ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Hard infrastructure

Hard infrastructure is like the things that make a city or a town work properly. It is the physical parts of the environment, such as the buildings, the roads, the bridges, the water supply and the electricity. It's like the toys and tools that help you build your Lego creations.

Think about a house. It has walls, a roof, doors, windows, plumbing for water, sewage, and electricity to power the lights and appliances. All these things make the house functional, and it's hard infrastructure.

Similarly, cities and towns have roads, buildings, bridges, power plants, water supply and sewage systems that make them function. To create and maintain these systems, engineers, architects and contractors are needed, just like how your parents might need to hire someone to fix a broken appliance in your house.

Without hard infrastructure, cities and towns would not be able to grow, nor could they function, and it would be like trying to play with your Lego bricks without any tools or instructions. It is, therefore, important to invest in hard infrastructure to ensure that we have safe and healthy communities where we can live and thrive.