Business & Finance

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Financial viability is critically important for all infrastructure systems. New business and enterprise solutions will be needed to undergird a transition toward more sustainable urban infrastructure systems. Similarly, traditional public financing streams may need to be reconfigured or mobilized in different ways to accommodate new infrastructure configurations. Market forces are already playing, and will to continue to play, a powerful enabling role in the emergence of new and potentially disruptive infrastructure innovations. Community-scale social enterprise models will also have a role to play in facilitating the financing of sustainable urban infrastructure systems that are equitable and accessible.

The network’s business and finance research efforts are concentrated on understanding the most appropriate enterprise models, both commercial and social, that can support the effective deployment of new sustainable infrastructure systems. At the same time, network researchers are working to understand the public financing mechanisms and coordinating arrangements that most effectively support decentralized and increasingly local infrastructure systems.