Improving Social Outcomes in Urban Development: A Playbook for Practitioners

Large-scale developments take many years and involve multiple stakeholders. This poses systemic challenges for achieving social value impacts in urban regeneration projects even for willing participants. To this end, the World Economic Forum partnered with Avison Young to better understand key challenges in the effective delivery of social value that benefits the immediate community as well as the city at large. This white paper outlines six core principles supported by case studies that city leaders, the private sector and communities can use to embed social value goals in the redevelopment process from the start.

Over six months, the Social Value in Regeneration Taskforce identified common challenges and best practices in social value creation, and examined how effective solutions may vary in different contexts for a range of local reasons. The Playbook is designed to provide practical tools for stakeholders to address common challenges: aligning community priorities and social value goals, structuring RFPs that attract the right partners, long-term maintenance and stewardship, and more.

This paper is based on more than 20 interviews with subject matter experts in urban regeneration and social value; two strategy sessions attended by nearly 50 leaders from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and the United Kingdom; and the formation of a taskforce comprised of 26 public, private and third-sector members who contributed to the paper.

Futher reading: Why social value is the key to unlocking urban transformation