Public works are the construction or engineering projects carried out by the state A sovereign state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. A state usually includes the set of institutions that claim the authority to make the rules that govern the people of the society in that territory, though its status as a state often depends in part on being recognized by on behalf of the community In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.
Contents |
Overview
The notion of internal improvements or public works is a concept in economics Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία from οἶκος (oikos, "house") + νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)". Current economic and politics Politics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the. The term public Public, adj, is of or pertaining to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; opposed to private; as, the public treasury, a road or lake. Public, n, is also defined as the people of a nation not affiliated with the government of that nation infrastructure Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, power grids, refers only to the infrastructural capital Infrastructural capital refers to any physical means of production or means of protection beyond that which can be gathered or found directly in nature, i.e. beyond natural capital and that which is not considered as "fluid capital". It may include tools, clothing, shelter, irrigation systems, dams, roads, boats, ports, factories or any involved in these activities.
An internal improvement is some constructed In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of multitasking. Normally the job is managed by the project manager and supervised by the construction manager, design engineer, object that augments a nation Though "nation" is also commonly used in informal discourse as a synonym for state or country, a nation is not identical to a state. Countries where the social concept of "nation" coincides with the political concept of "state" are called nation states's economic Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek οἰκονομία from οἶκος (oikos, "house") + νόμος (nomos, "custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)". Current economic infrastructure Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, power grids,; examples include airports An airport is a location where aircraft such as aeroplanes, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may also be stored or maintained at an airport. An airport consists of at least one surface such as a runway, a helipad, or water for takeoffs and landings, and can often includes buildings such as hangars and terminal buildings, canals Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: aqueduct canals are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterway canals are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans, dams A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are often used in conjunction with dams to provide clean, dikes A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river or the coast, pipelines Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquid and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air have also been used, railroads Rail transport is the conveyance of passengers and goods by means of wheeled vehicles running along railways in British and Australian English . Railway transport is part of the logistics chain, which facilitates international trade and economic growth. Rail transport is capable of high capacity and is energy efficient, but lacks flexibility and, roads The term was also commonly used to refer to roadsteads, waterways that lent themselves to use by shipping. Notable examples being Hampton Roads, in Virginia, the seaway Barry Roads in the Bristol Channel and Castle Roads, in Bermuda, tunnels A tunnel is an underground passageway. The definition of what constitutes a tunnel is not universally agreed upon. However, in general tunnels are at least twice as long as they are wide. In addition, they should be completely enclosed on all sides, save for the openings at each end. Some civic planners define a tunnel as 0.1 miles in length or, and artificial harbours A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. Harbors can be man-made or natural. A man-made harbor will have sea walls or breakwaters and may require dredging. A natural harbor is surrounded on most sides by land.
Public works is a slightly broader term, it can include such things as: mines Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock salt and potash. Any material that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or, schools A school (from Greek σχολή , originally meaning "leisure", and also "that in which leisure is employed", "school"), is an institution designed to allow and encourage students (or "pupils") to learn, under the supervision of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly, hospitals A hospital is an institution for health care providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often but not always providing for longer-term patient stays, water purification Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, materials, and biological contaminants from raw water. The goal is to produce water fit for a specific purpose. Most water is purified for human consumption but water purification may also be designed for a variety of other purposes, including to meet the requirements of medical, and sewage treatment Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants. Its objective is to produce a waste stream (or treated effluent) and a solid centers. Municipal infrastructure, urban infrastructure Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise , or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, power grids, and rural development USDA Rural Development is an agency with the United States Department of Agriculture which runs programs intended to improve the economy and quality of life in rural America are often used interchangeably but imply either large cities or developing nations A developing country is a country that has low standards of democratic governments, civil service, industrialization, social programs, and/or human rights guarantees that are yet to "develop" to those met in the developed world.[citation needed] or alternative goals of material progress[citation needed] . It is often[when?] a term used' concerns respectively. The terms public infrastructure or critical infrastructure Critical infrastructure is a term used by governments to describe assets that are essential for the functioning of a society and economy. Most commonly associated with the term are facilities for: are also used interchangeably but suggest the inclusion of some facilities like hospitals A hospital is an institution for health care providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often but not always providing for longer-term patient stays, banks A bank is a financial institution licensed by a government. Its primary activities include borrowing and lending money. Many other financial activities were allowed over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds. In some countries such as Germany, banks have and concerns like national security The late political scientist Hans Morgenthau, author of Politics Among Nations, defines national security as the integrity of the national territory and its institutions and terrorism Terrorism is the intentional use or threat to use violence against civilians and non-combatants "in order to achieve political goals". This tactic of political violence is intended to intimidate or cause terror for the purpose of "exerting pressure on decision making by state bodies." The term "terror" is largely used which are not under the mandate of local officials alone.
