Assess community infrastructure needs

• Undertake community workshops to understand what community members want and need. Make use of digital tools to enable virtual participation
• Every community will have different needs and challenges, so be sure to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. For example, when developing climate resilience plans for Lower Manhattan, it was necessary to look at each neighborhood separately.3 This neighborhood-specific approach ensures infrastructure integrates within the existing contexts to maximize co-benefits for the community.

Create a value-based structure to tie infrastructure to the community needs

• Prioritize essential needs and services based on community feedback and a triple bottom line approach.
• Undertake a multi-scale gap analysis. Where are we furthest from where the community wants to be?

Enact a public policy requiring all infrastructure decision to have a community, equity, and environment benefit in addition to their core function.

• The UK’s Public Services (Social Value) Act passed in 2011 is one such model to consider.4 The act makes social value a key consideration in public sector procurement decisions, and thus a factor in the way projects are planned and implemented.

Redesign the city capital planning and budgeting processes to break through traditional silos

• The City of West Chicago included intergovernmental collaboration as part of their 2018 strategic planning, suggesting a shared services model among other innovative approaches.
• Consider the use of technology in breaking down silos. GIS-based systems can enable officials to see connections amongst projects while other systems allow for experimenting with project variables to see the greatest impact
• Create an organizational structure and consistent decision protocol that supports long term implementation of an integrated approach.

Develop a data-driven capital planning process

• Use data driven heatmaps to define the focus zones within a larger community that provide greatest community benefit. See – Integrated Data action plan
• Empower community and local government agencies to engage with the plan online and at community events.

Develop a data-driven capital planning process

• Use data driven heatmaps to define the focus zones within a larger community that provide greatest community benefit. See – Integrated Data action plan
• Empower community and local government agencies to engage with the plan online and at community events.

Identify all available funding sources

• For example, the equity portion of the capital stack can be tackled by leveraging current policy tools and tax incentives, such as Opportunity Zone tax credits.

Develop a comprehensive communications plan to both roll out new process across city departments and to educate the public on benefits and expectations for engagement.