Infrastructure and Types of Infrastructure

In this post, you will learn about the little history of infrastructure, infrastructure definition and types of infrastructure in details.

The word infrastructure first used in French in 1875. Later on, this word was used in English in 1887, the original meaning of infrastructure is “the facilities that form the basis of any operation or system”.

This word was imported from the French language, where it was used for the substrate floor surface. This word is a combination of “infra” and “structure”, where “infra” means below that’s why many of constructions are underground like water system, gas system, tunnels, and underground railways and “structure” came from Latin word “Structura”.

This word became popular in the US in the 1940s after the creation of NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and later on, adopted by planners of modern civil sense in 1970.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is the basic systems and facilities that serve a country, province, city, or other regions, with the inclusion of facilities and services needed to run the economy.

Infrastructure includes physical improvements in bridges, roads, tunnels, sanitation, water supply, telecommunications (including broadband speed and Internet connectivity) and electricity grids sponsored by public and private sector.

In general, it is also defined as the interconnection of physical components systems that deliver essential goods and services to facilitate, sustain or improve social living conditions.

Broader Types of Infrastructure

There are many types of infrastructure but mainly it is divided into two classes hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure.

Hard infrastructure is defined as the physical networks which are important for the operations of the modern economy. The hard infrastructure includes bridges, roads, railway tracks, etc.

Soft infrastructure is defined as the infrastructure based on all institutions that ensure the maintenance of cultural, social, health, and economic standards of a country. The soft infrastructure consists of official statistics, educational programs, law enforcement agencies, emergency services, parks, and recreation facilities, etc.

San Francisco Ferry Building at Night

Major Types of Infrastructure

Personal Infrastructure

This is one of the important types of infrastructure which is neglected by most of the authors. One way to exemplify personal infrastructure is human capital. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines human capital as “the elusive collective resources available to individuals and groups within a given population”. The personal infrastructure aims to determine the quality of the values of the economic actors.

This result in 3 important tasks: 1). the power of economic resources in the economic process (teachers, skilled and unskilled workers, etc.), 2). The social relevance of personal infrastructure, and 3). the importance of personal infrastructure for an individual (consumption of education in short and long term).

Institutional Infrastructure

This is the second one from types of infrastructure. The institutional infrastructure is based on the term of “economic constitution”. The institutional infrastructure is the subject and legal and economic policy, according to Gianpiero Torrisi. It depends upon already set and grown norms.

It refers to equal treatment of actual economic data which helps to define the framework within which economic agents can formulate their own economic plans and implement them in cooperation with others.

Material Infrastructure

The third one from types of infrastructure is Material infrastructure. It is immovable, capital goods which cannot be shifted or transferred, but which have an essential contribution in the production of infrastructure services and goods that are requisite for the fulfillment of the economic operator’s essential social and physical requirements.

Material infrastructure has two different qualities: 1) mass production and 2) meeting or fulfilling social needs. The first characteristic is about the unavailability of infrastructure goods and services. The second characteristic is about the concerns the basic human needs.

Economic Infrastructure

The fourth one from types of infrastructure is Economics Infrastructure. The researcher defined economic infrastructure as the country’s domestic facilities that enable commercial activities in the country such as transportation, communication, financial institutions (helps individuals in their financial needs like disbursement of loans and suggestions for diversified investments), distribution networks, financial markets, and energy generation and supply systems.

Economic infrastructure provides the ground for productive events and activities in the country. This includes highways, roads, airports, bridges, water distribution systems, cycling infrastructure, irrigation systems, sewers, etc.

Social Infrastructure

The fifth one from types of infrastructure is Social Infrastructure. In a broader sense, social infrastructure is defined as the construction as well as the maintenance that facilities which supports social services. Social infrastructure is created to amplify social comfort and to respond to economic activity.

These include schools, hospitals, playgrounds, parks, public safety structures, waste treatment facilities, sports fields, etc.

Core Infrastructure

The sixth one from types of infrastructure is Core infrastructure, which provides fundamental services and is monopolistic in nature. The investors who are seeking core infrastructure has an eye on five essential but different characteristics: low volatility of returns, income, low inflation rates or protection against high inflation, diversification, and long-term bond/liability counterparty.

The core infrastructure is somehow the same as basic infrastructure which includes major types of infrastructure like highways, roads, public transport, railways, water supplies, gas supplies, electricity supplies, etc.

Basic Infrastructure

The seventh one from types of infrastructure is Basic infrastructure, which includes major roads, railways, ports, drainage, canals, wharves, dikes, land reclamation, and the electromagnetic telegraph. It includes the most known features of the infrastructure. The things of the world we encounter every day (roads, buildings, wharves, etc.).

