serve all of its citizens. It also provides as a semblance of a national strategy with pragmatic short-term remedies.
Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan is as close as we have been to understanding infrastructure the way the rest of the world does: as an important piece of national and geo-political strategy. The plan is built around three defining objectives: clean energy, modernising the current system and ensuring equity. It makes sense. It repositions infrastructure and, by extension, its role in our current and future socio-economic systems.
Key Questions Explored:
- what is the vision, the strategy, the plan, the rationale
- why is it important
- how will it play out in NYS and how does it reconcile with Cuomo’s big plan
- what about the Albany / NYC dysfunction
- Mega projects, major problems, minor issues, and micro solutions for NYC
- future-casting the years ahead...
