International Archives

Digital Transformation Plan for the Aburra Valley Metropolitan Area in Colombia

October 30, 2024 / Comments Off

HR&A developed a comprehensive business case for establishing a neutral host broadband infrastructure provider in the Aburrá Valley, addressing the critical need for high-speed internet access across ten municipalities, including Medellín. This initiative aims to bridge the digital divide, enabling economic inclusion for residents and businesses, thereby fostering shared prosperity and enhancing competitiveness in the region’s rapidly evolving tech landscape.

The Aburrá Valley, the second-largest metropolitan area in Colombia, has emerged as an innovation leader in Latin America and the Caribbean. With nearly 75% of households lacking fixed internet access, and most businesses unable to access high-speed services, the region’s economic growth plan—championed by Ruta-N—requires robust broadband connectivity to support the burgeoning tech, energy, and health industries. Recognizing internet access as essential for economic inclusion, HR&A’s analysis focused on leveraging existing electrical and transportation infrastructure to create a high-speed, neutral network that would serve as a catalyst for poverty reduction and equitable development.

HR&A conducted a prefeasibility analysis that began with an assessment of the existing infrastructure and an estimation of current and future internet demand from residents, businesses, and institutions. Our team developed a preliminary broadband network design and performed a financial pre-feasibility analysis, evaluating technical, political, and operational considerations to ensure the project’s viability.

To quantify potential socio-economic benefits, HR&A employed case study research and high-level impact assessments, articulating the transformative effects of the proposed network. We also recommended a financing and pricing structure, along with a governance strategy aimed at maximizing adoption by local stakeholders.

Engaging with key players, including EPM, ISA/Internexa, Metro de Medellín, and Ruta-N, HR&A successfully made the case for the neutral host provider. This initiative sparked collaboration among Ruta-N, the IDB, and EPM to conduct a full feasibility study for the project.

Honolulu Climate Financial Risk Assessment and Funding Strategies

October 16, 2024 / Comments Off

HR&A is supporting the City and County of Honolulu to assess the City’s climate-related financial risks and define strategies for funding and budgeting vital adaptation measures. As climate hazards like coastal erosion, flooding, and hurricanes become more frequent and severe, this initiative marks a significant opportunity for Honolulu to safeguard its future by investing in resilient infrastructure and long-term solutions.

Communities in Honolulu are already contending with the impacts of climate change due to sea level rise, heat, drought, wildfires, hurricanes, and storm surge. Meeting the scale of this challenge requires systemic change in approaches to funding, financing, policy, and procedures. The City and County of Honolulu engaged HR&A to build an understanding of the city’s financial risk and develop a proactive, strategic approach to prioritizing investments in climate solutions. This includes preserving existing revenue streams for climate solutions and identifying additional funding and financing sources.

Through this process, HR&A will develop a comprehensive roadmap and toolbox to ensure the City and County of Honolulu and its constituents understand the scale of fiscal risk; who is responsible for specific risks (whether it’s the City, County, State, Federal government, or private sector); the magnitude of needed investments and the City and County’s ability to manage their cost, and actionable strategies to develop a budget and financial approach to address and mitigate risks.

South Africa Metro Investments Private Participation

September 23, 2024 / Comments Off

As part of an engagement with the World Bank Cities Resilience Program and the National Treasury of South Africa, and in partnership with local public policy consulting firm PDG, HR&A helped seven South African metropolitan governments advance a suite of nine resilient infrastructure and renewable energy projects, including stormwater management, river catchment rehabilitation, energy storage, and waste management.

HR&A led engagements with three South African metropolitan governments—Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, and Tshwane, with a total combined population of over 10 million people—that straddle the Kaalspruit River catchment, a watershed known for poor water quality and worsening flooding that demands a joint, trans-metropolitan approach to monitoring, problem-solving, investment, and maintenance. HR&A provided a comprehensive set of services to help advance a suite of stormwater management and climate resilience infrastructure projects. To advance a trans-metropolitan governance approach to improve water quality and reduce flooding in the shared watershed, HR&A studied various international approaches to trans-boundary waterbody management and facilitated a workshop with leadership from all three metros that built consensus around a potential way forward.

HR&A worked with the City of Cape Town, the second largest in the country with 3.7 million residents, on developing methodologies to assess the feasibility of land value capture to support development of flood mitigation infrastructure, for projects located in Cape Town’s City Centre and Heidelberg districts. HR&A evaluated the potential of revenues from property taxes, development charges, and special assessment zones, and developed an implementation and governance plan, with recommendations to incorporate these funding sources into Cape Town’s existing capital planning processes.

HR&A supported the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality with the planning and feasibility analysis to create a residential-focused mixed-use development on a 700-hectare site near the Bloemfontein Airport. HR&A worked with four city agencies to help develop shared project goals, a market demand analysis, and a financial model to assess the feasibility of land value capture to support new mixed-use development, as well as infrastructure improvements to rehabilitate the flood-prone area.

