A collaboration of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, American Council of Engineering Companies, American Public Works Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, and Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure

ENVISION Sustainable Infrastructure Framework Guidance Manual fosters the improvement in the sustainable performance and resiliency of physical infrastructure by helping owners, planners, engineers, communities, contractors, and other stakeholders to implement more cost-effective, resource-efficient, and adaptable long-term infrastructure investments.

ENVISION

• Is a framework that provides the guidance needed to initiate systemic change;
• Is a decision-making guide, not a set of prescriptive measures;
• Provides industrywide sustainability metrics for all types and sizes of infrastructure;
• Helps users assess and measure the extent to which a project contributes to conditions of sustainability across the full range of social, economic, and environmental indicators; and
• Helps users access the full breadth of a project’s life cycle.

The earlier Envision concepts are applied, the greater the value they can deliver. The false perception that sustainability is more expensive than conventional practice is often a result of adding these “features” at the end of a conventional process. On the contrary, projects that incorporate sustainable principles of efficiency, resourcefulness, and multi-benefit use from the earliest planning stages often find significant cost savings—even initial capital cost savings—over conventional projects.