Furthermore, the term Public works has recently been expanded to include digital public infrastructure projects. The first (US) nationwide digital public works project is an effort to create an open source software platform for e-voting (created and managed by the OSDV)[1].
Reflecting increased concern with sustainability Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term improvements in wellbeing, which in turn depend on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources, urban ecology Urban ecology is the subfield of ecology which deals with the interaction of plants, animals and humans with each other and with their environment in urban or urbanizing settings. Analysis of urban settings in the context of ecosystem ecology may ultimately help us to design healthier, better managed communities and quality of life The term Quality of Life used by politicians and economists to measure broader social effects of policies, such as the effect that reducing graffiti or vandalism might have on the wellbeing of local residents, efforts to move towards sustainable municipal infrastructure are common in developed nations The term developed country is used to describe countries that have a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue and there is fierce debate about this. Economic criteria have tended to dominate discussions. One such criterion is income per, especially in European Union The European Union is an economic and political partnership among 27 member states primarily in Europe that is committed to regional integration. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993, upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community. With a population of almost 500 million, the EU generates an and Canada Canada is a country occupying most of upper North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area and shares the world's longest common border with the United States to the south and northwest (where the FCM InfraGuide The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM, Fédération canadienne des municipalités) is a civic advocacy group representing many Canadian municipalities. It is an organization with no formal power but significant ability to influence debate and policy, as it is main national lobby group of mayors, councillors and other elected municipal provides an officially mandated best practice exchange to move municipalities in this direction).
Public Works Programmes
A Public Works Programme (PWP) is the provision of employment Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how by the creation of predominantly public goods In economics, a public good is a good that is non-rivaled and non-excludable. This means, respectively, that consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce availability of the good for consumption by others; and that no one can be effectively excluded from using the good. In the real world, there may be no such thing as an absolutely at a prescribed wage A wage is a compensation, usually financial, received by a worker in exchange for their labor for those unable to find alternative employment Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how. This functions as a form of social safety net The social safety net is a term used to describe a collection of services provided by the state or other institutions such as friendly societies, including welfare, unemployment benefit, universal healthcare, homeless shelters, and sometimes subsidized services such as public transport, which prevent individuals from falling into poverty beyond a. PWPs are activities which entail the payment of a wage A wage is a compensation, usually financial, received by a worker in exchange for their labor (in cash Cash refers to money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins or in kind) by the state A sovereign state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a geographic area and representing a population. A state usually includes the set of institutions that claim the authority to make the rules that govern the people of the society in that territory, though its status as a state often depends in part on being recognized by, or by an agent acting on behalf of the state, in return for the provision of labour. These activities have the aim of enhancing employment Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how or producing an asset In business and accounting, assets are economic resources owned by business or company. Any property or object of value that one possesses, usually considered as applicable to the payment of one's debts is considered an asset. Simplistically stated, assets are things of value that can be readily converted into cash. The balance sheet of a firm (either physical or social), with the overall objective of providing social protection.
