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

SEARCHING FOR THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF TOMORROW:
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, FEDERAL INTERESTS AND FEDERAL ROLES
by
Andrew C. Lemer t
Director, Building Research Board
February 12, 1992
INTRODUCTION
Today, the products of technological innovation in many fields are all around us: Organ transplants have
become almost commonplace in hospitals around the country. A daunting array of new food products with long
shelf lives entice us at supermarkets. Computers that now fit comfortably on one's lap pack more power than
the room-sized machines commonly available just two decades ago.
In contrast, our infrastructure relies for the most part on technologies that emerged initially in the 19th
century. Brooklyn's (New York) was the first modern urban sewerage treatment system, built in 1857 (Herman
and Ausubel, 1988). The first concrete roads followed within two decades the 1824 invention of Portland cement,
and the Place de la Concorde in Paris was paved with asphalt as early as 1835 (Hamilton, 1975). Modern water
supply was born in London in the middle of the century. Alexander Graham Bell invented his telephone in 1876,
and Edison his electric light in 1880.
Some observers argue that technological innovation in infrastructure is lagging, and that government
action is needed to remedy the situation. Others note that with the exception of occasional newsworthy eventsburst
water mains, ruptured steam lines, failed cables and switches---most of the U. S. infrastructure continues
to work well, and that other demands for public resources merit higher priority. Does the United States face
particular problems of opportunities lost or higher costs for infrastructure innovation? Is the United States
falling behind other nations in providing infrastructure's services, with consequences for our future quality of life
and international competitiveness? If so, can we agree on an effective course of action? The Building Research
Board (BRB), a unit of the National Academy of Sciences, is working to help answer such questions.
1 The views contained herein are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of the Building Research
Board or the National Research Council.
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