This course provides an overview of the issues involved in infrastructure policy and governance, as well as an introduction to the skills necessary for solving the various analytic and managerial problems that are peculiar to this area. The following concepts, tools, and issues are presented in both public and private sector cases: alternative models of decision-making, politics, transaction costs, project delivery, governance modes, stakeholder valuation and analysis, and government-based regulation.
Infrastructure systems include all physical facilities relevant to the provision of school services, transportation, sewerage, water supply, storm drainage, solid waste, law enforcement, fire services, parks and recreation, libraries, health services, and general government services. Several courses would be required to cover the full range of these systems, so this course is necessarily selective, focusing on energy, water/sewer, stormwater, and transportation infrastructure systems. The course begins with a review of these infrastructure systems, how they work, and the role of planners in the provision of these services. The course then discusses how infrastructure might be the best approach to managing growth, offering a potentially more effective means of directing the timing and intensity of development.
The second half of the course investigates regulation, project delivery and infrastructure financing techniques. This course examines: (a) how to regulate the pricing and the quality of infrastructure services; (b) delivery structures and options for financing; and (c) how, whether, and when to increase private participation in the development, investment, and operation of public infrastructure,. The course will provide an introduction to infrastructure economics and governance. The emphasis, however, will be on helping students develop a robust analytical framework and an understanding of the political economy of infrastructure policies, provision and service delivery.