Atlanta and her Infrastructure

Institution

Course

Date

Introduction

Infrastructure is the society’s way of fulfilling the needs of the people by providing systems and facilities that ease the transmission of assistance to the members of the society. For instance, transport is a form of infrastructure that assists people to transport goods and services geographically to regions where the same is needed. Communication is also a form of infrastructure in a society as it helps people to pass information to one another regardless of their geographical dispositions. Critical infrastructure goes a step further to include the technological set ups that aid the operations of the government and the economy as well.  Infrastructure in Atlanta is biased towards transport, a sector so well developed in Atlanta that it is known for its busy airport, sea port and vast reach in it road and rail networks. Most of the revenue in Atlanta is generated from transport related activities, which means that the financial structures are well designed and reliable. Despite the efficient and vibrancy of the transport sector in Atlanta, there are worrying employments trends. The rate of unemployment is at seven percent according to studies conducted (Semuels, 2015). Aside from the strong transport industry, the critical infrastructure includes, the finance and banking sectors, water systems as well as emergency services and energy which includes; oil, gas and electricity (Critical Infrastructure, 2016). The critical infrastructure is a part of the economy that cannot be comprised at all costs. Communication for instance, the government has to ensure the best and most qualified individuals handle this systems. Emergency services are a life and death matter for citizens in a country and cannot be ignored in terms of funding and equipment. The criteria for infrastructure to qualify as critical, it has to be one which a country cannot run without. 

The most prevalent sector in Atlanta is the transport sector. The energy in the sector gives Georgia a competitive advantage over many if not all the other states for various reasons some of which include; the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport in Atlanta is one of if not the busiest airport with seventy direct international flights. The same airport has direct access to most of the destinations in the United States within two hours, this is very efficient and time conscious. The port of Savannah in Atlanta is very busy as well and strategic. This facilitates the motion of huge volumes of goods yearly compared to other state’s shores. The port of Brunswick has the ability to processes large volumes of automobiles as it has the capacity and technology necessary for this kind of undertakings (Development, 2016). Both the rail and road systems are well established and maintained. The road systems can grant access to majority of the United States’ states within a single day’s drive. With this kind of transport disposition, Atlanta has absolute advantage over most states when it comes to activities that rely on effective transport systems. This factor is evident with the location of some of the world’s largest corporations like Coca-Cola and Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation as well as Delta Air Lines among others. The stability of the transport industry in Atlanta is very important in maintaining the stability of its economy as well as social sanity.

The most critical components of the community in Georgia in terms of systems, networks and individual assets are the transport and telecommunication networks, finance, emergency services as well as the energy sector (Critical Infrastructure, 2016). The implications of the components starts from both the bottom and the top depending on where the immediate effect is felt first. For instance, the collapse of the transport systems would be felt from bottom upwards; from the members of the society upwards to the economy at the government level. The collapse of the economy would affect the government first down to the members of the society.

The short term effect of the collapse in the transport and communication networks in Atlanta would be economic shock to the larger United States. The paralysis of the transport systems in Atlanta for a single day would dent the economy of the United States probably in a way that recovering the losses would take months if not years. The long term effects are many including the total collapse in the economy of Atlanta and subsequently less revenue will be generated leading to devastating effects on the value of life. People will be jobless, the levels of life will deteriorate. Another effect is that Atlanta will lose investors and business in general. Being home to most international corporations, a collapse in the transport system will drive the investors away to the next best favorable country (Touchstone, 2016). This move will make it very difficult for Atlanta to recover the tragedy and eventually, the economy of Atlanta will be no more.

Telecommunication networks are independently critical infrastructure. The transmission of information is the back bone of any society. The relevance of the telecommunication systems cannot be over emphasized. This system is supposed to be maintained and regularly updated to ensure that information is kept private and secure. This is especially a big issue for the government and major businesses. A breakdown or breach in this system for instance leaking of classified information would expose Atlanta to a state of panic and confusion with rival companies taking advantage in order to get the secrets of their competitors. A breakdown in the telecommunications systems given the importance of Atlanta to corporations, the business world would be chaotic. The transport industry would cause many loses with planes crushing, trains colliding and even cars being stuck in traffic for days. The state of Georgia would then have to step in to sort out the damage in Atlanta meaning that the most parts of Georgia will have to stop operating as usual in order to salvage Atlanta. The impact on the national government would be that most industries operating from Atlanta will have to stall for days before Atlanta can be put back in operation. In the long term, serious investors will pull their businesses out of Atlanta in favor of regions with better information security and safer technical systems. This will leave Atlanta in a ghost state and Georgia will lose a lot of business revenue, a predicament which will spill over to the national government.

