Critical to the functioning of any city is its infrastructure, the facilities and systems that serve the population. The infrastructure of any city has many elements:

• transportation features, such as roads, bridges, parking lots, and signs
• communications features such as cell phone towers, television cables, and Internet service
• utilities distribution systems for water, gas, and electricity
• public services buildings, such as police stations, courthouses, and fire stations
• sanitation collection systems for sewage and garbage
• entertainment venues, such as museums, theaters, and sports facilities
• open spaces, such as public parks and town squares

Building, repairing, and replacing infrastructure is costly and, in a busy urban setting, disruptive to people who live and work there. The infrastructure of older cities around the world is often in poor condition. Deciding who pays for elements of infrastructure, where they should be built, and what economic and social benefits they offer are usually hotly debated issues. For example, using public resources to build sports stadiums is particularly controversial, and the results are difficult to predict. In Denver, building a baseball stadium for the Colorado Rockies served as an anchor for economic development that helped revitalize a dilapidated area. In Atlanta, building a stadium displaced African American neighborhoods and provided limited economic benefits to the community.

Political Organization and Infrastructure

A city is a political entity. The term municipal refers to the local government of a city or town and the services it provides. For example, a mayor and city council make up the core of the municipal government, and the local water supply is the municipal water supply. Municipality refers to a local entity that is all under the same jurisdiction. The municipal government is responsible for managing infrastructure at the local scale, although the federal government often subsidizes large expenses. As cities have grown in the past two centuries, they have expanded in physical size, pushing their boundaries farther from the original core. When these settled areas move beyond the legal boundaries of the city, the inhabitants may be left without political representation or services from the city. The process of adding land to a city’s legally defined territory is known as annexation. Annexation generally requires a vote by residents in the affected areas.

Sometimes, residents who live beyond the legal boundaries of the city do not desire to become part of the central city. In such cases, residents may choose the option of incorporation, the act of legally joining together to form a new city. One reason is that the newly-created municipality is smaller and political representation is more “local” than if the residents had opted for annexation. Often many of these peripheral municipalities are cities only in terms of legal and political considerations. They usually lack a true CBD and continue to function as bedroom communities, or commuter suburbs, within the larger metro area. Some populated regions do not fall within the legal boundary of any city or municipality. These are known as unincorporated areas. On a political map, these are the areas between the legal boundaries of cities. Usually a nearby municipality provides their services and administration, through some higher division of civil government such as a county, borough, parish, or province. Over time, people of these areas may consider annexation by an existing city or incorporation as their own city.

Infrastructure and Economic Development

Economic wealth is not evenly distributed across the globe. Some cities are located in wealthier countries and, therefore, can spend more money on developing, maintaining, and improving infrastructure. Frankfurt For example, Frankfurt, Germany, is centrally located in Europe and is within a two-hour flight to most European capitals. The Frankfurt airport provides service to more than 100 countries. Its rail transportation is highly developed with nearly 1,800 trains that move people about the city each day. In addition, telecommunications are an integral part of the city’s infrastructure. At the national scale, Frankfurt is considered the most important Internet exchange center in Germany. At the global scale, the city is one of the world’s largest and most reliable data transfer sites. Lagos By comparison, Lagos, Nigeria, with almost 20 million people, is one of the world’s most populous megacities. Lagos is a vibrant city with a significant amount of commerce, accompanied by dynamic music, fashion, and film industries. However, due to extensive unplanned population growth, Lagos faces significant obstacles in the areas of public transportation, utilities, and sanitation. Roads are in severe disrepair, and often become nothing more than pathways of mud when heavy rains occur. The lack of sufficient roads limits the movement of residents and commerce in many parts of the city. While the city of Lagos has planned to improve communication infrastructure, it still lacks much of the technology of more-developed regions.

Infrastructure and Social Development

Urban planning and smart-growth policies are often implemented as urban and suburban populations continue to grow. Smart-growth policies encourage sustainable development economically and socially to increase efficiencies and protect the environment. Many aspects of smart-growth are illustrated in the infrastructure and social development of a city. Creating more walkable areas (both paved and nature trails), bike lanes, and common public spaces encourages a sense of place and community belonging. Improvements in infrastructure dramatically improve the living conditions in the poorest areas of the world. More indoor plumbing can help improve the sanitation conditions of people in some of the more densely populated cities like Kolkata, India; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and Nairobi, Kenya. Expanding access to educational opportunities and healthcare, especially for females, helps to strengthen society. People with more educational opportunities tend to have higher earning potential over the course of their lifetimes, which means they are more likely to have the financial resources to meet basic needs such as housing and healthcare.

Transportation and Urban Infrastructure

Running a city is complex and a challenge to all levels of government, especially smaller less-funded municipal governments. Local governments have to provide services that meet the needs of sometimes rapidly growing populations. Governments must build and care for infrastructure, maintain order, and mediate competing interests for the benefit of the entire population.

Public Transportation

The dense population of cities, combined with the high number of suburban residents who commute to central cities for jobs each day, places great demands on the transportation system. The use of large numbers of individual automobiles creates a multifaceted problem:

• environmental – air pollution and excessive use of nonrenewable energy sources
• social – congested roads and long commute times
• economic – valuable real estate used for parking areas and costs associated with car ownership

One solution to moving people around an urban area is public transportation – buses, subways, light rail, and trains that are operated by a government agency. Some cities in the United States such as New York City, Washington, DC, and San Francisco – are known for the success of their mass transit systems. However, few cities have extensive systems and ridership is often low in these cities so fares rarely cover operating costs. When fares increase, passenger numbers decline and the poor, who need public transportation the most, are often not able to use the system.

In contrast, governments in other countries have placed a higher priority on building, maintaining, and promoting the use of public transportation. A much higher percentage of the population of cities in Europe, Latin America, and parts of Asia rely on public transportation. Of the ten most-used urban train systems in the world, only New York City is in the United States. Of the top 50, only New York City and Washington, DC, are in the United States.

Automobiles in Urban Areas

Along with the importance of public transportation, automobile ownership has continued to grow in the 21st century. Collecting data about automobile use and applying it to improve traffic flow is critical to transportation in large cities. The use of this data by cities is an example of applied geography.

Traffic patterns change throughout the day as commuters come into the city in the morning and leave again in the afternoon. Lunch rush hours, weekends, and holiday data is also collected.

Once a city knows when and where the traffic issues are, the primary tool used to encourage efficient flow is the traffic signal. Cameras mounted at intersections and along major transportation arteries allow cities to adjust traffic flows in response to vehicle accidents and weather in real time. Emergency vehicles benefit from the data collected in both setting up signal patterns ahead of time and adjusting them from real-time data collection. A great deal of planning goes into decisions about signal lengths and coordination to keep cars moving efficiently.