Examples of infrastructure
I would like to give the specific names of some infrastructures below.
Roads, bridges, tunnels, water supply and sewerage systems, dams, railroads, erosion controls
Power lines, rivers, parks, airports, hospitals, public housing, Imperial Household Agency facilities
Traffic lights, gas supply networks, communication networks, garbage disposal facilities, flood control facilities
and so forth, the list goes on and on.
classification
“Infrastructure” has a broad meaning.
Infrastructure is classified as follows.
[Daily life infrastructure]
Hospitals, Schools, Parks, Welfare facilities
Public elementary and junior high schools
Many public elementary and junior high schools were built during the second baby boom period and are aging. About 90% of public elementary and junior high schools are also local emergency evacuation sites. Therefore, measures against aging are urgently needed. In fact, 20,000 cases of damage such as partial collapse of ceilings were reported last year alone. It is important to conduct a durability survey and proceed with repair work before it leads to a major accident.
[Transportation Infrastructure]
Railways, buses, aircrafts, roads, tunnels, railroad tracks, bridges
Bridges
There are approximately 730,000 bridges in Japan. Over 90% of these bridges are owned by local governments. As of 2022, 35% of these bridges are over 50 years old. There is a serious shortage of human resources in local governments. In order to deal with aging infrastructure, we believe it is important to secure human resources with expertise in the field.
[Industrial Infrastructure]
Railways, roads, waterworks, communication facilities, harbors,
construction machinery, agricultural machinery, elevators
Human resources & Cost
Many waterwork systems were developed during the period of high economic growth. The number of aging facilities is increasing over time, but local governments are reducing maintenance spending due to economic conditions and other factors. We believe that we must secure money for maintenance and develop human resources.
[Energy Infrastructure]
Power stations, transmission cables, gas stations
[Disaster prevention infrastructure]
Flood gates, drainage pump stations installed in coastal areas, and bridges and embankments installed in rivers.
[Communication Infrastructure]
Telephone lines, Fiber networks, Mobile phone base stations, Base facilities of telecommunications companies
[Internet Infrastructure]
Internet communication lines, providers, routers
[IT Infrastructure]
Personal computers, servers, storage, application servers, smartphones, tablets
Modern Society
In this way, “infrastructure” has been used in various industries.
Originally, the term “infrastructure” was used to mean “something that shared by the whole society.”
Since then, the meaning has changed, and now it is often used to mean "something shared within a company."
In modern times, it is common to use abbreviation “infra” the business scene.
