Why do some countries recover faster now from natural hazards than they did before?

By Dr Harvey Hill, scholar – We often read about massive losses in human lives and damage to infrastructure, economic output and the environment due to hurricanes, typhoons, Super Storms, earthquakes and tsunamis. Less often do we read about events that produce less damage and fatalities than similar previous events have in the same region. Two examples of this are: 1)[…]

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Subsurface infrastructure (part II)

By Dr. Geert Roovers, scholar – In our more and more crowded and connected world adequate and modern infrastructure is a backbone of sustainable development. This infrastructure comprises – for example – transport-infrastructure, pipelines, high-tech cables and energy-assets, often in densely used urbanized areas. As urbanization is rapidly growing, sustainable management of this infrastructure is becoming difficult. First, sustainable management[…]

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Power Up?

By Tjeerd Burger, young professional – Take a look at this simple map, just taken from Wikepedia, and imagine what could explain the difference in color between the different European countries. And yes, it has to do with infrastructure. The map represents the different railway electrification systems used in Europe: 750 V DC 1,5 kV  DC 3 kV DC 15 kV, 16,7[…]

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Stakeholder participation in long term planning of water infrastructure

By Dr Geert Roovers, scholar – Taking stakeholders into account while making plans helps to increase legitimacy. But in long-term planning involvement of stakeholders encounters severe problems. It encounters problems because of the misfit in planning horizons between asset manager and stakeholders. Furthermore, the ambiguous and indistinct character of stakeholders’ ambitions makes successful participation difficult. This article explores ways to deal[…]

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Myanmar: The New PPP Frontier?

By David Baxter, sr. fellow – Recently I co-presented a PPP workshop in Nay Pyi Taw the capital of Myanmar. The workshop was sponsored by the Dutch Government and was hosted by the Government of Myanmar. Twenty-four senior officials, from different ministries, participated enthusiastically in all activities associated with the workshop. The source of their enthusiasm was their desire to prepare[…]

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Subsurface infrastructure (part I)

By Dr. Geert Roovers, scholar – In our more and more crowded and connected world adequate and modern infrastructure is a backbone of sustainable development. This infrastructure comprises – for example – transport-infrastructure, pipelines, high-tech cables and energy-assets, often in densely used urbanized areas. As urbanization is rapidly growing, sustainable management of this infrastructure is becoming difficult. First, sustainable management has to[…]

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