1.+Introduction

Sara Taylor, Jessica Wright, Blayde McIntyre, Chris Anderson
=**Goal and Objective:**= The goal of this work is to understand the social, geographical, and economic factors that have played a role in the Costa Rican infrastructure, to study the design, operation, and maintenance of the structure, and to compare it to the United States. Since our group has had the unique opportunity to spend 3 weeks studying, observing, and touring various infrastructures throughout Costa Rica, it is the goal of this wiki to share this knowledge with others, specifically those back in the United States. The objective of this chapter is to introduce the rest of the wiki and what will be discussed.

1.1 Background
Sustainable infrastructure is an organizational structure used to facilitate an economy or society while simultaneously helping a region progress toward sustainable living. Infrastructure is geographically and socially dependent. For example, flat-roofed houses might not be feasible in an area with a large amount of rainfall. The same factors go into sustainability. A community that is socially accustomed to large cars, little public transportation, and tons of waste produced every year will have a much harder time adapting to a sustainable lifestyle than a community where each family grows their own food and walks to a nearby market. Understanding the geography and culture of a community is essential to understanding the infrastructure and the sustainability of that infrastructure. Although each region across the globe is different and faces different economic, social, and geological issues, sustainable infrastructure can be applied in all of these situations. That is what we will explore in this wiki; observing the context of another country and learning what has been done within this context for implementing sustainable infrastructure. The goal is to understand why the infrastructure is the way it is, to study the design, operation, and maintenance of the structure, and, where it is applicable, to implement some of these practices back home.



We are a group of 24 students and two faculty from the University of Utah participating in a Sustainable Infrastructure Study Abroad in Costa Rica. From May 13 to June 2 2012 we traveled all across the country, visiting hydroelectric plants, dams, sustainable hotels, buildings and various other sites. Costa Rica is an ideal country to do this sort of analysis. It differs enough socially from the United States to present a clear contrast to the norms of our lifestyle, but it is similar enough that some of the practices in Costa Rica may reasonably be implemented in the United States. An example of a difference in the social realm is the common expression used in Costa Rica: "Pura Vida" or pure life. It expresses a content with life as it it. This shows a bit of a contrast with the collective mentality in the United States which is based around the concept that life "will be good" in the future once we graduate school, find a job, get married, make more money, etc. The competitive and ambitious nature of our culture makes it a little more difficult to accept happiness in the present. This small social observation can actually be applied to sustainable infrastructure. If success in a society is measured by the member's happiness and not defined by how much they expand or grow or consume, then this may lead to a more sustainable culture; a culture where places like Rancho Margot and Terra Viva can exist. Apart from that, Costa Rica has set an example to the rest of the world for the high use of renewable energy, sustainability in water services and transportation. Costa Rica also has a national mandate to be more sustainable, to support ecotourism, and to encourage public-private partnerships to create a realistic financial model for these practices.



Also within these 3 weeks we have taken an in-depth look into sustainable infrastructure with a civil engineering emphasis. The trip has been unique because we are a multi-disciplinary group. Each person helps contribute his or her background ranging from political science, international and environmental studies, to mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering. Ultimately this small group of students is a good representation of the type of action that needs to be taken to implement sustainable infrastructure. Like Sarte mentions in __Sustainable Infrastructure: The Guide to Green Engineering and Design__, it is no longer an issue to be left to architects, designers, and engineers. With the public awareness rising of global problems resulting partly from current standards of infrastructure, it is necessary for multiple disciplines to come together. The full process of sustainable infrastructure takes those who are environmentally knowledgeable, engineers to design and contractors to build, politicians to extend government influence, and international relations to ensure this is a global effort.



As an example of problems with infrastructure, and something that was discussed in our group's nightly meetings, consider the 2008 earthquake of China. Thousands died and millions were left homeless. But perhaps the most devastating event of that day, was the collapse of hundreds of schoolrooms. Buildings collapsing in an earthquake may not seem surprising, but it is considering government buildings right next door easily withstood the quake. Accompanying the unnecessary death of thousands of school children, came the intense criticism of the chinese government and questions of how they could allow such a travesty to take place. The answer: poor infrastructure. The government and other nearby buildings were built with the support to withstand an earthquake of this size. Schools built for lower income children did not receive such a benefit. An investigation into the destroyed school buildings revealed inadequate iron reinforcing rods [1]. Below is a picture of the Xinjian Primary School in Sichuan Province after the earthquake. As can be seen, the building nearby display negligible effects, whereas the school is almost completely demolished.



Safety is one of the most important considerations when it comes to infrastructure. The United States, naturally, does not want to face infrastructure disaster of this magnitude. The U.S., however, is not exempt from poor infrastructure leading to unnecessary casualties. In our nightly meetings we also discussed the case of New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina and the "worst civil engineering disaster in American history" resulting from a failed levee system [2].

