The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, together with the
Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard
University Graduate School of Design, has unveiled a new
infrastructure rating system called Envision. The system is
designed to help policy-makers evaluate the sustainability of
infrastructure, set realistic national priorities, and conduct a
national discourse on infrastructure investment. Envision rates
all types and sizes of civil infrastructure projects in terms of
environmental, economic, and community benefits. Infrastructure
owners, engineers, contractors, and regulators can address all
major infrastructure project stages: planning and design,
construction, operations and maintenance, and decommissioning.
The rating system's credits and points are tied to measurable
economic benefits to more fully account for impacts — such as
job creation, triple bottom-line outcomes (social,
environmental, economic), enhancements to community resilience,
and regional competitiveness — that ar