The United States has an urban planning problem. No American city has made the top 10 of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index. Some of the nation’s most desirable places to live have been moving down the rankings. An excellent case is Los Angeles, dropping from 37th place in the world in 2022 to 57th in 2023.
Even worse, the latest reading recorded the highest average index score for cities in 15 years. The standard of living outside the U.S. is improving while American towns are trending in the opposite direction.
Infrastructure was only one of five metrics the EIU used to assess city liveability. Still, the U.S. could have performed much better over the years had government spending on maintaining roads, bridges, public water, sewage, trains and ports as a fraction of gross domestic product didn’t drop by nearly 53% from 1961 to 2022.
Is there a solution? Aside from government interventions — like the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — geospatial technology is a critical innovation that can help urban planners fix the situation.
What Are the Major Concerns in Urban Infrastructure?
Government neglect isn’t the only culprit for the country’s crumbling infrastructure. These challenges are also plaguing urban planners:
- Ballooning population: Even prudent and well-meaning local and state governments with swelling coffers can find difficulties in updating existing and building additional infrastructure due to rapid migration-driven population growth.
- Worsening traffic congestion: Bottlenecks resulting from mismanaged urban areas ironically slow modernization and development because road closures can prolong commutes for extended periods.
- Natural disasters: Storms, earthquakes, wildfires and floods impede construction projects.
- Environmental degradation: Urban planners must keep sustainability in mind, but balancing development and environmental protection can be taxing.
- Looming climate change effects: Global warming’s threatening consequences put more pressure on updating building standards, designing resilient structures and funding vital projects.
- Finite resources: Government units, including the richest ones, have limited funds and various expenses. Political priorities may shift after every election when a new administration comes in. Budget cuts can also put off critical infrastructure developments.
- Unreceptive communities: Residents’ “not in my backyard” attitude in some locations makes effecting essential changes more challenging.
How Geospatial Technology Addresses Urban Infrastructure Issues
Geospatial tools and processes — including remote sensing, GPS, georeferencing, geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial data analysis — are instrumental in revolutionizing urban planning and development. Policymakers have successfully used them in these four ways.
1. Improving Public Transportation
Portland has leveraged geospatial data to serve citizens better. The government’s PortlandMaps gives the general public access to transportation and street data around the clock to navigate the city more easily.
Transit Tracker uses GPS to track bus locations in real time. It shares many functionalities with Google Maps — such as aerial photos and street view — except it’s more granular. This app lets users search for public amenities, including sidewalks, benches, curb cuts, traffic signals and lighting, and may provide information on road changes and available parking spots.
Even if you’re not a native Portlander, you can use it to leisurely wander through the Beaver State’s largest city as if you’ve known it your whole life.
PDX Bus is another GPS-based app designed to help commuters find stops and know when public transport will arrive.
2. Identifying Underserved Areas
San Diego uses GIS to create maps to discover economically disadvantaged communities. The city government relies on location intelligence to understand social justice problems, deliver equitable services and inform decisions when planning future developments.
America’s Finest City understands that inequality has a geographic component because some of its poorest communities are linguistically isolated. Geospatial data enables authorities to see the whole picture, zoom in on neglected neighborhoods and prioritize them for investment.
3. Building Climate-Resilient Structures
Geospatial tech arms urban planners with knowledge of a city’s environmental challenges, telling them which areas merit closer attention. GIS-based data visualizations reveal flood-prone places, localized air quality measurements, transportation networks, green space accessibility and economic hotspots. Geospatial data also helps policymakers grasp a city’s potential for renewable power generation — particularly solar — and urban expansion.
For example, New York City has a treasure trove of geospatial data it intends to use to fund climate resilience efforts and guide its future infrastructure investments. The Big Apple expanded its database using street-level LiDAR, complementing existing borough block lot numbers.
Geospatial data-based insights are critical building blocks for climate-resilient infrastructure projects. The right construction professionals can take them to the next level.
Many developers make the mistake of confusing competent and qualified individuals. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration defines them differently, assigning hazard identification and elimination responsibilities to competent personnel while declaring safety structure design and supervision to fall within the purview of qualified employees.
Therefore, qualified persons must handle geospatial insights while competent workers must be at the job site. This way, you can ensure climate-resilient infrastructure projects finish without delay and budget overruns.
4. Mitigating Disasters in the City
Geospatial technologies are low-hanging fruit among the latest innovations practical for every stage of disaster management. They can give you eyes from above and help you view urban areas from unique vantage points.
Geospatial data is at the heart of any detailed city maps decision-makers use to develop robust disaster management plans and mitigate crises. Such clear visualizations are game-changing regarding accurately identifying environmental hazards and at-risk areas.
The NASA Disasters Mapping Portal depends on GIS to examine changes on the planet and deliver findings to the public intuitively and digestibly. This tool helped first responders handle simultaneous wildfires across California in 2020. NASA assisted disaster coordinators in pinpointing active fire points, fire modeling, and analyzing smoke plumes and air quality.
Plan Urban Environments Better With Geospatial Tech
Modern, climate-resilient public infrastructure alone doesn’t automatically make a city liveable, but they elevate the standard of living. Fixing America’s cities won’t happen overnight, but geospatial technology will help urban planners improve the status quo slowly but surely.
