demand compels owners to concentrate on a particular use, an infrastructure resource
may end its role as such.
Long distance rail passenger transport, in several countries, have given way to
high speed passenger (demand has changed) transport on specially built railway
networks. The former railroads are still connected to the national rail system, but are
now concentrating on goods transport, rather than passengers. They still comprise
part of that infrastructure, but no longer have the same former role.
Change may also happen from the opposite direction: a resource designed and
used for a specific need may develop into infrastructure. For example, when a road,
railway or canal starts catering for more users, or is connected to a larger network,
what was a secluded segment is now incorporated into a larger, general-purpose
network.
Such evolution often happens with science and technology, where new and often
completely unforeseen uses are sometimes discovered, thereby generating a wide
range of different sources of demand. There are many basic technologies which
began as special purpose, being developed to provide functionality for achieving a
particular goal, and over time, the range of uses increased widely as entrepreneurs
and others adopted and adapted the technology.
Infrastructure often depends on both supply and on demand decisions. The
railroad example above depicts how demand changes may entail changes in the
range of actual uses with minor or major changes in design. The same rail route
could probably have been kept, but in many cases, this led to new routes, and new,
more comfortable, trains. Conversely, it is not impossible for capacity changes to
upset infrastructure status. For example, when partially (non)rival infrastructure
(infrastructure with fixed, congestible capacity) becomes so regularly congested,
that nonrivalrous use is impossible at any time, the marginal customer necessarily
crowds out or inflicts costs on another prospective user. In addition, capacity
expansion may allow nonrivalrous distribution of a formerly rivalrous generic
capital resource.
Changes in design, management, and allocation hierarchies for infrastructure may
also result from dynamic interaction between demand and supply. For example, both
cable and telecommunications networks were initially conceived to supply particular
services (transmission of television and voice communications), respectively. The
demand for these services fashioned the design, management, and distribution
hierarchies for the underlying infrastructure, which continues changing considerably
to accommodate demand for data transmission over the Internet.
In fact, the Internet evolved from a computer networking infrastructure created to
meet the demands from government and academia for national defense purposes,
collaborative research and to improve the computing and networking technologies.
Over the years, it developed rapidly into the mixed infrastructure we recognise
today, supporting a very wide range of unexpected uses and meets demands from
all avenues of society. The supply-side changes in ownership and management were
partly motivated by repressed demand from commercial entities that wanted to
supply commercial traffic over the internet.
17.8 Infrastructure Is Dynamic
495
may end its role as such.
Long distance rail passenger transport, in several countries, have given way to
high speed passenger (demand has changed) transport on specially built railway
networks. The former railroads are still connected to the national rail system, but are
now concentrating on goods transport, rather than passengers. They still comprise
part of that infrastructure, but no longer have the same former role.
Change may also happen from the opposite direction: a resource designed and
used for a specific need may develop into infrastructure. For example, when a road,
railway or canal starts catering for more users, or is connected to a larger network,
what was a secluded segment is now incorporated into a larger, general-purpose
network.
Such evolution often happens with science and technology, where new and often
completely unforeseen uses are sometimes discovered, thereby generating a wide
range of different sources of demand. There are many basic technologies which
began as special purpose, being developed to provide functionality for achieving a
particular goal, and over time, the range of uses increased widely as entrepreneurs
and others adopted and adapted the technology.
Infrastructure often depends on both supply and on demand decisions. The
railroad example above depicts how demand changes may entail changes in the
range of actual uses with minor or major changes in design. The same rail route
could probably have been kept, but in many cases, this led to new routes, and new,
more comfortable, trains. Conversely, it is not impossible for capacity changes to
upset infrastructure status. For example, when partially (non)rival infrastructure
(infrastructure with fixed, congestible capacity) becomes so regularly congested,
that nonrivalrous use is impossible at any time, the marginal customer necessarily
crowds out or inflicts costs on another prospective user. In addition, capacity
expansion may allow nonrivalrous distribution of a formerly rivalrous generic
capital resource.
Changes in design, management, and allocation hierarchies for infrastructure may
also result from dynamic interaction between demand and supply. For example, both
cable and telecommunications networks were initially conceived to supply particular
services (transmission of television and voice communications), respectively. The
demand for these services fashioned the design, management, and distribution
hierarchies for the underlying infrastructure, which continues changing considerably
to accommodate demand for data transmission over the Internet.
In fact, the Internet evolved from a computer networking infrastructure created to
meet the demands from government and academia for national defense purposes,
collaborative research and to improve the computing and networking technologies.
Over the years, it developed rapidly into the mixed infrastructure we recognise
today, supporting a very wide range of unexpected uses and meets demands from
all avenues of society. The supply-side changes in ownership and management were
partly motivated by repressed demand from commercial entities that wanted to
supply commercial traffic over the internet.
17.8 Infrastructure Is Dynamic
495