INFRASTRUCTURE
Paving the Way Back to Economic Recovery
by Leslie Rubin and Sarah Rubin
This article has been an unusually difficult one to write because the subject matter is ubiquitous, difficult to think in single unit terms due to its interconnectedness, and has such a long realization timetable that it becomes part of a daily ritual rather than event. Who hasn’t felt the impact and associated disruption that bridge, rail and road construction entails? When the infrastructure is finally completed, it is such a total transference to the ‘new’ that any attempt to remember what existed before conjures up a cloudy image.
It is these attributes of infrastructure that allow the authors to quickly draw the first conclusion of this article – for the vast majority of the general population, infrastructure exists in the present. Only for a small group of professionals, a subset of government officials and businesses in need of access to infrastructure is a future tense meaningful.
Thus it is easy to understand why infrastructure is not inherently exciting to discuss or is typically referenced as a causal link to economic development. It is also why the risk of media backlash is very real when infrastructure is touted as a vehicle for economic development. Some discussion about the media risks will follow later in the article, but for the moment it is important to establish a point of reference.
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