Three Infrastructures of New Hampshire Communities

Maintaining the qualify of life in our communities depends on the integration of three kinds of infrastructure: green, built, and social. Green Infrastructure is the natural life support system which supports human life and economic activity. It is a network of interconnected lands and waters, providing ecological goods and services (such as clean air and water, food and fiber, waste decomposition, and climate moderation) and contributing to the health and quality of life for human communities. Green infrastructure includes working lands, ecological reserves, recreation lands, riparian buffers (areas immediately adjacent to water) around wetlands and lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams; and streetside and backyard vegetation. Every ecosystem on an undeveloped site has three types of components:
•	physical (climate regime)
•	chemical (inorganic substances and organic compounds)
•	biological (producers, consumers, and decomposers)
These components are constantly interacting to perform a number of functions:
•	transformation of matter (including photosynthesis, digestion, decomposition, plant and animal metabolism, and weathering)
•	circulation of matter (including erosion, leaching, consumption, evaporation, deposition, and animal, wind, water, and gravity transport
•	accumulation of matter (including conversion of energy into matter)
•	energy flow through natural processes and living organisms
Built Infrastructure: this includes all human-made constructed elements, such as roads and rails, buildings and bridges, phone wires and sewer pipes, homes and offices and all the rest. A well planned and developed built infrastructure integrates in a healthy way with the green infrastructure and the social infrastructure. A building site does not magically cease to operate as an ecosystem. However, development changes both the structure and functions of the systems of which the site is a part. The changes that can happen to the ecosystem as a result of converting natural landscape to developed landscape include increases in impervious surfaces, which can cause:
•	stormwater run-off,
•	soil erosion,
•	siltation,
•	fluctuations in available soil moisture,
•	downstream flooding,
•	water pollutants,
•	fluctuations in surface water volumes (lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams),
•	temperature extremes,
•	air pollution,
•	nutrient loss from the site,
•	plus, it increases solid wastes for off-site disposal.
The changes that can happen to the ecosystem as a result of converting natural landscape to developed landscape include decreases in:
•	groundwater recharge
•	interactions between ground and surface water
•	humidity
•	the number and type of living organisms (biomass)
•	productivity (the amount of material produced by living organisms)
•	the system’s resilience to stress
Finally, converting natural landscape to developed landscape can cause changes creating:
•	malfunction of natural cycles (water, carbon, and nutrients),
•	malfunction of natural controls (increase in insect outbreaks, disease epidemics)
•	loss of efficiency in natural processes (e.g., pollination and seed dispersal)
•	microclimate and air flow pattern modification
Social Infrastructure: this is the network of the human relationships which form the basics of our private lives, our work lives, and our lives as members of our local communities. Part of this network includes employment, public health, education, the arts, recreation, and similar activities in our communities which contribute to—or detract from—our quality of life. Ideally, the three infrastructures (green, built, and social) work together to promote the highest possible quality of life. To accomplish this, these infrastructures should be
•	effective,
•	efficient, and
•	well integrated.
Efficiency and effectiveness are common goals for infrastructure systems, and have many widely recognized benefits. Integration of all three systems greatly enhances the benefits of each independent system by reducing potential conflicts and competition for resources which, in so doing, makes these systems more effective and efficient! Summary New Hampshire’s primary rural character and small scale have long enabled communities to take their green and social infrastructures for granted. As an increasing proportion of the state is converted from natural systems to developed landscapes, communities and landowners can benefit from minimum impact development practices which help integrate the built infrastructure with the green and social, thereby maintaining the New Hampshire quality of life we’ve come to appreciate. Go to top of page
This site is a collaboration of The Jordan Institute and the Audubon Society of New Hampshire - November, 2001