Assessing the Effects of Highway-widening Improvements on Urban and Suburban Areas

Assessing the Effects of Highway-widening Improvements on Urban and Suburban Areas
Author: Thomas Nelson Harvey
Publisher: Transportation Research Board
Total Pages: 56
Release: 1996
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780309058650

This synthesis will be of interest to highway environmental specialists (particularly those concerned with assessing social and economic impacts), design engineers, planners, utility managers, and others responsible for the planning, design, and implementation of highway-widening improvements. Information is presented on the reasons for highway-widening projects, the nature of the projects, and the methods and practices for application of analytical techniques used to measure the potential or actual impacts of the projects on people and the physical environment. Mitigation measures are also discussed. This report of the Transportation Research Board describes the most recent widening projects as reported by states or other transportation agencies, as well as the most frequently encountered issues in highway widening. Selected examples of widening projects are included, as is some recognition of the need for additional information and research in the areas of social and economic impact measurement.

Infrastructure and Land Policies

Infrastructure and Land Policies
Author: Gregory K. Ingram
Publisher: Lincoln Inst of Land Policy
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2013
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781558442511

More than 50 percent of the global population resides in urban areas where land policy and infrastructure interactions facilitate economic opportunities, affect the quality of life, and influence patterns of urban development. While infrastructure is as old as cities, technological changes and public policies on taxation and regulation produce new issues worthy of analysis, ranging from megaprojects and greenhouse gas emissions to involuntary resettlement. This volume, based on the 2012 seventh annual Land Policy Conference at the Lincoln Institute, brings together economists, social scientists, urban planners, and engineers to discuss how infrastructure issues impact low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Infrastructure drives economic and social activities. For urban areas, the challenges of balancing economic growth with infrastructure development and maintenance are reflected in debates about finance, regulation, and location and about the sustainable levels of infrastructure services. Relevant sectors include energy (electricity and natural gas); telecommunications (phone lines, mobile phone service, and Internet); transportation (airports, railways, roads, waterways, and seaports); and water supply and sanitation (piped water, irrigation, and sewage collection and treatment). Recent research shows that inadequate infrastructure is associated with income inequality. This is likely linked to the delivery of infrastructure services to households, such as direct health benefits, improved access to education, and enhanced economic opportunities. Because so much infrastructure is energy intensive, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other negative impacts must address services such as electric power and transport. Bringing the management of infrastructure up to levels of good practice has a large economic payoff, and performance levels vary dramatically between and within countries. A crucial unmet challenge is to convince policy makers and voters that large economic returns can result from improving infrastructure performance and maintenance.

Growing Cooler

Growing Cooler
Author: Reid H. Ewing
Publisher: Urban Land Institute
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2008
Genre: Architecture
ISBN:

Based on a comprehensive study review by leading urban planning researchers, this investigative document demonstrates how urban development is both a key contributor to climate change and an essential factor in combating it -- by reducing vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

Transport and Urban Development

Transport and Urban Development
Author: David Banister
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2003-12-16
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1135819939

This book takes an international perspective on the links between land use, development and transport and present the latest thinking, the theory and practice of these links.

Sustainable Development in the Jordan Valley

Sustainable Development in the Jordan Valley
Author: Jeroen Kool
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2016-10-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319300369

This book summarizes the NGO Master Plan that provides a comprehensive program to rehabilitate the Lower Jordan River and its tributaries in Jordan, Israel and Palestine. It is a regional and civil society effort designed to promote the restoration of the valley’s environmental and ecological values within a realistic financial and economic framework. The plan identifies 127 specific regional and national "interventions"(projects) until the year 2050, based on seven strategic planning objectives: pollution control, sustainable water management and river rehabilitation, sustainable agriculture, Jordan River basin governance, ecological rehabilitation, sustainable tourism and cultural heritage development, and urban and infrastructure development. The total investment value is 4.58 billion USD, the plan ranks the interventions and identifies their feasibility in a short, medium and long term investment cycles considering the political environment.

Stumbling Toward Sustainability

Stumbling Toward Sustainability
Author: John C. Dernbach
Publisher: Environmental Law Institute
Total Pages: 1038
Release: 2002
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781585760367

In 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the nations of the world agreed to implement an ambitious plan for ecologically sustainable human development. This book is a comprehensive review of U.S. efforts to achieve such development since Rio. The U.S. has unquestionably begun to take steps toward sustainable development. Yet the nation is now far from being a sustainable society, and in many respects is farther away than it was in 1992. Nevertheless, legal and policy tools are available to put the U.S. on a direct path to sustainability. This book brings together 42 distinguished experts from a variety of backgrounds and academic disciplines. It is among the most thorough assessments ever conducted of U.S. law and policy concerning the environment.