**2.1 Reducing the negative impacts of infrastructure on people through effective maintenance**

Depending on the size, type, and location of critical infrastructure facilities they can potentially affect large groups of people. These people can belong to one of the following categories.


The sustainability maintenance measures to protect the health and well-being of people who belong to each of these categories can vary. There are comprehensive safety instructions to protect the people inside the facilities (including personnel and clients). The following practices in this section are primarily focused on protecting the people who live in the vicinity of an infrastructure facility (group 2). It is essential to keep in mind that people's health is the tops priority of sustainable development and it cannot be compromised or put at risk.

#### *2.1.1 Maintaining community goals*

While an infrastructure facility is developed to serve the public, it can be detrimental to the hosting community goals. Consider this case: A power plant that was established decades ago in the proximity of some small neighborhoods, initially led to the creation of job opportunities and a considerable amount of immigration to this area. The small neighboring communities who live near this facility were pleased about the foundation of this power plant as the value of their properties increased dramatically due to the economic growth. The facility administrators are now going to extend the facility's production. Locals are against this decision as they may believe that the air pollution caused by the power plant has increased in the last few years. This can be attributed to an increase in the production of the plant that can lead to more pollution. The power plant is now a burden on the community as the area has sufficiently developed and people feel that it is creating more problems for the community than contributing to the local development. The enlargement of the existing power plant threats the community goals by diminishing the quality of life and vitality of the locals. This example explains how a sustainable facility can turn to be detrimental to community goals and values.

The maintenance process creates the potential to identify and fix the gradual deviation of the infrastructure from the community expectations and goals. The community needs to notice that their concerns are considered and their voice is heard by the infrastructure's decision makers [9]. In order to meet the community's concerns people or their representatives must be involved in the decisions. Different tools can be used to communicate with the community and hearing their concerns. Survey questionnaires can particularly be helpful when the decision makers have to select between different requests by the public to figure out which options are more vigorously requested by the public. Communicating with stakeholders and inviting them to meetings to express their concerns about the issues caused by the facilities that can be mitigated through maintenance is another possible solution to engage people.

Another critical consideration in the assessment of the community issues and concerns and incorporating them into the maintenance plans is the conflict of

**17**

communities (**Figure 4**).

**Figure 3.**

*Maintaining the Sustainability of Critical Infrastructure DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85915*

interest between different communities [10]. This happens when one community benefits from a decision while another community finds it detrimental for its common goals. In these situations, hearing people's voice and their concerns can lead to informed decisions that more effectively address the concerns of the affected

*Five categories of sustainability maintenance of critical infrastructures and their sub-categories.*

Many critical infrastructure facilities are extended to meet the growing demand of the hosting community for the type of service they provide. As a result of this extension, more people need to commute to these facilities as full-time employees or clients. The maintenance of critical infrastructure creates an opportunity for motivating people to use alternative modes of transportation (such as walking or using bicycles) to commute to the facility. This is particularly important for infrastructures with a high number of visitors and employees such as commercial

*2.1.2 Maintenance to motivate using alternative modes of transportation*

facilities. Some suggested policies are listed below [11].

*Maintaining the Sustainability of Critical Infrastructure DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85915*


**Figure 3.**

*Infrastructure Management and Construction*

**effective maintenance**

*2.1.1 Maintaining community goals*

following categories.

**2.1 Reducing the negative impacts of infrastructure on people through** 

1.People who work at the facility (full-time employees).

2.People who live in the vicinity of the facility (neighbors).

3.People who regularly commute to the facility (clients).

development and it cannot be compromised or put at risk.

turn to be detrimental to community goals and values.

Depending on the size, type, and location of critical infrastructure facilities they can potentially affect large groups of people. These people can belong to one of the

The sustainability maintenance measures to protect the health and well-being of people who belong to each of these categories can vary. There are comprehensive safety instructions to protect the people inside the facilities (including personnel and clients). The following practices in this section are primarily focused on protecting the people who live in the vicinity of an infrastructure facility (group 2). It is essential to keep in mind that people's health is the tops priority of sustainable

While an infrastructure facility is developed to serve the public, it can be detrimental to the hosting community goals. Consider this case: A power plant that was established decades ago in the proximity of some small neighborhoods, initially led to the creation of job opportunities and a considerable amount of immigration to this area. The small neighboring communities who live near this facility were pleased about the foundation of this power plant as the value of their properties increased dramatically due to the economic growth. The facility administrators are now going to extend the facility's production. Locals are against this decision as they may believe that the air pollution caused by the power plant has increased in the last few years. This can be attributed to an increase in the production of the plant that can lead to more pollution. The power plant is now a burden on the community as the area has sufficiently developed and people feel that it is creating more problems for the community than contributing to the local development. The enlargement of the existing power plant threats the community goals by diminishing the quality of life and vitality of the locals. This example explains how a sustainable facility can

The maintenance process creates the potential to identify and fix the gradual deviation of the infrastructure from the community expectations and goals. The community needs to notice that their concerns are considered and their voice is heard by the infrastructure's decision makers [9]. In order to meet the community's concerns people or their representatives must be involved in the decisions. Different tools can be used to communicate with the community and hearing their concerns. Survey questionnaires can particularly be helpful when the decision makers have to select between different requests by the public to figure out which options are more vigorously requested by the public. Communicating with stakeholders and inviting them to meetings to express their concerns about the issues caused by the facilities that can be

mitigated through maintenance is another possible solution to engage people.

Another critical consideration in the assessment of the community issues and concerns and incorporating them into the maintenance plans is the conflict of

**16**

*Five categories of sustainability maintenance of critical infrastructures and their sub-categories.*

interest between different communities [10]. This happens when one community benefits from a decision while another community finds it detrimental for its common goals. In these situations, hearing people's voice and their concerns can lead to informed decisions that more effectively address the concerns of the affected communities (**Figure 4**).
