The conference examined the micro- and macro-economics of infrastructure from a variety of perspectives. Appraisal of the economic case for infrastructure projects and programmes is a priority, with wide gaps in understanding the link between infrastructure systems and economic prosperity. We believe we made significant progress on these topics during the conference.
Papers will be published in a special issue of the Journal of Infrastructure Complexity, to be published in November 2014.
Day 1: Thursday 27/03/2014
Key note: Prof Roger Vickerman, Dean for Europe, University of Kent, Brussels, UK/BE.
- Trains, planes and automobiles: economic appraisal for a national transport infrastructure plan (pdf, 2 MB)
Key note: Dr Rachel Beaven, Director, Cambridge Econometrics; Chris Thoung; Pete Tyler
Session 1: Infrastructure as dynamic economic systems.
Chair: Pete Tyler
- From CBA to Complex Systems: the vacuum in the economic analysis of infrastructure? Leslie Budd
- Evolving simulations of infrastructure evolution Igor Nikolic and Andrew Bollinger
- Conceptualising infrastructure systems as socio-technical autocatalytic processes: Implications for economic infrastructure performance Alex Otto and Igor Nikolic
- Construct or constrain? Intermodal inconsistencies in infrastructure interventions Simon Blainey
Key note: Prof Geoffrey Hewings, Director, Regional Economics Applications Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne, US
- The challenges of measuring the economic impacts of infrastructure investments on an economy
Session 2: Infrastructure finance and implementation
Chair: Ed Oughton
- The development of a new suite of techniques to improve whole life performance of infrastructure, Tim Broyd and A.C. Davies
- Portfolio infrastructure investments: an analysis of the European case, Athena Panayiotou and M. Medda
- Governing ‘new’ infrastructure financing Andy Pike and Peter O’Brien
- Introducing systems interdependency to regional infrastructure appraisal Kate Young and Jim Hall
Session 3: Spatial perspectives on infrastructure and development
Chair: Scott Kelly
- Including infrastructure systems in a new economic geography model Robert Carlsson, Alex Otto and Jim Hall
- Comparing the socio-economic impacts of spatial planning options with their potential for decentralised green technologies Tony Hargreaves, Vicky Cheng, Marcial Echenique and Vassilis Zachariadis
- Who’s superconnected and who’s not? Investment in the UK’s information & communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure Ed Oughton and Peter Tyler.
- Urban redevelopment and transport infrastructure Kiril Stanilov and Ying Jin
- Low carbon infrastructure investment: extending business models for sustainability Timothy Foxon, Catherine Bale, Jonathan Busch, Stephen Hall, Katy Roelich and Julia Steinberger
Day 2: Friday 28/03/2014
Key note: Geoffrey Spence, Chief Executive, Infrastructure UK, HM Treasury, UK
Key note: Dr Balázs Égert, Senior Economist, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), FR
- Infrastructure and growth: empirical evidence
Session 4: Infrastructure and economic growth
Chair: Jim Hall
- Africa’s infrastructure Tony Addison and P.B. Anand
- Does infrastructure contribute to economic growth? Micro-level evidence from transportation projects in China Atif Ansar
- Water, risk and economic growth Simon Dadson
- Infrastructure, the economy and planning: the case for new approaches Tim Marshall
- Infrastructure, growth and sustainable living Liz Varga
Key note: Dr Stephane Hallegatte, Senior Economist, The World Bank – Sustainable Development Network, US
Session 5: The ITRC approach to modelling the risks associated with infrastructure failure
Chair: Rachel Beaven
- The cost of cascading failure: risk and resilience within UK infrastructure networks Scott Kelly, Peter Tyler and D.B. Crawford
- Climate resilient energy infrastructure Dan Calverley, Ruth Wood and Steven Glynn
- Dynamic resilience planning for interdependent economic systems Raghav Pant and Kash Barker
- Building interdependent infrastructure networks and customer assignment models for understanding spatial demands Scott Thacker, Raghav Pant, Jim Hall, Stuart Barr and David Alderson
Final panel session and closing plenary
Chair: Alex Otto
- Geoffrey Hewings
- Stephane Hallegatte
- Pete Tyler
- Jim Hall
