Population decline and infrastructure:
The case
of the German water supply system
ØIn this paper we have
focused population changes
and transformations of infrastructure and supply systems.
• demographic changes
have significant impacts on supply systems and infrastructure. The functional
capacity of these systems requires a certain population size and density.
• If population size
and composition change considerably, there might be adverse economic, social
and technological effects on the supply systems.
• With respect to
water supply systems, demographic growth
and shrinkage processes must be regarded as occurring
simultaneously; temporal as well as spatial effects have to be considered,
along with quantitative and qualitative aspects of demographic changes.
Utilities need strong, spatially
differentiated data for estimating demographics.
• In this case, intra-regional migration and
the related strengthening of demographic heterogeneity are the deciding
factors.
• City planning should
be evaluated from an engineering viewpoint, preferably utilizing existing
infrastructure networks.
•If the existing
infrastructure is underutilized, there should be no new structural
developments outside the current network.
•Reduced demand for
water also has economic consequences.
•In the case of
drinking water supply, a decrease in consumption and the related diminution of flow quantities can
considerably impair the functioning of the supply network.
•changes of the
population size and structure are
relevant, as well as intra-regional migrations.
• The issue of
population decline is a very new field for various disciplines, especially
urban and regional planning, engineering and economics, but also public health
and medicine or political science. As a result, it seems to be an ideal field
for trans disciplinary research and cooperation between demographic research
and other disciplines.
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