Closing the Gap: Social Impact Strategies and Assessments

Measuring ‘lived’ change through social impact assessments

The world has witnessed the real estate industry in the Gulf region take giant leaps over the past two decades, including big steps towards sustainable development. Nevertheless, significant gaps persist in how social impact is integrated, assessed, and communicated. These are evident in the current emphasis on action rather than impact, and the absence of residents’ and visitors’ lived experience data during design and operations.

Sustainability initiatives are now integrated into most Gulf projects from early design stages to operations and even decommissioning. It is common to measure and communicate the sustainability performance of a single project, a mega event, and even a full real estate portfolio. Yet, most of the focus to date has been on the environmental pillar of sustainability. Environmental assessments have become well-established, standardized, and widely accepted. They benefit from clear legal frameworks, widely-accepted green rating schemes, and a broad consensus on meaningful quantitative metrics to evaluate and communicate ecological and climate impact.

In contrast, social impact strategies and assessments are far less common in the Gulf region and, bar a few cases, are generally not legally required. Social sustainability strategies and reporting tend to focus on volunteering, charity, local employment or worker welfare initiatives. Important as these topics are, they do not address the most powerful opportunities available to the industry: creating and communicating place-based social value within real estate projects.

Environmental assessments have increasingly moved towards outcome-based indicators — measuring reductions in emissions or restoration of habitats — but social impact assessments lag behind. 

They often measure the presence of amenities or the dollar value of charitable contributions, rather than the real impact on people’s lives, perceptions, and lived experience.

Some social impact strategies and assessments aim to incorporate people’s voices, but these efforts tend to be limited in scope and depth. Qualitative insights — such as residents’ feelings of safety, belonging, or social exclusion — are frequently marginalized or inadequately integrated into designs, operational plans, and formal evaluation frameworks.

In many cases, social impact assessments rely on aggregated survey data or low-engagement methods that do not capture the rich, contextual narratives of people’s experiences.

This gap results in an incomplete understanding of how developments truly resonate with, or marginalize, local populations. Cultural erosion, unequal access, marginalization and displacement, are often unintended outcomes of urban development that go unrecognized or unaddressed due to inadequate social assessment and communication tools.

How social impact assessments lead to safer, healthier, and more equitable communities

Done well, social impact strategies and assessments can support new and existing developments:

• Foster local identity and create a sense of safety and belonging for all residents.
• Promote a sense of community pride and ownership, reducing crime rates and anti-social behavior.
• Stimulate public life, increasing footfall, and driving sales for local businesses.
• Facilitate community physical and mental well-being, including promoting physical activity and community cohesion.
• Differentiating communities especially in a competitive real estate market
• Strengthening developers’ brand and promoting positive stakeholder relationships

What do we risk when social impact strategies and assessments are underdeveloped?

Actions and investments may fail to improve or sometimes even worsen community well-being. Even when successful community initiatives are implemented, the absence of relevant impact assessment means the true value of these initiatives is not captured nor communicated. As such, it becomes less likely for these well-meaning initiatives to continue and for other similar initiatives to get funded.

Gehl has been utilizing the Public Life and Amenity assessment tools and methodologies to address this gap. For example, we have a long-standing collaboration with a global company to support the visioning and assessment of spatial design and programming of spaces within and around their office campuses. The objective is to design and activate these spaces in ways which are meaningful to the local community while aligning with the company’s brand and values. Understanding the diverse community needs and aspirations is a first step in this process.

In the Gulf region, Gehl has been working with city authorities and developers on neighborhood regeneration and public space transformation projects. A central part of Gehl’s role is understanding and communicating what residents and visitors truly value, as well as what they feel they are missing. We translate these insights into design strategies and public activations — advising on people-centric initiatives, which address community needs and aspirations. We complete the cycle by collecting lived experience data, allowing us to assess the social impact and share meaningful insights to inform future policies and investments.

People’s lives and experiences are unique and complex. Planning and assessing place-based social impact requires a deep and nuanced understanding of people’s lived experiences.

At Gehl, we know this can be achieved through a multi-layered approach — combining both quantitative and qualitative spatial and behavioral data collection and analysis. There is power of such data in capturing and communicating social impact, informing policy and design decisions to create deep social value.