Explore our latest research and best practices
For Members Only
Connect with members around the world
Find ULI opportunities to lead and volunteer
Share:
March 15, 2021
Business leaders and investors across all industries increasingly acknowledge they have a role to play in tackling environmental and social problems and meeting the challenge of sustainable development. So far, most attention has been focused on environmental issues and the risks and opportunities associated with mitigating climate change. Environmental reporting practices and standards have been developed extensively.
Today, there is a growing interest in the social dimensions of sustainable development and the key concept of social value. ULI global surveys (Social Value Survey 2020 and Emerging Trends Europe 2021) have found that real estate practitioners and investors, in particular, have a strong interest in developing a better understanding of what social value is, how it fits with their fiduciary responsibilities, and how to measure, manage, and report on social value creation. Alongside this interest has come the rise of impact investing – investing with the intention of contributing to tackling social or environmental challenges or both whilst generating a financial return.
As providers and stewards of the built environment, the real estate industry clearly has a clear role to play in creating social value. However, the financialisaton of real estate – where property is solely looked at through the lens of being a financial asset which can generate revenue and profit – has led to a disconnect between financial value creation and social value creation.
Lisette van Doorn
ULI Europe CEO
Despite this increased interest, there is no shared understanding of social value in real estate. Nor is there a common approach to describing and measuring the industry’s social value. The increasing number of frameworks, tools, and methods designed to support social value or impact measurement can be difficult to navigate. The aim of this report is to help develop a shared and better understanding of how to define, create, measure, and optimise social value across the real estate industry. Specifically, it has four objectives:
The COVID-19 pandemic has made this topic even more timely and relevant. COVID-19 is a wake-up call for the real estate industry. While it has brought major risks to the industry, it has also opened up opportunities to think in new and different ways about how to repurpose and link real estate to local place-based demands, and what role the real estate industry can have in helping tackle social and spatial inequalities. Now is the time to put people and places at the heart of real estate.
Read the report on Knowledge Finder
Knowledge Finder
Don’t have an account? Sign up for a ULI guest account.