Value capture

Value capture is a type of public financing that recovers some or all of the value that public infrastructure generates for private landowners. In many countries, the public sector is responsible for the infrastructure required to support urban development. This infrastructure may include road infrastructure, parks, social, health and educational facilities, social housing, climate adaptation and mitigation tools, and more.^[1] Such infrastructure typically requires great financial investment and maintenance, and often the financing of such projects leans heavily on the government bodies themselves.

Public entities, tasked with creating and maintaining this infrastructure, are constantly in search of mechanisms which can allow for fiscal support of these investments. One such mechanism of financing is Value Capture. Value capture schemes secure and recover a portion of the benefits delivered by public investments, in order to offset the costs of the investment itself. Value Capture strategies operate under the assumption that public investment often results in increased valuation of private land and real estate. "Capturing” the subsequent increase in value, governments are able to recuperate funds, which can ultimately be used to generate additional value for communities in the future.^[2]