Emergency and security services in Atlanta are very important given that the major aspect of the community in Atlanta is transportation. The response teams in Atlanta are expected to be very flexible and reliable in order to ensure the least possible casualties in the event that an accident occurs. The short term effects of a collapse in this sector would be more deaths resulting from accidents on the roads, ports and the railways as well. The accidents could be in form of fires, injuries as well as loss of property. Security is an integral part of the society lack of which leaves the society fending for itself. In the short term, people will lose trust in each other while the evil members will take advantage and harass the helpless members of the society. The long term effects of the collapse in the emergency response systems would be diversion of the transport routes to other safer and more efficient routes (Critical Infrastructure, 2016) (Bakowski, 2005). The transfer would result in loss of business for Atlanta and eventually a slow economy. Slow economy is bad for business and the investors eventually leave the state for better locations of their businesses. Lack of security leads to a state of anarchy and the eventual collapse of the community standing.

The government’s control of the financial sector is part of critical infrastructure. The financial structures of a state control the rates of inflation and growth of the economy. The same sector also allocates funds for government projects like building of dams and sustaining the emergency services sector among other important projects. Atlanta being a hub of transport and lucrative location for the headquarters of many international corporations, requires brilliant financial management by the state government of Georgia. Ills like corruption in the financial sector are one sure way of bringing the economy to its knees. In the case of a collapse in the financial sector in Atlanta, the local community will suffer from poverty because of reduced business activity. In the short term, businesses will try to continue operating on minimal profits and sometimes losses. The state of Georgia will struggle to stay afloat and keep its business ventures. The national government will suffer a revenue deficit from the collapse of operations in Atlanta as such a breakdown in the national business systems will affect other states as well (Development, 2016). In the long term, businesses will shut down and the financial crisis is likely to be spread to other states which will eventually get to the national government. The national government will therefore need to cut down costs and projects will have slow down.

The energy sector in Atlanta is critical infrastructure, all the operations in Atlanta depend on energy. The energy is in form of electricity, gas and fuel. The transport sector being the center of the development and existence of Atlanta is all based on energy. Electric trains, airplanes, cars and ships all use energy to move. The production industries use both gas and petroleum products to enable their operations from instance electricity is used in powering machine for production, fuel is important for powering vehicles, ships and airplanes to transport goods a collapse in the energy sector in Atlanta for a single day would cost Atlanta, Georgia and the united states a lot of money as business will be at a standstill in Atlanta which will affect most parts of Georgia and the United States’ states that use Atlanta as a connecting point for their goods (Wozny, 2015). In the long term, the national government will have to find a way to bail out Atlanta and Georgia’s contribution to the economy will greatly reduce which ultimately results in Atlanta losing access to properly serviced facilities like roads and schools among other important items in the society.

In summary, the critical components of the society are key in sustaining the sanity of the state. These components are responsible for the well-being of the members of the society and the factors surrounding their wellbeing. In Atlanta, the presence of heavy weight corporations is an implication of the state having impeccable transport and communications systems in place. Other factors like education, health care, social welfare and government assets are in place as part of the components that make the society whole. Atlanta’s advantage of the transport systems is important in making assisting the neighbor states in trade as well as her own citizens. The Atlanta regions has the potential of growing economically given its position in the state and all the advantages it has when it comes to infrastructure that assists successful trade in a state or country. Atlanta is an integral part of the greater United States given that it is home to the nation’s busiest airports and the largest road network as well as railway that can accommodate all types of trains both old and modern. Efficient transport tends to attract business to a region which is what happens to Atlanta. Most businesses chose the location with regards to the ease of access to other areas from Atlanta in terms of transporting finished products as well as the volume of goods that can be conveniently transported from one location. The port of Savannah and Brunswick are instrumental in ensuring Atlanta is a business hub. Atlanta also assist Georgia in the exportation of its own agricultural produce to many other states and countries and hence, raising its economic status in the region.

References

Bakowski, A. (2005, July 28). Final Report City of Atlanta Telecommunications Policy. Retrieved from Gatech: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.ip3.gatech.edu/research/muni_comm/TelePAC/NEW-TECH-FINAL.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjhvjb8hPnPAhVHWBokHV1CZYQFghEMAQ&usg=AFQjCNGv1_fSwtXpyFMNU_BBxPJMYqXqlw&sig2=GPfccIGL86h60_ij1powQ

Critical Infrastructure. (2016). Retrieved from Episonage Infromation: http://www.faqs.org/episonage/Cou-De/Critical-Infrastructure.html

Development, G. D. (2016). INFRASTRUCTURE IN GEORGIA. Retrieved from Georgia USA: http://www.georgia.org/cpmpetitive-advantages/infrastructure

Incorporated, A. (2016). Atlanta:Economy. Retrieved from City-Data.com: http://www.city-date.com/us-cities/The-South/Atlanta-Economy.html

Semuels, A. (2015, January 2). What is wrong with Georgia. Retrieved from The Atlanta: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/whats-wrong-with-georgia/384101

Touchstone, M. (2016, February 5). New report revelave significant economic impact of transit expansion on MetroAtlanta region. Retrieved from Newroom: http://www.metroatlantachamber.com/news/items/2016/02/05SignificatEconomicImpactofTransitImpactExpansiononMetroAtlantaRegion

Wozny, K. (2015, March 4). Top 5 industires in Georgia:which parts of the economy are strongest . Retrieved from Newsmax: hhtps://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/628277