Restorative development starts a path toward…
- More resilient, healthy, and equitable communities
- Built-in funding systems to replace restorative infrastructure and facilities
- All waste streams seen as valuable material resources
- Natural places that clean and cool our air
- Locally sourced nutrients for organic food and fuel for our vehicles
- Local water budget that provides for multiple uses
- Leaving future generations with a win-win balance between public and private sector benefits

Definitions
Restorative Development: Distributed and integrated infrastructure and governance; circular resource management, characterized by synergistic values, integration and equity generation.
Sustainable Development: Sustainable development is a neutral position. There are no negative or positive impacts measurable anywhere in the system.
Green Development: Produces net-negative outcomes. Characterized by incremental improvements. The goal is to reduce negative outcomes.
Conventional Development: Linear, take-make-waste model; centralized, single function, siloed city management, sunk costs, and depleting capital.
Redefining waste as materials, inputs
Now: Current concept is waste; we build infrastructure that gets rid of waste as cheaply as possible
New restorative economy:
- Keeps products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times
- Uses infrastructure that maximizes their quality
- Focuses on equity
- Marginalized populations as assets
- Stormwater as asset
- Wastewater as asset

Restorative development requirements
- Utilizes all wastes as materials
- Efficient output-to-input transfer of materials across production processes
- Geographic proximity
- Outputs improve local community and city
- Equitably optimizes social, economic, and environmental outcomes
Restorative Development Inputs, Outputs, Outcomes

Download handout: Restorative Development Summary (PDF)
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