public enterprises
The density and scale of urban life brings with it unique needs for sanitation, fire protection, transportation, and public safety, which governments have met by building comprehensive water, sewage, street lighting, and street transportation systems. These physical systems constitute the core of urban public works, though the term public works could also include canals, port development, airports, mass transit, communications systems, and even public buildings, all of which are “public” in the sense that (1) it is usually only a government that can raise the capital sufficient to build them, (2) governments hold responsibility for building these systems because private firms often see no profit in providing such things as public health or brightly lit streets, and (3) even when provided through private firms, economies of scale in public works make these industries monopolistic and thus subject to higher levels of government regulation. [Source: Encyclopedia of American Urban History; Public Works]
public works
concepts