Solution

RE.invest's City Infrastructure Predevelopment Process

This solution addresses lack of a resilient infrastructure project pipeline in cities around the world for city, state, & federal government, project developers, investors, and NGOs/Foundations

Problem Description

Cities are struggling to repair or replace infrastructure at city-wide scales in a time of strained public resources and greater challenges—like climate change, urbanization, shifting population demographics, and rapid technology change. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that US cities need $3.6 trillion dollars to update what cities already have—not to build the smarter, cleaner, greener, and more robust systems designed to address new challenges, like flooding, rising sea levels, heat waves, and more. Cities need support to develop a pipeline of cost efficient and financeable resilient infrastructure projects in order to attract and leverage private financing at larger scales.

Building Blocks

Story

The RE.invest Initiative used an 18-month infrastructure predevelopment process—all of the activities that go into designing and planning large-scale projects prior to construction—with eight US cities and teams of leading private sector design, engineering, law, and finance experts. The process integrated early design and financing decisions and help cities make the leap from crafting a vision for resilience to generating a set of financeable large-scale projects. The resulting RE.invest resilient infrastructure projects are designed to capture multiple cross-sector revenue streams and to serve as examples of the types of projects made possible using this new framework for reimagining civic infrastructure systems to create both public value and private investment opportunities.

Photos

Resources

Contributed By

Elle Hempen, re:focus partners

Solution Stage

One of the 7 stages of an innovation. Learn more

STAGE	SPECIALIST SKILLS REQUIRED	EXAMPLE ACTIVITIES	RISK LEVEL AND HANDLING	FINANCE REQUIRED	KINDS OF EVIDENCE GENERATED	GOAL
Developing and implementing5	Strong leadership, management, implementation skills	Policy design Programme design Business modelling Organisational design	Prepare for some adaptation to implementation MEDIUM	Programme funds, equity, loans, grants HIGH	A robust and detailed case developed through formal evaluation and evidence gathering – use of a control group to isolate impact	An implemented and sustainable innovation

Submitted By

Elle Hempen