Conference Agenda

Public agencies and technical teams are being tasked with integrating equity into the planning and design of infrastructure projects. Even with good intent, teams often struggle to identify how a project interfaces with vulnerable communities and what changes can be made to improve outcomes for those communities. Equity in Design provides a process for identifying a project’s equity interfaces and developing a solid plan for integrating these interfaces into the planning, design, and delivery of the project, resulting in positive outcomes for vulnerable communities.

The Alderwood Pump Station Replacement project, which is a current task order for Brown and Caldwell (BC) under the Price Agreement for Pump Station (PS) Improvement master services contract with the City of Portland (City), is the pilot project for the City to develop an Equity in Design framework. Our subconsultant, The Formation Lab (TFL), identified potential equity interfaces for this project, including minimizing conflicts with the houseless community, supporting pedestrian access, and supporting bicycle access. Based on these interfaces, equity criteria were developed for use in the site selection process. These interfaces are the foundation of the Equity Plan, identifying key actions and milestones for fostering equitable decisions during the design and construction phases, as well as supporting COBID (Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity) certified team members during project delivery. The Equity Plan is a living document that is refined during the project to guide the Consultant team, led by BC, in meeting the City’s equity goals.

This presentation will share the Equity in Design approach, and lessons-learned through the pilot application of this approach, to the Alderwood Pump Station Replacement project.

Decisions that operators, engineers and managers make are typically financially constrained. An intuitively good project idea can prove difficult to justify when using only net present value and similar financial tools to demonstrate return on investment (ROI). This is where the concept of “Real Options” comes into play. By identifying the characteristics of an option and assigning a financial value and probability to its selection or rejection, the decision maker gains insight into the decision that would otherwise be missed.

During this presentation, you will learn:

• What is a financial option, and how does it relate to a Real Option
• Types of Real Options and how to spot them
• Three methods to value a Real Option
• A rigorous approach to calculating probabilities of outcomes
• Case studies to support where Real Options have been used to support project decisions
• Case studies showing where Real Options could have been used for more favorable outcomes.