Atlanta and its 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. Infrastructure can also be in the form social provisions like health care and schools. Social provisions serve the society in imparting knowledge in individuals and health care goes all the way in caring for people with disorders and illnesses that would otherwise be unmanageable in the absence of the health care systems. 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. Its sea port, Port of Savannah is one of the largest single-terminal layout. Studying Atlanta’s infrastructure is insightful. 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).

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 communication networks, Health and social care, Education, emergency services and active international relations. These components of the community maintain the social order and keep things running while at the same time factoring in the well-being of the members of the society. The local, states and national implications of the critical components of the Atlanta community. 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.

The short term effects of the collapse of the health and social welfare would be a general decrease in the happiness of the people in society. Social welfare is important in maintaining the systems of the society by giving people something to look forward to at the end of the day like security in their homes and easy and unrestricted access to social amenities. Health care on the other hand reduces the amount of suffering of people as a result of health complications. The short term effects therefore include, increase in the number of suicide cases as a result of frustration due to lack of social welfare programs. Mortality rates will be high resulting from lack of medication and proper health care like mental health care. There will be an increase in the level of new infections of viral infections like HIV as well as terminal illnesses like tuberculosis. The long term effects are a reduced population and unmonitored reproduction rates. Another effects would be a general deterioration of the health of the surviving members of the society.

Education is another key component of the community. The collapse of the education system in Atlanta would immediately result in increased crime rates and higher dependent population. The crime rates increase when the former students and pupils have nothing to do with their time and they can no longer access the facilities they did while at school like the libraries and the company of their friends. The young people of the society are adventurous and like to explore, more time on their hands will automatically grant them the freedom to engage in activities that are likely to land them in trouble. In the long term, the levels of unemployment will increase as most industries require basic skills in order to employ an individual while the casual laborers are always in excess. More unskilled population leads to more unemployed members of the society. Atlanta has many training opportunities that give individuals access to employment in the industries. A collapse in this sector which is part of the education sector will at short term reduce the number of individuals getting jobs in industries. The number of people who will be jobless due to lack of skill will automatically rise. At the state level, the industries will have to import skilled labor while there are individuals in Atlanta who are capable of taking up the job with proper training. At the national level, the level of employment will rise in the long term while Atlanta gets congested by the increased population of foreign workers and the Georgian citizens who have nowhere else to go (Incorporated, 2016).

Emergency and security services in Atlanta re 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. 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.

Finally, the assets of the state like public schools, hospitals, agricultural activities and other public social facilities like recreational parks are a crucial part of the infrastructure. They equip people with knowledge at affordable fees while the public hospitals offer subsidized rates for treatment. The collapse in the systems that sustain these facilities would in the short term lead to increased poverty levels among the members in the lower social classes. The long term effect would be high mortality rates among the members of the lower social class as well as lower numbers of educated people in the same environment. This eventuality will also broaden the gap between the rich members of the society and the poor ones. A collapse in the agricultural sector in Georgia would mean that most of the state would have no fruits or nuts as Atlanta is the largest producer of these crops in the United States. This also gives Atlanta a competitive advantage over her neighbors who cannot produce as much as she does. The short term effect would be loss of jobs to the local people. The state would face reduced revenue generated with the collapse in the agricultural sector. Nationally, the prices of the farm produce that Atlanta will cease to produce will rise due to the shortage. The long term effects would be the collapse of the economy that was dependent on agriculture in Georgia. The formally agricultural individuals would flood the city of Atlanta and congestion is the result (Wozny, 2015).

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

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