The Building 15-Minute Communities: A Leadership Guide publication shares promising insights and strategies for leveraging infrastructure investments and real estate development to create walkable, transit-oriented, sustainable, and complete communities.

Fifteen-minute communities hold the promise of accelerating decarbonization, increasing affordability, reducing climate and health risks, and fostering social equity and inclusion. This walking-centered approach to city building lays the foundation for developing compact, mixed-use communities that can increase real estate value, create co-benefits with joint use and co-location, and generate new resources to invest in the community.

The report shares promising leadership strategies to

• Initiate joint infrastructure projects across 5 systems— environmental, community, mobility, energy and vision;
• Apply walkable, mixed-use decisions across 6 geographies— metro regions, downtowns, edge cities, suburban corridors, malls, exurbs;
• Lead effective partnerships to coordinate actions among government, real estate and nonprofit sectors.

The Prioritizing Effective Infrastructure-Led Development publication focuses the ULI Curtis Infrastructure Initiative on the following five key areas that the real estate industry has the most influence, namely at the building, neighborhood, and regional levels.

• We need restorative infrastructure investment that increases equity and sustainability. The U.S. must address the legacy of past investment that has divided communities physically, socially, and digitally. Holistic and integrated infrastructure investment requires efficient allocation of resources and must help to repair systemic inequities.
• We need to invest in public transportation and mobility. Enhancing public transportation is essential for increasing access to jobs and bolstering economic opportunity. People-centric urban development must include reliable, frequent, and accessible public transportation.
• We need infrastructure that helps us combat the global threat of climate change. As the cost of inaction related to climate change increases, promoting decarbonization and other net-zero strategies is vital. Adaptation and resilience are critical components of infrastructure investment so communities can withstand and bounce back from extreme weather events.
• We need to connect everyone to affordable and high-quality internet. In today’s digitalized world, the availability of high-speed internet is critical for economic participation and mobility. Broadband should no longer be viewed as a luxury, but instead as necessary infrastructure akin to electricity and water.
• We need supportive infrastructure investment that increases housing attainability. As the U.S. continues to face a housing shortage, providing more affordable housing is imperative for ensuring communities can thrive. Infrastructure investment, along with flexible and smart land use regulations, can help catalyze new private-sector housing production.

The more forward-thinking, and flexible, regions that execute successful infrastructure strategies will better succeed and generate more favorable financial outcomes for municipalities, improve the economy more broadly, and increase social outcomes.