Draft #1 Summary Reader Response: "Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in New Cities"

In the article "Developing sustainable infrastructure in new cities", Cho(2014) expressed the importance of sustainable infrastructure in a metropolitan setting and identified key areas in determining how infrastructure can add value to the community. In the article, the economic driven-developments in new cities are affected by metropolitan challenges, thus enhancing in functionality and durability of infrastructure are necessary. As an impact King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) Fellow, Cho intended to use the Envision sustainability rating system as an impartial guideline to evaluate sophisticated infrastructure development. Cho used the Neuvo Nexcaxa- Avila Camacho Highway in Mexico as fitting reference to how the rating system would tackle these economic, social and environmental effects. In the course of the Fellowship, Cho aimed to “provide an Envision evaluation on a major planned road that is expected to be a main entry point and arterial road in King Abdullah Economic City", to satisfy KAEC's extensive sustainable infrastructure development. To a notable degree, Cho has elaborated about the Envision sustainability rating system created to improve on the infrastructure development to enhance the quality of life in the developing areas as the guidelines would be the main backbone in improving the social, economic and environmental status quo. 

Firstly, the use of Envision sustainability rating system to evaluate infrastructure development will lead to improvements in status quo. It would open paths to “local employment in the area, promotion of growth and development, improvement of mobility, or preservation of cultural assets in the community” as quoted from Contreras, C. & Gloria, T. (2017). The demand for sustainable infrastructure is relatively high in rural areas. Private sectors and the government are working closely together to pave way by integrating the rating system during the infrastructure development. Being able to follow the guidelines given, this will help them aim for a higher score and produce a better sustainable infrastructure design. Thus, they are heading towards the right direction to identify ways to integrate sustainability into the projects.

Secondly, the importance of rating the infrastructure will prove how effective the rating system can be. From the article, Clevenger, C. M., Ozbek, M. E., & Simpson, S. (2013) stated that “Envision is the only system applicable to many different types of infrastructure projects”. The rating system is designed for industries to improve their status quo by identifying ways to further improve on the infrastructure, which has a point system. Points will be given if there are improvements made and it will be converted to monetary value. With the rating system, it will benefit the present and the future as industries will constantly find ways to tackle problems to improve the status quo and chase incentives.

Lastly, the importance of materials used in sustainable infrastructure will be key to reducing waste management. There is a criterion in the rating system which encourages the government and private sectors to use recycled or reusable materials. Points will be awarded if the criteria have been met. By reusing waste materials and incorporating it into the construction development, it shows that how much is taken into consideration to boost the environmental status quo. This is a good way to integrate with the environment as it helps to reduce waste management by heavily reusing and recycling materials. With the use of local materials, it will help to reduce cost because there is not a need to import materials.

In conclusion, by following the proper guidelines and ensuring constant improvements towards developing the infrastructure, it will greatly benefit people around the community. The rating system will be the foundation for building a sustainable infrastructure. 

Reference:

 From "Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in New Cities" by H. Cho, 2014

https://newcities.org/evaluating-sustainable-infrastructure-development-new-cities/

Contreras, C., & Gloria, T. (2017, October). An Envision Rating System Approach to Sustainable Infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean. In International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure 2017 (pp. 20-31).

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/9780784478745.066

Shealy, T., & Klotz, L. (2014). Envision as Choice Architecture: Can Smarter Defaults Lead to More Sustainable Designs? In ICSI 2014: Creating Infrastructure for a Sustainable World (pp. 711-721). https://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/9780784481196.003

Clevenger, C. M., Ozbek, M. E., & Simpson, S. (2013, April). Review of sustainability rating systems used for infrastructure projects. In 49th ASC Annual International Conference Proceedings (pp. 10-13). Associated Schools for Construction.

http://ascpro0.ascweb.org/archives/cd/2013/paper/CPRT88002013.pdf