Complementary Infrastructure

The eighth one from types of infrastructure is Complementary Infrastructure, which sometimes refers to additional infrastructure which needs to finish of polish some final products. As it is shown by its name “complementary” which means an “additional” thing. Therefore, it deals with little things in the modern engineering world.

Some of its examples are tramways, light railways, the landscape around buildings, sidewalks, the benches in the park or on bus stand to allow pedestrians to sit, etc.

Other Types of Infrastructure

Business infrastructure
Data infrastructure
Facility infrastructure
Information infrastructure
Last-mile infrastructure
Public infrastructure
Transportation infrastructure
Critical infrastructure
Digital infrastructure
IT infrastructure
Network infrastructure

Business Infrastructure

The business infrastructure refers to the basic structure, facilities, and services which provide the foundations to rest of business. Many people relate this concept to only hard or tangible things like buildings etc. but business services and software are also considered as infrastructure. Examples of business infrastructure are given below.

Network Services
Computing
IT Services
Business Services
Energy and Power Management
Facilities
Transport
Business Continuity

Data Infrastructure

This is one type of digital infrastructure which promotes consumption and data sharing. Same like other infrastructures, this infrastructure helps in facilities and services that are important to the economy along with daily operations of the society. Examples of data infrastructure are given below.

Data Ingestion
Data Access
APIs and Integration
Data Storage
Data Processing
Databases
Networks
Data Security
Data Quality
Data Centers
Data Analysis
Data Visualization
Cloud Platforms

Facility Infrastructure

Facility infrastructure supports the processes and facilities of the Federal government which are part of its maintenance and operations. Facilities infrastructure includes the list given below

Asset Management
Business Continuity
Clod Standby
Hard Services
Infrastructure as Code
Internal Controls
Problem Management
Self Service
Benchmarking
Call Tree
Disaster Recovery
Incident Management
Infrastructure Management
Operational Risk
Safety Controls
Soft Services

Information Infrastructure

Information infrastructure defines by two great scholars Pironti (2006) and Ole Hanseth (2002). Pironti (2006) defined it as all of the tools, facilities, technology, procedures, processes, and people that support the transport, use, creation, destruction of information, storage, etc. Ole Hanseth (2002) defined it as an open, shared, standardized, heterogeneous, and evolving installed base. Examples of information infrastructure are given below.

Fiber Optic Communication
Satellite Communications
Network Hardware
Computing Hardware
Facilities
Software
Platforms
Systems
Services
Last Mile Infrastructure
End-User Devices
Internet of Things

Last Mile Infrastructure

The last mile, a term used to describes the costs of reaching businesses and homes with services and equipment. Sometimes, it shows the investment and operational cost for any facility to reach home like wireless or wired internet.

Public Infrastructure

Public infrastructure is owned by the government and is consist of facilities, equipment, structures, institutions, and services which are essential for the economy and ease creation in daily life. Examples of public infrastructure are given below.

Transport Infrastructure
Wet Infrastructure
Energy Infrastructure
Information Infrastructure
Government
Institutions
Public Space

Transportation Infrastructure

Transportation infrastructure is an infrastructure that helps or makes movements or travel easily within and out of the country. The list of its examples is as follows

Roads
Railways
Walkways
Bridges And Tunnels
Stations
Airports
Air Routes
Waterways
Ports
Cycling Infrastructure
Living Streets

Critical Infrastructure

Critical infrastructure makes essential operations of the economy easy. It is the body of assets, networks, and systems which are required for working conditions of security, economy, public health, etc. for the economy. The list/examples of critical infrastructure are as follows

Transportation
Energy
Health
Water
Government
Food
Communications
Information Technology
Safety
Finance
Industry

Digital Infrastructure

Digital infrastructure is an infrastructure that helps in the storage and exchange of data through a centralized system. Sometime DI took as the ability for exchange of data but it is not the ability only, it is something like digital transformation which helps businesses and economies to stand. Therefore, we may say its center of digital transformation. The list/examples of digital infrastructure are as follows

Internet Backbone
Fixed Broadband
Mobile Telecommunications
Communications Satellite
Network Infrastructure
Data Centers
Cloud Computing
Platforms
Systems
Applications
APIs and Integration
User Devices
IoT

IT Infrastructure

IT infrastructure is defined as the composition of software, hardware, networking resources and services which are required for the management, operations, and existence of an IT enterprise environment.

Network Infrastructure

Network infrastructure is a branch of IT, which helps in networking services for individuals and business. This branch makes it able to connect devices for communication purposes. The list/examples of network infrastructure are as follows