Social Infrastructure: What Is It?
Infrastructure refers to long-term physical assets that support the provision of goods and services in markets with significant entry barriers.
Social Infrastructure frequently consists of facilities that can house social services. The assets in the table below as examples include community housing, hospitals, universities, and schools. Social services, like the provision of instructors at a school or correctional services at a prison, are often not included in social infrastructure.
On the other hand, the latter is characterized by “user-pays” or demand-based revenue sources and serves to fund economic activity (such as tolls on toll roads or landing fees for an airport). In New Zealand, a national or municipal government almost always provides social infrastructure (or related entities such as district health boards and universities). PPPs, which have been effectively employed to build public infrastructure since the early 1990s in the United Kingdom11 and more recently in Australia, are well suited to the development and provision of social infrastructure.
Examples of Social Infrastructure Assets
| Sector | Examples |
|---|---|
| Health | Medical facilities’ ancillary infrastructure (e.g. offices, carparks, training facilities) |
| Education | Schools (primary and secondary)Tertiary facilities residential student accommodation |
| Housing | State or Council housing defense force housing |
| Civic and Utilities | Community & sports facilities local government facilities water and wastewater treatment |
| Transport | Bus stationsPark and ridesAvailability-based roading (excluding demand-risk toll roads) |
| Corrections and Justice | PrisonsCourt houses |
Read more on INJ Architects:
Effects of Environmental Changes on Structures and Developments
