Territorial Infrastructure: Drafting of a Calculation Evaluation Method

Abstract

This study proposes a method for calculating the level of urban infrastructure and basic urban services on a given territory. It aims to contribute to a more accurate knowledge of the territory and the city, through the creation of an assessment tool for the urban condition, with the goal of overcoming imprecision hindering urban planning and management. Urban infrastructure is here understood in a broad sense, integrating usual urban attributes —roads, pavements, electricity, water supply, sanitation, etc.—but also a set of urban services and equipment traditionally provided by city and urban environment—administration, representation, culture, health, education and security, among others—and also other conditions diagnosed as significant for the current evolutionary trend of extended urbanity, such as mobility—integrating roadways, public transport networks, soft mobility devices and infrastructures —and access to and integration in communication and information networks —voice and data communication, fix and mobile. The development of this calculation method takes into account different relative weights for this set of conditions in order to obtain a balanced assessment of the level of infrastructure. In the future, the next stage will consist of testing in the field in order to fine tune and validate its usability in different scenarios. Keywords: urban condition, territory, infrastructure, measuring systems, calculation