As can be seen from the previous example, there are many problems that need to be addressed when it comes to infrastructure. Some of these problems involve weak structural support, crumbling of buildings, overcrowding, and natural disasters. In this wiki, by discussing sustainable infrastructure, these issues will be addressed, because the support and longevity of buildings, highways, etc. is one of the major focuses. This discussion will take place in the context-sensitive design of Costa Rica and in the United States.

1.2 Wiki Goal
This wiki is meant to be an overview of what our group has learned from the sustainable standards of Costa Rica, but it will also incorporate what we have studied about civil engineering and the design, operation, and maintenance of sustainable infrastructures. A major focus of our studies is to compare the practices done in Costa Rica to what we are familiar with in the United States, Utah specifically. Therefore we hope our commentary will provide a unique perspective into sustainable infrastructure in the United States and Costa Rica.

1.3 Wiki Organization
As part of the curriculum for this class, each student is working on a research paper, case study, daily reading and journal, and a final wiki project. The wiki project is a collaborative effort that summarizes all that we have seen from the trip, learned from our tours, classes, and discussions. In the upcoming sections of this wiki, we will first introduce what Sustainable Infrastructure is in Chapter 2 (Civil Infrastructure Systems). This first section will include definitions and examples of Sustainable Infrastructure. Chapter 3 will give a history of the infrastructure in Costa Rica ([|Costa Rica Infrastructure History]). Chapter 4 will further define sustainable infrastructure and the terminology that will be used in the rest of the wiki (Sustainable Infrastructure). Chapter 5 will introduce Context Sensitive Design and Systems Thinking, both involve ways to look at projects from a broader perspective (Context Sensitive Design). Chapter 6 covers Cradle to Grave, or how to follow infrastructure from beginning to the end (Cradle to Grave). Next we will incorporate the social, environmental, and economic factors that play a role in sustainable infrastructure with chapter 7, or triple bottom line (Triple Bottom Line). A further analysis of the origin and disposal of infrastructure materials (specifically the environmental impact of a project) will be discussed in Chapter 8 (Material Balances and Flow Analysis). Closely related to Cradle to Grave is Life Cycle Assessment. It is a quantitative analysis of the energy and raw materials used for a particular product and will be the topic of chapter 9 (Life Cycle Assessment).

Chapters 10-15 highlight the three components of the triple bottom. It begins with an economic review of sustainable infrastructure. Chapter 10 will cover the economic variables of sustainable systems, but will also examine environmental benefits from life cycle cost analysis (Economic Context). Chapter 11 focuses exclusively on the financing of sustainable infrastructures (Project Financing). The next two chapters focus on the environmental aspects of the triple bottom line. Chapter 12 begins the environmental discussion with policy and regulation and the laws that have been regulated to help humankind live harmoniously with nature (Environmental Policy and Regulation). Chapter 13 discusses environmental indicators and metrics (Environmental Indicators and Metrics). The final part of the triple bottom line, the social aspect, is discussed in chapters 14 and 15. Chapter 14 begins with the social context of sustainable infrastructure and looks at specific examples that we encountered in Costa Rica (Social Context). The discussion of indicators and metrics, education, employment, health, housing, crime, population, and equity is the topic of chapter 15 (Social Indicators and Metrics).

The next three chapters cover the decision-making process and maintenance of sustainable infrastructure. First, chapter 16 will be an overview of the multiple criteria and multi-disciplinary approach to the decision making process of sustainable infrastructure (Multi-Criteria Decision Making). Chapter 17 focuses on roads, hydro, geothermal, and wind power plants within the scope of condition assessments and asset managements (Condition Assessment & Management). Chapter 18 also covers maintenance, but it is a broader overview of all sustainable infrastructure (Maintenance).

Chapter 19 covers transportation and specifically the sustainability of the transportation infrastructure (Transportation). Chapter 20 classifies various energy types and discusses the current demand to find more sustainable energy solutions (Classifying Energy Types). Centralized and decentralized water distribution systems will be compared and contrasted in chapter 21 (Sustainable Water Infrastructure). Continuing with the topic of water comes on overview in chapter 22 of sanitation and wastewater in Costa Rica and the United States (Sanitation and Wastewater). Chapter 23 covers high efficiency buildings or structures that use nature and available technology to decrease the demand on that system (High Efficiency Buildings). Finally, the wiki will conclude with a discussion of sustainsble tourism, an appropriate topic considering that is what Costa Rica is well known for (Sustainable Tourism).

1.4 Chapter Summary
This chapter introduced the purpose, organization, and what to expect from the rest of this wiki. As a diverse group of students from the University of Utah, we intend to give an in-depth analysis of the social, geographical, and economic factors that determine the infrastructure of a region. Our emphasis will be the noteworthy sustainable infrastructures that we toured and studied in Costa Rica. We will discuss the design, operation, and maintenance of these structures. Finally we will compare the unique situation in Costa Rica to the United States. Incorporated will be pictures from our study abroad, information from the internet, our professors and textbooks, and the interviews and tours we had with locals in Costa Rica.