Aging infrastructure could have an adverse impact on public health.
Two seemingly unrelated national policy debates are afoot, and we can’t adequately address one unless we address the other.
Health care reform has been the hottest topic. What to do about America’s aging infrastructure has been less animated but may be more pressing.
Yet even as cracks in America’s health system and infrastructure expand, political divides between parties and within parties have stalled efforts to develop policies and implement solutions. Problematically, debates over health care reform and infrastructure projects remain separate.
As a professor of architecture who also studies health equity – the establishment of systems, laws and environments that promote fair access to health care – I believe we have reason to be concerned.
What if a solution to bridging both the political and sectoral divides between health care and infrastructure was, literally, a bridge? Sure, bridges are core elements of infrastructure, but what do bridges have to do with health care?
As it turns out, a lot.