As part of this assignment, HR&A deployed multiple GIS dashboards and webtools to present information, assist conversations, and perform geo-spatial analysis for identifying sites to test for resilience projects and help integrate broader equity considerations into future metropolitan policy and capital planning.

HR&A also helped plan and facilitate two two-day workshops with over 12 hours of content each disseminating knowledge, takeaways, and best practices on funding, financing, and delivering resilient and climate infrastructure with over 50 government officials from the South African metros.

Supporting Municipal Power in Puerto Rico

July 11, 2024 / Comments Off

HR&A was instrumental in the formation of La Liga, an organization that equipped Puerto Rican mayors with unprecedented communication channels in the wake of Hurricane Maria, and we continue to provide strategic and analytic support to help the organization build collective action, resilience, and more effective local government on the Island.

La Liga is a first-of-its-kind, community-focused, collaborative vehicle for Puerto Rico to address fiscal, economic, rebuilding challenges and gain deserved visibility and support from the U.S. mainland — work that emerged from necessity in the wake of a climate disaster and continues to build a more resilient and prosperous future for the people living there.

In the years since La Liga was formed, HR&A helped design and execute La Liga’s Municipal Innovation Laboratory, which offers a tailored, comprehensive curriculum to promote equity-driven community power, transparency, fiscal responsibility, and economic well-being for local governments in Puerto Rico. HR&A also designed La Liga’s Federal Funding Navigator, an online platform that streamlines municipalities’ access to funding opportunities provided by the Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This tool simplifies the process of accessing over $107 billion for which Puerto Rico is eligible for climate change and infrastructure projects.

Public-Private Development Strategy for Dhaka’s Mohakhali Bus Terminal

December 17, 2019 / Comments Off

The World Bank engaged HR&A to leverage a public-private partnership (PPP) for the development of the Mohakhali Bus Terminal in central Dhaka, aiming to transform it into a state-of-the-art mixed-use transportation hub. With its strategic location and significant potential, this project is designed to enhance transportation options for North Dhaka, integrating inter-city buses and future bus rapid transit services, thereby catalyzing broader neighborhood development.

Located on over eight acres of prime land, the Mohakhali Bus Terminal has the potential to serve as a key transportation interchange amid Dhaka’s rapid economic growth. Recognizing the need for an innovative approach to funding and operations, the World Bank’s “Improving Private Sector Participation in Dhaka Public Transport” project aims to create a transformational model for urban infrastructure. HR&A’s objective was to develop a market-supportable mixed-use program that maximizes the site’s value while accommodating both current and future transportation needs.

To achieve this, HR&A conducted a comprehensive assessment of the site’s existing conditions, accompanied by a real estate market analysis to identify feasible land uses. Engaging with local developers and stakeholders, we highlighted key risks and opportunities for the project. This foundational analysis informed the development of various mid- and long-term real estate development scenarios, allowing us to project future revenues from land sales or leases that could fund the terminal operating costs .

Additionally, we proposed a range of public-private partnership structures for both terminal operations and the mixed-use development, clarifying roles and responsibilities for the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and private entities, along with projected financial outcomes for each model.

As a result of our work, DNCC and the World Bank initiated next steps to foster dialogue with municipal and national leaders to build consensus around Mohakhali’s transformative potential and the PPP model as a catalyst for rapid infrastructure development in Bangladesh.

Legacy Planning for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

December 18, 2015 / No Comments

HR&A advised on the development and implementation framework for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to secure the economic and community legacy of the 2012 London Games.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company, the quasi-governmental organization established to oversee the development and operation of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, invited HR&A to advise on key elements of a new implementation framework that would transform the 2012 Olympic grounds into a network of parks, recreation facilities, and small residential neighborhoods along the River Lea in East London. The Legacy Company sought to create a development framework that would deliver social, economic, and environmental benefits by catalyzing private investment, amenitizing the surrounding areas, and attracting diverse groups of visitors.

The master plan for the Olympic grounds organized five new neighborhoods with two signature parks, 6,000 units of housing, two miles of naturalized waterways, and a system of connections and neighborhood commons that include sporting venues, commercial space, and cultural amenities. Focusing on the 250 acres of parklands, HR&A analyzed best practices for development and activation of post-industrial and post-Olympic landscapes, and emphasized the ability of the parkland’s development parcels to drive property values.

After reviewing the Legacy Company’s previous framework and business plan for the proposed parks, HR&A assessed capital, operations, and management requirements, and identified the financial and organizational resources needed to build and sustain a dynamic park system on the former Olympic grounds. The firm helped develop new capital and operating budgets in-line with recommended strategies to ensure the landscape’s transformation into world-class park system, complete with a dedicated programming and stewardship framework to activate, manage, and maintain the public realm.

