In 2012 Sustainable Cities International supported the city of Los Cabos in undertaking an infrastructure cost study. This study is a very valuable tool for decision-making as it allows municipalities to understand the cost of spread growth. Many cities today are experiencing unprecedented levels of growth, and this bring challenges such as air and water pollution, traffic, impact in natural systems, etc. Meeting the infrastructure needs of a rapidly growing population can also overwhelm the capacity of a city to pay for new infrastructure while maintaining its existing stock of roads, water and wastewater facilities, schools and other public facilities and services. An infrastructure cost study is based on 2 or more scenarios and the needed infrastructure for each scenario is analyzed from a financial and non-financial point of view. The City of Los Cabos is promoting compact growth for their city in their Urban Development Plan towards 2030 and the study provided enough information to the Council to analyze in a more objective way the implications of a spread or a compact growth pattern.
