Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation in the Public Works ...

growing threat from major fires, and the economic pressure
from speculative increases in the price of land, became the
"necessity" for which invention was a dramatic response.
Large numbers of people capable of technological inventions,
protection afforded by a patent system promising nineteen
years of no competition, and the corporate form of business
enabling thousands of persons to make small investments to
capitalize a new venture, all helped stimulate a period of
rapid changes in the infrastructure of cities. The
resulting quantum leaps towards the end of the 19th century
can be termed a "second generation of urban infrastructure".
The second generation was based essentially on eight
innovations introduced before 1900:
1. The steel structural system, separating structure
from the exterior walls, thus making tall buildings
possible.
2. The elevator making vertical movement within
buildings taller than five or six floors practical.
3. Electrical systems, including generators,
distribution methods, motors and the electric light.
4. Central heating which removed the danger of fire
and the logistics problems of fireplaces and stoves;
5. Indoor plumbing, including water supplies, sewers,
bathtubs and toilets.
6. The telephone, including switching centers and
wires for distribution.
7. The automobile (more importantly the internal
combustion engine) easing trips to the suburbs.
8. The subway, making movement patterns in dense urban
areas more effective.
Since the turn of the century, with the possible
exception of radio and television, there has been no major
invention capable of displacing these one hundred year old
systems. All civilian infrastructure investments and
creativity have gone into modest improvements in performance
and/or appearance of these eight innovations, or into the
diffusion and maintenance of existing systems.
It seems clear that major new infrastructure inventions
and innovations are possible. One of the requirements for
advancing new concepts and introducing innovations is to
have a set of performance requirements, e.g., goals and
objectives for infrastructure stated in language which is
independent of existing solutions. A preliminary set of
such performance requirements follows:
Attributes Required of All Systems Independent of Function:
1. Systems should be financed in a way which makes them
economically viable and socially just for all citizens.
2. Systems should be operable whenever needed to
sustain a safe and effective supporting network for the
community, including periods of darkness and/or
inclement weather.
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