Big infrastructure like elevated highways, super highways and above grade intersection results in consumption of big land that would have been used for growing food. Big infrastructure also leaves dangerous borrow pits like the research I did below.

https://www.ijiras.com/2019/Vol_6-Issue_5/paper_23.pdf

ban populations interact with their environment. Urban people change their environment through their consumption of food, energy, water, and land. And in turn, the polluted urban environment affects the health and quality of life of the urban population.

French history is perhaps insightful in this aspect. For example around 1500 the kings of France used to live in the Loire Valley, which was the economic and cultural center of France. Cities where small. Kings used to move to one city to another, along the seasons. Paris, back then, was not much a city until Louis XII decided to build the Versailles castle, so as to promote the area as the Capital of France. Paris developed strongly after that and this started by building larges roads, later railroads, and so on. This is an example where political power can help a city to grow massively in a new place.

The thing is, big cities, as they grow, then requires large infrastructures to be kept alive and get feed. In the medieval times in France, cities used to be autonomous and resilient, able to survive a year even when cut from the outside. The maximum population was then limited in each city. The decision power was almost limited to the lord of the city.

After the revolution, since the 1800, the decision power shifted to the merchants and richest citizens of the city. The merchant economy pushes the decision makers to even more concentrate things big cities, build railroads and large infrastructures for the sake of the economy, forgetting about resilience, environment, and people's living conditions.

The above example shows us that urbanization planning is therefore tightly linked to the governance model. This shift of paradigm led us to our nowadays governance style where people or even local communities have but little power to decide if large infrastructure (highways) should be built or not and to what purpose. States/Region have the money and the decisions, rural communities have but little voice.

Economy and transport costs (oil price) drives urbanization to progress around large cities. As transport evolve, and the prices inside town are driven up by speculation, low-income people are pushed outside the city. (gentrification). In addition, when it comes to take a decision about building on new areas, and increases the limit of the city, the economy driven short-term interest will make people ignore the geographic constrains and potential danger (example : landslide risks, flooding), and sadly, Japan and other countries provide examples each year.

Urbanization around a city strongly impacts biodiversity and land use, we have forgot that small cities = possibilities for local ressource to regenerate, thus, possibility for us to get ressources more closer and manage ressources more efficiently. Big cities keep importing ressources and anyone can understand that this absence of resilience makes the whole system very fragile - the day importations stops, or transports are compromised the whole area collapses. (opinion text from myself, published on cellcityhub.com).

@Carlos.

01, Heavy/good infrastructure is a necessary vehicle and tool for economic, social and general development of our urban communities.

02, Facilitates movement of goods services between different sectors and sections of the urban area.

03, Enhances high performance through reduction of stress both at home and at work due to available facilities.

04, Enhances health and wellbeing through safe air, water and environment and increases quality of life.

05, Robust infrastructure is a catalyst for industrialization and human/capital development.

06, Infrastructure creates relevant technology through research and necessity.

07, Good infrastructure encourages education and stimulates tourism thereby inviting foreign direct investments.

O8, Industry and related activities thrive on good infrastructure.