World's Decaying Cities Need 40 Trillion Dollar Upgrade

A report says that cities around the world need to invest US$40 trillion to upgrade their infrastructure or they risk losing their workforce to locations with better services.

The report cites many incidences and it argues that things like the drought in London last year and the nine-day blackout in Queen's, a suburb of New York City, show just how fragile and antiquated some of the world's major cities basic infrastructure is becoming. London's drought was partly caused by ageing pipes that leaked billions of litres of water, and the Queens crisis was caused by 60-year-old feeder cables. The consultancy firm of Booz Allen Hamilton produced the report and they say that fragile infrastructures that are delivering water and power and providing transport services will not be able to keep pace with rising demands. With 50 per cent of the world's population expected to be living with urban centers by the year 2050, cities that do not invest in infrastructure will risk losing their best, brightest and hardest working citizens to other locations. The report argues that the cities that are effectively organised will become "cities of opportunity" that will act as "magnets for humanity" by providing more effective services that citizens often take for granted. Booz Allen Hamilton argued that water, transport and power infrastructure could hit crisis points at the same time in cities because the networks were fundamentally intertwined. The report, called Lights! Water! Motion! said planning for these needed to be done together. The report says that infrastructures can be reinvigorated by integrating finance, governance, technology and design. Booz Allen Hamilton says that the private sector must take the lead in the financing, pricing and ownership of infrastructure improvements, and governments should encourage their collaboration and competition. It points to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport as a positive example of the type of public/private partnership that can be undertaken to improve a city's basic infrastructure.