Rising infrastructure inequalities accompany urbanization and economic development

Impending global urban population growth is expected to occur with considerable infrastructure expansion. However, our understanding of attendant infrastructure inequalities is limited, highlighting a critical knowledge gap in the sustainable development implications of urbanization. Using satellite data from 2000 to 2019, we examine country-level population-adjusted biases in infrastructure distribution within and between regions of varying urbanization levels and derive four key findings. First, we find long-run positive associations between infrastructure inequalities and both urbanization and economic development. Second, our estimates highlight increasing infrastructure inequalities across most of the…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: AC05-00OR22725, DE-AC05, 89233218CNA000001, 00OR22725
• B
  Battelle

  Awards: DE-AC05, DE-AC05-00OR22725
• YU
  Yale University
• U
  UT-Battelle

  Awards: DE-AC05-, AC05-00OR22725
• NN
  National Nuclear Security Administration

  Awards: DE-AC05-00OR22725, No. 89233218CNA000001, 89233218CNA000001
• IF
  Institute for Biospheric Studies, Yale University
• OR
  Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  Award: AC05-00OR22725
• LA
  Los Alamos National Laboratory

  Awards: DE-AC05-00OR22725, 89233218CNA000001