The author of the article below argues that infrastructure is the physical manifestation of both political power and social values as a result technical experts can only answer the empirical question of what can be built—but never the normative question of what should be built.
He therefore believes that Infrastructure investments decisions are political and not technical. Do you agree?
Infrastructure investment decisions are political and not technical
Building infrastructure is an inherently political act of creation. Every investment choice lays the foundation for a future that could have been otherwise. Yet, infrastructure needs are typically presented as dispassionate, objective facts. In truth, infrastructure is the physical manifestation of both political power and social values. The design, location, scale, and scope of what governments build reflect social, economic, and political power in society. All too often, the benefits of access and opportunity flow to dominant racial and industry groups, while the burdens of disinvestment, pollution, and geographic isolation fall on low-income communities and communities of color.
Only by working through often messy and contentious deliberative planning processes with deep public engagement can a society determine what it needs to build. The technical expertise of engineers and scientists cannot circumvent the political nature of allocating scarce investment resources. Professional experts can and should inform the debate by providing insights into what is feasible and about the trade-offs of different investment alternatives. Stated differently, technical experts can answer the empirical question of what can be built—but never the normative question of what should be built.
This simple fact has important implications for infrastructure policy. First, there is no such thing as an objective needs estimate that is decoupled from politics. Instead, need is generated through collective debate about the type of future that infrastructure dollars should help to build. Second, the debate about infrastructure investments should begin with values and goals—not projects. Without a clearly defined purpose, infrastructure plans become shortsighted exercises in horse trading one project for another instead of a coherent blueprint for advancing a community’s vision.
Professional experts can and should inform the debate by providing insights into what is feasible and about the trade-offs of different investment alternatives.
Third, the political nature of infrastructure applies to every category of investment, including new construction, technology adoption, maintenance and reconstruction, and operations. Importantly, because investment in all forms is an act of creation, infrastructure plans should not be bound by the past. There is no mandate or intrinsic rationale for reinforcing the politics and project-selection decisions of prior generations.
Infrastructure need does not simply exist; it is a downstream consequence of political choices informed by values and technical analysis. Instead of asking how much infrastructure we need, the policy conversation should begin with the question, “What are we trying to achieve?” The main benefit of starting with the latter question is that it shifts the conversation away from assets and toward outcomes. Only when people have debated and ultimately determined what their economic, social, and environmental goals are for future investments will the development of an infrastructure plan become a valid process.
In the messy world of deliberative democracy, the political process of debating infrastructure investment goals and implementation plans will inevitably devolve into an imperfect version of an idealized process. However, no matter how clunky it may be, focusing the deliberative process on outcomes is essential to infrastructure planning because the stakes are so high. Infrastructure assets last for decades. The decisions that elected officials, planners, and the public make collectively will shape economic production, social mobility, and environmental health, among other outcomes, for many decades.
This is an edited version of an article written by Kevin DeGood a Director of Infrastructure Policy at the Center for American Progress. To read the full article click here
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