Financing alternative development through double bottom line private equity funds & a real estate social investment framework

The post-WWII period has seen a radical change in the growth patterns and composition of American cities, as a decentralized form of real estate development, conventional development, has become the dominant real estate development paradigm. As conventional development has become pervasive it has contributed to a host of negative economic, social, and environmental impacts. Growing dissatisfaction and concern over these negative impacts has given rise to development models that seek to accommodate the demand for new built space through alternative spatial forms, development locations, development practices, and development products. Collectively called "alterative development", these development models seek to minimize or eliminate potential negative social and environmental externalities caused by real estate development. While alternative development has gained some traction in the real estate development industry, it still faces significant barriers. Chief among these barriers is the lack of access to reasonably priced debt and equity capital. As the availability of financial capital is one of the key factors determining what gets built, when, and where, the lack of access to capital for alternative development has profound effects on the economic, social, and environmental health of our communities.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Levy, Jeffrey Elliot

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Karl Seidman.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33049

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/33049