New processes, approaches and partnerships are important to realizing the most benefits from sustainable infrastructure.  These are outlined here.

Integrated Design

The Integrated Design Process, developed for the green building “pre-design” stage, is an essential approach for designing sustainable infrastructure systems. Consider integrating infrastructure designs with community design and land use. 

For an infrastructure project, an integrated design approach would:

• Consider the relationship with other infrastructure e.g., does a new trail system also provide a path for district energy piping?  Does this sewer main extension provide an opportunity for new energy generation via sewer heat recovery?
• Consider how design can reduce demand and not just increase supply.
• Create community amenities at the same time e.g., a living laboratory for a local university, additional green space, or an educational center.
• Bring a multidisciplinary team together to develop more creative solutions e.g., are two different technologies operated in parallel better than one technology?
• Require different experts to work together, rather than sequentially e.g., design engineers should be engaged during the planning process.