Quality of Life, Sustainable Civil Infrastructure, and Sustainable Development: Strategically Expanding Choice

As sustainable development becomes a more important objective in civil infrastructure planning and policymaking, quality of life (QOL) is an increasingly important measure to understand, characterize, and apply effectively in the search for and development of appropriate infrastructure solutions for sustainable development. This paper reviews the role of QOL in civil infrastructure decision making. It provides an overview and critique of methodological approaches to defining QOL and explains the significance of QOL in infrastructure decision making for sustainable development. Examples are used to demonstrate how infrastructure can be strategically developed or redeveloped to improve regional QOL and economic competitiveness while preserving or enhancing the natural environment. Based on the theoretical review and examination of infrastructure development examples, the writers suggest that a new paradigm that views infrastructure development as part of a sociotechnical system be considered. Such a paradigm would encourage strategic infrastructure designs and policies that expand choice and achieve multiple objectives for sustainable development. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000039. (C) 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.