Is Financial Return on Investment a Fit for Purpose Method of Valuing Benefit in the 21st Century?

Too often, property development is seen as something done by faceless profit-driven corporations to unsuspecting local communities. While some developers may be motived in this way, most defend their placemaking designs as benefiting both local people and the surrounding environment.

There is a better way to communicate the value of development to a cynical audience.

What if it was possible to:

- explain the social and environmental value of development in a language that everyone understands: money.

- engage in better dialogue and develop more meaningful relationships with stakeholders - communities, residents, tenants and visitors

- measure the predicted social and environmental value of a project and verify that it is actually delivered

- raise finance (eg. Social Impact Bonds) and comply with legislation (The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012).

What if, as a result of changing the way we measure investment, the built environment could become understood as a force for positive lasting change?