In the article “New Cities Foundation”, Cho believes
that urban challenges must be considered in developing a sustainable
infrastructure. She further mentions the Envision Sustainability rating system
which prioritizes the sustainability of its infrastructure and allows a 360
degree impact on its community. Living in this era, infrastructures should
efficiently serve the community by improving their quality of life. She further
shares her focus on its assessment on King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and its
key challenges of urbanization. In context of sustainability against growth,
she hopes that the right project will help community and city to function as a
whole. With
the soaring number of successful sustainable infrastructure around the globe, I
strongly agree with
Cho on the need to input urban challenges in the
construction of any development.
Infrastructures that are blindly built, will be
useless when it’s no longer needed. Infrastructures built this way will be left
purposeless and be eventually demolished. This will be a total waste of
resources in both the building and demolishing process. Architect and
developers must fully research and understand their infrastructure outcome
well. What works for a certain country might not work for another country.
Likewise, architects must create infrastructure within the context of their
city’s environment and resources. It must also be built in such a way that they
can be repurposed over time to meet the needs of the community (Geis and Kutzmark, 2006). Cho even shared the
success stories of 2 awarded infrastructures; Highway Vias De Lima in Peru and
Nuevo Necaxa Avila Camacho Highway in Mexico. These
2 development are currently serving the citizens well and has allowed
integration through transportation and neighbourhood hubs, connecting the
people. These developments
have provided ease for their people, shortening distance time and meeting their
needs.
The writer’s current project, KAEC also proves the
importance of including urban challenges in infrastructure planning. Saudi is
expecting a high population growth and in response, KAEC plans to build 2
million homes and create 20,000 jobs for their people. KAEC is also expected to
boost Saudi tourism. With this, Saudi won’t be relying 100% on their oil money
as it will run out in the years to come (Mclelland, 2015). Looking at the
writer’s current involvement and influence in KAEC, it further proves how
important it is in creating infrastructure by working with the peoples need and
fully maximising the infrastructure capability. She also shared her belief that
Saudi KAEC ‘can evolve to lay the
groundwork for a broader sustainability platform that will serve communities
for generations to come.’ Other
than boosting their economy, advanced transportation has also been included in
KAEC. As ‘Speed is integral to KAEC’s vision for future’, high-speed rail
systems is included and aims to lessen demands on roads and will be a safer
ride for the people (Sylvia Smith, 2015). The train network will link KAEC with
Mecca and Medina and is expected to reduce journey time from Jeddah to 30
minutes.
In conclusion, inputting urban challenges in
infrastructure planning is very important. Maximising the infrastructure
capability is very important so that we can better provide and serve the
people. The example provided by Cho was ambitious and as proven above will be
benefitting Saudi in all aspect. Planning infrastructure now is more than just
having that on the map, it involves having a good relationship with both the
people and its environment. Infrastructure created with this approach will be
unbreakable.
References
Don Geis., Tammy Kutzmark.(2006). Developing Sustainable Communities:
The Future is Now. Retrieved from http://www.freshstart.ncat.org/articles/future.htm
Heidi Cho.(2014,December 14). Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in New Cities. Retrieved from http://www.newcitiesfoundation.org/evaluating-sustainable-infrastructure-development-new-cities/
Jennifer Lee.(2014). Case study of Nuevo Necaxa-Ávila Camacho Highway, Mexico. Retrieved from http://research.gsd.harvard.edu/zofnass/menu/current-research/infrastructure-360/nuevo-necaxa-avila-camacho-highway-mexico/
Euan Mclelland.(2015,May 23).The city springing up in the desert. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3094052/The-city-springing-DESERT-New-pictures-67billion-project-house-two-million-people-Saudi-Arabia-2035.html
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