The Legacy Company incorporated HR&A’s recommendations to adopt a new perspective on the role of public-realm investment for successful real estate development. The Legacy Company restructured its budget and launched two design competitions, which resulted in award-winning parks and plazas designed by James Corner Field Operations and London-based Erect Architecture. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has received over 4.5 million visitors since its 2013 opening, and recently secured funding to develop a new culture and education quarter comprised of university campuses, additional space for the Victoria and Albert museum, and a 600-seat theatre.

Konza Technology City Development Plan

December 18, 2015 / Comments Off

HR&A developed a comprehensive business plan and implementation strategy for Konza Technology City, a transformative technology industry hub outside Nairobi, Kenya. This initiative aims to position Konza as a global center for technology, enabling Kenya to achieve middle-income status and significantly enhance the quality of life for its citizens.

Located on 5,000 acres along the A109 highway, Konza Technology City is poised to attract significant investment and development. Working in partnership with the International Finance Corporation and on behalf of the Government of Kenya, HR&A spearheaded the first phase of development. Our multidisciplinary international team of experts in architecture, planning, engineering, and strategy consulting identified key anchors and market opportunities to prioritize during the initial phase. We devised strategies for financing upfront infrastructure costs while ensuring the master plan is aligned with market realities through a well-structured program and phasing strategy.

A crucial element of our work was the establishment of the Konza Technopolis Development Authority, a special-purpose governance body responsible for overseeing project implementation and attracting developers. In collaboration with local legal advisors, HR&A created a framework for this authority, focusing on sustainable municipal service provision and long-term project success.

HR&A continues to support the Konza Technopolis Development Authority and the Government of Kenya as the city’s first phase unfolds. Our ongoing engagement includes real estate and economic development advisory services, assisting in structuring the new authority, managing the land leasing process, and leading financial planning. Additionally, we are actively involved in the marketing and branding of various developments, leveraging insights from local experts to ensure that Konza Technology City meets its ambitious goals and serves as a catalyst for national growth and innovation.

Renderiong Toronto Waterfront - Lower Yong Precint

Revitalizing the Toronto Waterfront

December 18, 2015 / Comments Off

HR&A advised Waterfront Toronto on real estate and economic development strategies to revitalize the Toronto Waterfront. Once completed, this $1.5 billion project will be the largest urban regeneration project in North America.

Waterfront Toronto was established to create a series of new development precincts along Toronto’s Waterfront defined by their high-quality urban real estate development and world class open spaces, and a signature public realm along the Toronto Waterfront. Established as the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation in 2001, Canada’s municipal, provincial, and federal governments committed public land holdings and $1.5 billion to create waterfront recreational amenities, new housing, and commercial spaces to support Toronto’s future competitiveness.

HR&A provided economic analysis underpinning some of the most significant infrastructure decisions in the Toronto waterfront lands.

HR&A assessed the feasibility and the economic benefits of naturalizing the mouth of the Don River, a $500 million capital project that will create new urban neighborhoods by flood protecting over 200 hectares of Toronto’s waterfront lands. In August 2010, Toronto City Council unanimously passed an Official Plan amendment for the Lower Don Lands and a new zoning by-law for the Lower Don Lands first precinct, the Keating Channel. HR&A has provided peer review resources for Waterfront Toronto as it pursues further business planning for this major capital investment.

HR&A studied the economic implications of altering Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway

HR&A produced the economic cost-benefit analysis for the Integrated Environmental Assessment and Urban Design Study of options to replace, improve, or remove a segment of the elevated Gardiner Expressway east of downtown Toronto. Additionally, HR&A helped to structure and organize an international design competition examining urban design implications of the alternatives.

HR&A supported master planning for a key privately-owned waterfront site.

For a critical site whose development will support the growth of the Toronto waterfront as a residential and retail destination, as well as the financing of future public infrastructure investment, HR&A collaborated with a world-class design team to create a master plan that will integrate retail and food and beverage uses with dense urban housing and a vibrant public realm. HR&A provided strategic development advice on master planning feasibility, land use regulation, financial sustainability, and the programming of open space and the public realm.

HR&A prepared a feasibility study and financing options for Canada Square, a new civic park on the York Quay site adjacent to Harbourfront Centre.

HR&A prepared a financial feasibility assessment, developed capital investment options, produced an ongoing operations model, and guided planning and design for the new park and complementary mixed-used development, including potential cultural, hotel, retail, and parking uses adjacent to the new park. The York Quay Revitalization project is currently funded and in the final design stage of development.

HR&A developed a maintenance and operations funding strategy for 1,100 acres of new parkland on the Lake Ontario waterfront.

Leading a team of experts, HR&A examined budgets and best practices from municipal park systems and signature parks throughout North America. Our strategy rested on development of significant new revenue sources, a capital preservation fund and a governance structure that identifies entities responsible for funding and/or maintaining the new world-class parks. Toronto City Council adopted HR&A’s strategy in November 2008.

Images Courtesy of: City of Toronto