Biden builds a new idea of infrastructure

And it's better

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Joe Biden’s plan for America is about the remaking of a whole concept. What constitutes infrastructure? Is it just bridges, airports, rail routes and highways? Or is it something else as well — a country’s human resources? The way people learn to think, to be change-ready, how healthy and happy they are?

The point about infrastructure is that it must be basic, functional and key. That includes, as Merriam-Webster dictionary says, “the resources (such as personnel, buildings, or equipment) required for an activity”.

President Biden’s plan works off that Merriam-Webster definition of infrastructure. It includes spending on research and development, schools, housing and social care. It seeks a public good — a physically and virtually better connected country with healthier, better educated people and a well-funded and vibrant research environment.

There are sound reasons to embrace a broader view of infrastructure than say, in 1950s America, when President E…