Editing Infrastructure (section)

{{short description|Facilities and systems serving society}}
{{See also|Hard infrastructure|Soft infrastructure}}
{{for|the mathematical concept|Infrastructure (number theory)}}
[[File:Ferry Building at night.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[San Francisco Ferry Building]], [[Embarcadero (San Francisco)|The Embarcadero]], and the [[San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge|Bay Bridge]] at night, all examples of infrastructure]]
{{Public Infrastructure}}
'''Infrastructure''' is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area,<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/infrastructure Infrastructure | Define Infrastructure at Dictionary.com<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305150655/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/infrastructure |date=2016-03-05 }}</ref> and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = O'Sullivan | first1 = Arthur | author-link = Arthur O'Sullivan (economist) | first2=Steven M. | last2=Sheffrin | author-link2 = Steven M. Sheffrin | title = Economics: Principles in Action | url = https://archive.org/details/economicsprincip00osul | url-access = limited | publisher = Pearson Prentice Hall | year = 2003 | location = Upper Saddle River, NJ| page = [https://archive.org/details/economicsprincip00osul/page/n490 474] | isbn = 978-0-13-063085-8}}</ref> Infrastructure is composed of public and private physical structures such as [[road]]s, [[railways]], [[bridge]]s, [[Airport|airports]], [[Public transport|public transit systems]], [[tunnel]]s, [[water supply]], [[sewerage|sewers]], [[electrical grid]]s, and [[telecommunications]] (including [[Internet access|Internet connectivity]] and [[Broadband|broadband access]]). In general, infrastructure has been defined as "the physical components of interrelated systems providing [[Commodity|commodities]] and services essential to enable, sustain, or enhance societal [[quality of life|living conditions]]" and maintain the surrounding environment.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fulmer|first=Jeffrey|title=What in the world is infrastructure?|journal=PEI Infrastructure Investor|year=2009|issue=July/August|pages=30–32}}</ref>

Especially in light of the massive societal transformations needed to [[Climate change mitigation|mitigate]] and [[Climate change adaptation|adapt to]] climate change, contemporary infrastructure conversations frequently focus on [[sustainable development]] and [[green infrastructure]]. Acknowledging this importance, the international community has created policy focused on sustainable infrastructure through the [[Sustainable Development Goals]], especially [[Sustainable Development Goal 9]] "[[Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure]]".

One way to describe different types of infrastructure is to classify them as two distinct kinds: [[hard infrastructure]] and [[soft infrastructure]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dyer |first1=Mark |last2=Dyer |first2=Rachel |last3=Weng |first3=Min-Hsien |last4=Wu |first4=Shaoqun |last5=Grey |first5=Thomas |last6=Gleeson |first6=Richard |last7=Ferrari |first7=Tomás García |title=Framework for soft and hard city infrastructures |journal=Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Urban Design and Planning |date=December 2019 |volume=172 |issue=6 |pages=219–227 |doi=10.1680/jurdp.19.00021 |s2cid=209056612 |doi-access=free |hdl=10289/15706 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Hard infrastructure is the physical networks necessary for the functioning of a modern industrial society or [[Industry (economics)|industry]].<ref name="Hamutak">{{Cite web|url=https://www.laohamutuk.org/econ/14TLDPM/InfraCSOen.pdf|title=Civil Society Comments on Infrastructure Strategic Sector|last=Hamutak|first=Luta}}</ref> This includes roads, bridges, and railways. Soft infrastructure is all the institutions that maintain the [[Standard of living|economic]], [[public health|health]], [[social security|social]], [[Natural environment|environmental]], and [[culture|cultural standard]]s of a country.<ref name="Hamutak" /> This includes [[educational program]]s, [[official statistics]], parks and [[recreation]]al facilities, [[law enforcement]] agencies, and [[emergency services]].