Infrastructure policy
Research Topic
Language: English
This is a research topic created to provide authors with a place to attach new problem publications.
Research problems linked to this topic
- How can different mixes of ‘responses’ – such as regulations, taxes (for example polluter pays), subsidies (for example public money for public goods), and spatial planning – impact the delivery of environmental, economic, and social outcomes at different spatial scales?
- What is the operational efficiency of the current Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) planning regime and how can it be improved?
- What are the most effective interventions governments can implement to increase housing supply where most needed?
- How can we optimise the management of flood and coastal erosion infrastructure?
- How is the strategic regeneration of large areas best managed over the long term?
- What is the most effective means to support community regeneration through use of parks and public spaces?
- What are possible governance and finance options for flood and coastal erosion risk management?
- What does the evidence show are the factors that create the greatest potential to build agglomeration economies that benefit local areas and residents in question? And what are the key elements that bring agglomeration benefits– housing, transport, local skills, R&D and business dynamics? Are there costs to agglomeration that that worsen outcomes for residents and neighbouring areas?
- What can we learn from international models of local social infrastructure, local governance and devolution of power to communities?
- What are the broader environmental consequences of changes to the housing and planning system, and what is needed to support a lower-carbon future?
- Following COVID, the shift to online retail and increasing densification of cities, what does the evidence show that sustainable urban living looks like, to cater to society’s economic, environmental and social needs?
- What is the impact of micro individual behaviours and interaction with neighbourhood infrastructure and community spaces in creating the conditions for wider societal outcomes (e.g. health outcomes, crime reduction, climate change)? How can we understand where the marginal gains are to be had, i.e. what is the minimum behaviour change needed that creates significant accumulative impact?
- How do we increase societal resilience to flood and coastal erosion risk?
- How can we use novel datasets to understand capital investment needs across the UK, including by sector and region?
- What are the international examples of effective interventions to regenerate town centres and cities? What does this show us about the roles of the public and private sectors, the type of investment required, and in different contexts?
- What is the potential of new technology and innovation to change and improve flood planning and infrastructure?