In late November, the AIA held its first Build America Summit in New York, a conference that had special resonance in the wake of the presidential election. We are facing policy shifts in Washington that could well have a profound impact on the built environment. The topic of rebuilding America’s deteriorating infrastructure—and creating jobs—was a hot campaign issue, though neither President-elect Trump nor Hillary Clinton came close to proposing the amount that the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates is really needed, a sum north of $3.5 trillion by 2020. And the President-elect’s notion to finance infrastructure largely though mega tax breaks to private developers probably wouldn’t help parts of the public realm that require serious funding and really matter to people.
The reason? Infrastructure doesn’t just mean big-muscle projects like highways and airports. According to a public-opinion survey conducted by the Harris Poll and released at the AIA conference, 83 percent of the respondents said they considered schools, libraries, and parks part of their community infrastructure—and that those needed investment as much as roads or bridges. Such social infrastructure, and the basic role of local governments in building those projects, emerged as a key theme of the conference.
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