As a study by the Overseas Development Institute has concluded, the majority of public works initiatives in developing countries offer either food or cash in return for physical labour and are known as food-for-work (FFW) or cash-for work (CFW). One particular form of public works, that of offering a short-term period of employment, has come to dominate practice, particularly in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Applied in the short-term, this is appropriate as a response to transient shocks and acute labour market crises. [2]
Utility of investment
While it is argued that internal improvements can be used to reduce unemployment, opponents of internal improvement programs argue that such projects should be undertaken by the private sector, and not the public sector, because public works projects are characteristic of socialism. However, in the private sector, entrepreneurs bear their own losses and so private sector firms are generally unwilling to undertake projects that could result in losses. Since it is politically unpopular for governments to use public revenues to bail out private firms that lose money, many times the preferred alternative is to have governments undertake unprofitable projects directly. Consequently, almost all significant infrastructure in the U.S., including the Transcontinental Railroad, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Interstate Highway System, were created through federal investment (often employing private subcontractors). Since the disappearance of the Berlin Wall, large public works are more and more being associated with the opening of internal frontiers, as in the case of the Erie Canal and Trans-Siberian Railway.[citation needed]
Corruption, cost overrun and demand shortfall
Cost overruns and demand shortfalls frequently haunt public works projects. [3]The main causes of cost overrun and demand shortfall are optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation (Flyvbjerg et al. 2002, 2005). Reference class forecasting was developed to curb optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation and thus arrive at more accurate cost and demand estimates. Public works projects can be prone to corrupt practices in the form of waste, crony contracts and theft of funds and materials. Generally a system of public tenders and construction supervision by reputable engineering or architectural firms is used to reduce the risk of corrupt practices. According to the research conducted at the Aalburg University, 86% of the public works often end up with cost overruns. Peculiars found in the research were that
- technically difficult projects did not ended up more exceedings of the budget than technically easy projects
- projects in which more people where directly and indirectly affected by the project turned out to be more susceptible to cost overruns
- the projects generally did not learn from similar projects attempted in the past [4][5]
Sources and further reading
- Bent Flyvbjerg, Mette K. Skamris Holm, and Søren L. Buhl (2002), "Underestimating Costs in Public Works Projects: Error or Lie?" Journal of the American Planning Association, vol. 68, no. 3, 279-295.
- Bent Flyvbjerg, Mette K. Skamris Holm, and Søren L. Buhl (2005), "How (In)accurate Are Demand Forecasts in Public Works Projects?" Journal of the American Planning Association, vol. 71, no. 2, 131-146.
- "Political Economy of Very Large Space Projects", Journal of Evolution and Technology. vol. 4. November 1999.
- Fighting Hunger and poverty in Ethiopia (Peter Middlebrook)
See also
- Egyptian Public Works
- Infrastructure
- New Deal
- Opera Publica
- Public good, an economic discussion.
- Public Works Administration
References
- ^ The TrustTheVote Project http://www.trustthevote.org
- ^ "A typology for Public Works Programming". Overseas Development Institute. December 2008. http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/specialist/natural-resource-perspectives/121-typology-of-public-works-programming.pdf.
- ^ List of public projects with cost overruns
- ^ Natuurwetenschap & Techniek Magazine April 2009
- ^ http://members.home.nl/menno.visser/japaflyvbjerg.pdf Project peculiars]
External links
- Public Works magazine - The voice of professionals serving America's communities
- Planete TP - The world of public works
- American Public Works Association - Professional society
- Digging holes and filling them in again? How far do public works enhance livelihoods? - ODI Natural Resource Perspectives Paper
Some Public Works Communities
Categories: Physical infrastructure | Public economics
|
NJ.com
They helped us out tremendously," Dean Dellaquila, director of public works , said on Wednesday. The state Department of Corrections (DOC) claimed it would ...
and more »
163px x 254px | 11.70kB
[source page]
This division is responsible for the maintenance and repair of all Public Works Police Engineering Fire Department Community Development Administration and EMA
unknown
hu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GM
Be the first to know - GISdevelopment.net News brings you the news, views and reviews of the latest events and happening in the GIS Community.
